Hello everyone, it’s John Chiko. Today I am going to be talking about the importance of family structures. For most people, the first house or first home that they live in is their family home. The home that is inhabited by their direct family. Their father, their mother, their brothers, and sisters. It is these […]
At the moment, it’s kind of half remote and half face to face. I think they are going to keep the remote side because it’s cheaper but it’s not all bad to be honest. There are advantages to it. Our reach is lot more, and we can do a lot more with the money available. […]
Groundswell’s Mat Amp interviews Nawshin, a community reporter on the Listen Up! project, about her experience with Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day film [you can watch the film by clicking on this link https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001k32p/comic-relief-2023-red-nose-day You can find Nawshin’s interview after 1 hour and 23 minutes] You can find out more about the project here https://groundswell.org.uk/2023/rednoseday-princewilliam/ For clarity, […]
Corporate smoke and mirrors … squeezing money (thin on the ground) out of financially vulnerable people… I equate it to, squeezing the bovine udders…oh, one last squeeze, we need a touch more milk here. It is an absolute honour to be accepted to join the Listen Up! team at this wonderful organisation – Groundswell – […]
Labour Homelessness Campaign launches action on temporary accommodation In this piece, written for the Labour Hub in 2022, Listen Up reporter Andrea talks about the problem of temporary housing and asks you to sign up to the Great Homes Campaign. Although this was written in 2022, it is just as relevant today. Andrea is no longer […]
Accommodation Emergency Accommodation Support and Relationships [TO WATCH THE ABOVE FILM PLEASE PRESS PLAY] In this report Listen Up reporter Sarka talks about the connection she has with Cats and the difficulties faced by people experiencing homelessness when it comes to finding a place where they can live with their pets.
Content warning: this post talks about alcoholism and death My friend died today. And. Yeah. Just wanted to talk about it really. She struggled. You know, we were both in AA. And she struggled. But she was one of the women that welcomed me when I first walked through the doors in AA, and she […]
As far as I’m concerned the disappearance of dry houses is having a massive impact. For a majority of addicts dry houses are an essential part of recovery and to have someone’s recovery undone because they are slung thoughtlessly back in to the same place they were originally using is such a waste. It may […]
It is Loneliness Awareness Week from 12th to 16th June 2023. To find out more, please click here Loneliness for me wasn’t just about being on my own it was more about not fitting in, not being liked, feeling less than. You see I’m an Alcoholic and that in itself has a stigma attached and […]
Content warning: this article contains references to suicide and self-harm It’s been ten years since I last tried to end my life. Each year the anniversary of that day, my “survivaversary” creeps up and reminds me of what happened that day. I’ve written about it at length trying to make sense of it all and […]
This report talks about substance use “When I meet new people after successfully getting my daughter out of the care system I mention nothing about my past as I don’t want to be a negative label and if I do have a label stamped on me, I’m hoping it says MOTHER” […]
In this his piece Charlie talks about the way that the loss of community has been exacerbated by our use of technology and the pandemic, and wonders if the answer to our isolation may be there in the past. Well here we are. The end of the pandemic is in sight (hopefully). So back to the […]
This is the fifth part of the Those Who Help series, the previous parts can be found here, here, here and here Hello everyone. It’s John Chico. I am back again with another edition of Those Who Help, in which I talk about charitable people, groups, and organisations who aid people in Coventry who are facing socioeconomic […]
The Same Old Cycle – Listen Up! Hub
In this report Mahesh uses his personal and original writing style to share his frustration at the way the system continues to make the same mistakes, seemingly learning nothing from the costs of the mistakes that it keeps on making. It is worth reading these reports a few times and taking a bit of time […]