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Thursday 6 December 2012

Young Offenders


A question and answer panel discussion on whether criminal justice, and especially incarceration, is the best way to support young people in trouble with the law.
6:00pm – 8:00pm on Wednesday 12th December at the Crisis Skylight CafĂ©

NE1fm’s No Excuse Radio programme will be recorded at Crisis Skylight,
1-3 City Road, Newcastle, NE1 2AF. The programme will subsequently be broadcast on NE1fm 102.5fm on 28 December 2012.

Panel Members:
Chaired by Prof. Jo Phoenix – Professor of Criminology, Durham University with expertise in youth justice, youth justice policy implementation, childhood sexual exploitation and the policing of young people

Ms Vera Baird QC – Ms Baird is the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria. MP for Redcar from 2001 to 2010 and Solicitor General in the last Labour Government.

Dr Vici Armitage – Research Associate, Durham University with expertise in the policing and regulation of anti-social young people and young people at risk of offending

Kirsten Hall  – SCARPA (Safeguarding Children At Risk - Prevention and Action)

Mandy Maxwell - Teacher and working within a youth offending team mentoring programme 

Paul Brownlee - Manager, YOT, Newcastle
.
WE NEED YOUR QUESTIONS
We are offering you the chance to present your questions to the panel. If you are interested in attending or taking part please get in touch.
All requests to present questions must be received by
1pm on Wednesday 12th December.

You are very welcome to be part of the audience even if you do not want to ask the panel a question; however you must book in advance to reserve your place. Please email your question or request to attend to Nick Sinclair, Progression Team Manager at Crisis, nick.sinclair@crisis.org.uk.
Alternatively you can leave a note for his attention with reception at Crisis or phone 0191 222 06 22.

The event is free of charge. We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be an exciting and revealing discussion.

Leaving the Armed Forces

A panel discussion, held at Crisis Skylight cafe, on the services available to members of th armed forces after they leave service.

PODCAST HERE





Photos and contact information to follow

How to survive a Financial Crisis

For this discussion we were joined at Crisis Skylight cafe by Graham Brewis of Clean Slate, Roxy Draper from Christians Against Poverty, Clive Davis from Newcastle City Council, Andrew McGill from Gateshead Council and David Ellerington from Trading Standards.


Podcast is here:

http://www.mixcloud.com/noexcuseradio/no-excuse-on-how-to-survive-financial-crisis-may-2012/

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Eating Disorders


The term 'eating disorders' covers a range of conditions including Anorexia nervosa, Bullimia nervosa, binge eating and compulsive overeating - and to a certain extent, obesity.
Our panel consisted of:
Dr Caroline Reynolds from the Richardson Eating Disorder Service at the RVI
Sharon Cox, Counsellor and NLP practitioner
Maria Lavelle from Them Wifies
Helen Allott of NIWE and Getting a Grip
Maureen McGrath of NIWE

It was made abundantly clear that eating distress affects people in all social classes and communities in the UK. There can be a misperception that it only affects young, white, middle class girls but this is far from the case and many of the women coming to NIWE and other help organisations are in the older age groups.
There are also many ways of getting help and we attempt to give a list of phone numbers and websites here.
Do listen to the show, which is the best way of seeing that if you or a family member or friend are going through these problems - help is close at hand.


NIWE Eating distress service  NIWE aims to provide support to all those in North East England whose lives are affected by eating distress, or eating disorders. We do this by providing a range of services including a telephone help line, group support, introductory meetings, information and training. We also work to increase knowledge and awareness of eating distress and its effects.
NIWE Eating Distress Service, Unit 5/6 1 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
Tel: 0191 221 0233   E–mail: enquiries@niwe.org.uk

NHS Information on eating disorders: NHS

Beat National Helpline - very accessible for young people http://www.b-eat.co.uk/
Beat has a helpline for carers and sufferers  0845 634 1414 Mon-Fri 10.30 - 8-30, Saturday 1pm-4.30
Beat youthline 0845 634 7650 Mon-Fri 4.30-8pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30
there is also a forum on the website where people offer very sympathetic help to each other.
The phone lines are principally listening posts and will give signposts to help organisations


0191 257 9234 07751 722744     sharon.cox@live.com
Among other things, Sharon can give information in schools and colleges.

REDS   website
When you log on to the site, make sure your speakers are turned on - there is a short film detailing the services offered by REDS
REDS@ntw.nhs.uk   0191 282 5259

Getting a Grip   Personal Development  http://www.gettingagrip.co.uk/
01670 737985


Them Wifies  www.themwifies.org.uk
maria.lavelle@themwifies.org.uk     0191 257 9234    077 517 22744

 


Tuesday 21 February 2012

Homelessness

On Tuesday evening, February 21, we skipped the pancakes and instead went down to the Crisis Skylight cafe for a live discussion on homelessness.

