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 […]
PTS Coach Blog – Working Alongside People
Working alongside people What does it mean to be a ‘professional’? Regardless of whether our working background comes with a certificate from University or personal anecdotes of going through tough times, we become attributed with the unwritten title ‘professional’. The system not only labels us as the ‘professional’, it labels people we work with, they […]
The Brick Provides Free Picnics And Books For Children This Summer!
The Brick is launching the Holiday Hardship Campaign to alleviate some of the short-term pressure placed upon families, across Wigan and Leigh, who may be facing financial hardship during the school summer holidays. The Brick has several initiatives planned throughout the summer break and we are kicking off the campaign with a healthy food provision […]
Do you have the skills to make a difference as a trustee for The Brick?
A charity supporting people across the borough facing homelessness, poverty and hunger is looking for caring volunteers to help make a difference. The Brick is searching for trustees to join its board and help oversee the work being done by the charity’s staff and volunteers. They play a vital role in how the organisation operates […]
The Brick Reveals 2021 Poetry Competition Winners
100’s of students from Wigan and Leigh schools and colleges entered The Brick’s poetry competition and we can now reveal our 2021 Brick Poets! Erin Myhan, in year 6, from St Thomas’ CE Junior and Infant School in Golborne and Elisha Foster, year 12, from St John Rigby College, have been named the winners of […]