Follow-up to the Carers Hearing – August 2010

Carers, along with other members of ChangeMakers, are now in negotiation with a range of managers in service delivery agencies to turn the promises made at the hearing into a reality.

Successful Carers Hearing!

Over 120 people attended Changemakers Carers Hearing held at the Friends Meeting House, Manchester on the 20^th May.  During the last 12 months Changemakers has  been working with carers whose relatives have a “dual diagnosis” that is mental health issues and an alcohol or substance abuse problem. This resulted in the public hearing where carers were able to put their demands directly to the power holders – medical and social service professionals.  Professional actors acted out powerful stories taken directly from the experience of carers. Tom Dodd, the former National Dual Diagnosis Leader at the National Mental Health Development Unit had recorded a video which was shown to the hearing.   The proceedings were filmed by Inexcess TV.

Three key demands were put to the powerholders by the carers:

• that when patients sign agreements that their carer (usually a relative) should be able to have details of their treatment and kept informed of their whereabouts
• That care plans should be written and shared and risk assessments be undertaken for both carers and patients and that these should be kept up to date.
• That more attention be given to training and awareness raising about the specific needs of those with a dual diagnosis and that carers should be involved in designing and delivering this training

Powerholders agreed to these demands and promised to work with carers on all these plus other longer term issues.

The Carers experience highlighted the need for direct citizen participation  as opposed to simply being invited into the space of the professionals. These carers – who have specific needs – do not feel that their needs and concerns are being addressed by the current consultation frameworks.  The Hearing was a powerful way of ensuring their voices are heard.

FAITH IN GOVERNMENT

Pre-Election Meetings with Parliamentary Candidates

It would be difficult to think of a time within living memory when relationships between Members of Parliament and the electorate were at such a low point. So the forthcoming election presents a huge challenge for candidates but also a great opportunity for local people from participating organisations to meet candidates and build more accountability into parliamentary proceedings.

ChangeMakers, The Faith Network for Manchester (FN4M), Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN), Citizens for Sanctuary and Greater Manchester Churches Together (GMCT) have decided to work together to organise meetings with candidates in seven Greater Manchester constituencies:

• Manchester Central (Thursday 29th April)
• Salford (Wednesday 21st April)
• Manchester Withington (TBC)
• Blackley & Broughton (Tuesday 20th April)
• Bury South (TBC)
• Stretford & Urmston (Wednesday 14th April)
• Wythenshawe (TBC)

These meetings are aimed at those who want to set up ongoing relationships with the people who will be elected to represent those constituencies. For this reason and to maximise their potential, invitations to meetings will be through these partner organisations and admission will be by ticket only.

To make the meeting effective and for the best use of time we shall only invite candidates who appear to have a reasonable chance of victory and whose values reflect those of our partner organisations.

In each constituency members from all of our organisations will put three key questions of local significance to each candidate (in writing, prior to the meeting). Questions can be submitted via e-mail (markw@church-poverty.org.uk) or in writing: ChangeMakers, Church Action on Poverty, Third Floor, Dale House 35 Dale St, Manchester, M1 2HF.

We will ask each candidate to commit themselves, if elected, to working with us to take our issues forward. We hope that our our meetings in Greater Manchester will represent the start of an important relationship with elected members upon which we can continue to build.

Changemakers is providing training for those taking roles in the meetings. The training session will be on Saturday 17th April at the ChangeMakers offices in Manchester. Please contact us if you are interested in attending this training session (lorraines@church-poverty.org.uk), tel. 0161 236 9321.

Launch of Manchester ChangeMakers

On a wet evening on 23^rd November over 200 people came together at St Peter’s Chaplaincy in Manchester to launch the ChangeMakers organisation at its first assembly. It was a very diverse gathering, bringing people together across the lines of faith, race and culture to commit to working together for the common good of Manchester.

So why is this happening? Why is there a need for a new organisation? Here’s what some of the people from organisations joining ChangeMakers have to say:

Nicola Hamilton, a young mother and community leader from Northern Moor said:

“ChangeMakers is about the voice of local people. That’s why it’s so important. People in power need to hear what is happening in local communities.”

Abdullah Mahmud-Norris from the Salaam Community Association in Moss Side said:

“We need to be part of ChangeMakers if we want to make a difference in our society. It is about real unity. If we work by ourselves we do not have the power to achieve anything.”

Those attending the assembly heard firsthand about some of the issues which ChangeMakers is focusing on for their agenda for action. Asylum seekers told the stories of what it is like to be destitute in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. What it is like to have to sleep on friends’ floors night after night; what it is like bringing up a small child on less than benefit levels. We also heard about how the Asylum Seeker voucher situation means that asylum seekers can only ‘spend’ their £35 voucher at a particular shop, which may mean that they can’t get the food the usually eat, or that they have to walk a long way there and back because they have no cash to spend on bus fares. Exchange schemes have been set up in cities across the country to enable asylum seekers to have their vouchers exchanged for cash by people who normally shop at the places where vouchers can be used. But we heard how the government of our civilised society is trying to put a stop to exchange schemes by issuing top-up cards which can only be used by the individual concerned. The meeting gave its overwhelming support to ChangeMakers’ call for action on this issue to tackle the cashlessness which is making extra difficulties for already vulnerable people.

We also heard from carers of those who are either alcohol or drug addicted and who also have mental health problems. These individuals often end up without the mental health care that they need, and this impacts upon their carers and also their community. ChangeMakers announced at the assembly that they will be holding a Carers Hearing in February so that carers can tell their stories to power holders and service providers. We hope this will lead to better targeted services.

ChangeMakers also announced the intention to hold Accountability Meetings with those who stand in the General Election next year. The aim of these meetings if to build relationships with Members of Parliament and to get their agreement – prior to their election – to working on the issues which are key for local people. We hope that this will also help to restore some trust in politics and political processes.

From a Christian perspective, the role of the church in ChangeMakers was made clear by Revd Jane Grayson of St Mary’s Church, Moston:

“Jesus didn’t teach us to be meek and mild, but to work for justice in the public arena”.

See the Assembly photo gallery for more pictures.