Wish For Wigan Christmas Campaign
This Christmas is likely to be a very different kind of Christmas for everybody. And sadly, for many in Wigan and Leigh, instead of it being a special time to look forward to, it will be just another cause for anxiety and stress. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about how to put a meal on […]
M&Y Maintenance & Construction Donate £1000 And Winter Clothing
A huge thank you to M&Y maintenance and Construction who have donated £1000 and ten bundles of winter clothing for our Wrap Up Wigan campaign. M&Y are committed to generating social value and Abbie Kelly, New Business and Support Services Manager explains why the decision was made to support The Brick, this year. Abbie Kelly, […]
Making Impossible Choices
‘My only splurge is buying new shoes for the kids’. Tracey is mum to two lovely girls who are into everything! She has worked since leaving school and currently has a full time position in retail. She is a single parent because her husband died in a road traffic accident three years ago. She is […]
Harvest
One of my colleagues at The Brick is dyslexic. She doesn’t see it as a disadvantage but a superpower. And when it comes to anagrams, I can see why. Her brain rearranges the letters and she arrives at the answer before anyone else. Recently she looked at the word ‘harvest’ and said that it contained […]
Heartache And Hope
‘I am still behind on my rent because of Covid.’ ‘Being evicted is all I think about.’ ‘I can’t sleep for worrying about how I’m going to pay my rent.’ This week I met Mark and he told me that his life had fallen apart in the space of a month. Mark had been looking […]
The Brick’s Big Thank You Celebration
The Brick, held the Brick’s Big Thankyou celebration at Wigan Cricket Club, where our 145 volunteers were presented with the Queens Award for Voluntary Service by Greater Manchester Deputy Lieutenant Melanie Bryan OBE. The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK, and it was presented […]
Brokering Opportunities
I was asked what ‘Brokering Opportunities’ is. This sparked an interesting conversation among coaches, old and new and prompted me to re-evaluate what brokering opportunities has meant to me as a coach, individuals I work with and reflect on what brokering opportunities means in practice within the Personal Transition Service. As always when it comes […]
Labelling
It can often be very difficult for people accessing our services to feel ‘normal’. That difficultly can come from a fear of being labelled. Labelling of someone as a homeless person or a client or service user often creates a power imbalance between those accessing a service and those providing it. For someone a person […]
Monthly Update – Training and Mentoring
This month we wanted to celebrate all the hard work and dedication from our training and mentoring staff at the Brick. Our training and mentoring program helps to build confidence and allows people to gain skills and training to get them back into the community and employment. Some young people experience multiple disadvantages such as […]
Social Justice
Social justice can be defined to have different meanings depending on the context. There are many ways to consider what this means on a social, economic, cultural, systemic or individual basis. The term is important to our work and vision as a charity, social justice informs the approach we adopt towards people who access our […]