The panel consisted of  Neil Munslow Housing and Welfare Rights Services Manager, Newcastle city council


 
 Catherine Hattam, Housing Options Manager, Gateshead Council

 
June Grimes, Director of Crisis Skylight Newcastle



Ted Dickenson, People’s Kitchen



Lindsay Cross Project Director West End Refugee Service 




and Kim McMaster Young Peoples Service manager, Your Homes Newcastle



Diane Stewart of the Cyrenians chaired the discussion



The questions - some put by the audience others which had been sent in covered topics such as
*Statistics on rough sleepers including whether there is a higher proportion of ex- service men and women ending up homeless / how we can help? / why aren’t there more agencies that can verify people as rough sleeping? / what more can be done?
*Welfare reform and its effects / the localism bill / single room rate effects etc
*Statistics on destitute asylum seekers
*How to help young people more – why aren’t there more jobs / support for first time buyers etc.
*Generally what changes are needed to end homelessness



 
 



Thursday 16 February 2012

Teenage Runaways

A few facts....
Every five minutes a child in the UK runs away from home.
Between 1 April 2009 - 31 March 2010:
• 613 young people were reported missing to Northumbria Police
in the Newcastle area.
• Some of these young people went missing more than once, meaning there were
946 reported incidents involving young people going missing from
Newcastle.
• On average 3 in 4 young people who went missing were missing from
home, with 1 in 4 young people missing from a care placement.
• 182 young people went missing more than once.

Kirsten Hall from SCARPA came to tell us about the support they can offer to young people who leave home.

SCARPA aims to help young people:
  • be 'safe from harm'
  • stop going missing
  • reduce risky behaviour
  • exit situations of exploitation.
SCARPA supports young people by providing:
  • help with any immediate needs that young people have
  • a safe place in the city centre
  • ongoing support – we aim to be in contact with young people at least twice a week or  more if needed 
  • support in accessing, negotiating and maintaining relationships with other service providers.
We heard recordings of a number of young people speaking about their experiences of running away, of risky situations they had been in and of the help and support they had received.


Wendy Wallace from Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) came along with Kayleigh and Michael from Youth Voice.
Kayleigh and Michael had both become homeless as young people and spoke about their experiences and the help they had received. As peer educators at Youth Voice, they go to schools to speak to young people about issues around homelessness
and how to deal with them.

Our guests spoke about the hazards young people can meet online, issues of trust - who do you trust? Problems that can arise if you have your own apartment and suddenly everyone wants to come and party...

Some useful information:

SCARPA, Brunswick Methodist Church, Brunswick Place, Newcastle, NE1 7BJ
Tel: 0191 221 0836 Text: 07715 122 759 Email: sca@childsoc.org.uk

Young people’s FREEPHONE number: 0808 178 9185 

Housing Advice Centre: 0191 277 1711
YHN Young People's Service: 0191 277 1190 
Youth Voice website

Outpost - Advice centre for young people between 16 and 25 who are gay (or who think they may be gay) and need help with housing  email: admin@outpostproject.org  
www.outpostproject.org

Childline - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you need someone to talk to: 0800 1111

CEOP - Child Exploitation Online Protection  - this website is full of advice about how to stay safe online

We were saddened when doing the research for this programme to hear how many people said we needed to speak to the young offenders units in various places. Young people may have many reasons for leaving home and being in that situation does not automatically mean that they are or will become offenders. Most of all they need help, support and someone to talk to.

We do plan, however to make a programme later in the year about young offenders, and invite organisations or individuals to contact us if they are interested in taking part.


PODCAST

Saturday 7 January 2012

Year end round-up

The production team discusses how we first came up with the idea for the programme and how we would like to develop it in the future.

The high points have been those times when a new area of research has been pinpointed - such as the awareness of same-sex relationships amongst people entering retirement homes and what provisions are made for them - or to what extent staff may be aware of  the family lives of residents.

We include clips from a selection of broadcasts from this year - ending with several very heartening sound bites from survivors of domestic abuse.
As well as a few appropriate songs, we include the two songs sung live by Simma in the November edition of No Excuse. Simma plays regularly in various venues around Newcastle and Gateshead - to see what he's up to go to http://www.simmaworld.com/

Amongst the subjects we plan to cover in 2012 are Teenage Runaways, Homelessness, Eating Disorders, Safe Sex and Online Gambling.

PODCAST

No Excuse for Alcohol Abuse

For the November edition of No Excuse the 'experts' were three former heavy drinkers and the partner of a man whose drinking had led to his premature death. We heard an interview with NECA - the North East Council on Addictions outlining the services they provide.

Each drinker had had a different reason for drinking - whether it was escaping difficult experiences, or simply enjoying the drink and its effects more than was good for them.In each case they had faced pivotal moments when they realized the seriousness of their drinking problems - either the effect it was having on family, or on their own physical health. All three have remained sober for differing lengths of time from one year to 15 years - and all intend to remain that way.

One of our guests was Simma, a local singer/songwriter who makes no secret of the fact that he used to be a heavy drinker until his doctor pointed out that his liver was in a terrible state. He gave us two live songs during the programme.

Here we list a variety of places in the area which offer help to problem drinkers:

Obviously - your first port of call should be your GP - the NHS has a huge amount of experience in working with problem drinkers. The rate of alcoholism at present is so high that there are not enough donor organs available for people needing a liver transplant.

NECA  http://www.neca.co.uk/
 Derwent Point, Clasper Way, Swalwell, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE16 3BE
 info@neca.co.uk   tel: 0191 414 6446

The Cyrenians, Oaktrees, 1a Walker Terrace, Gateshead NE8 1EB
Telephone: 0191 477 2205

Tyneside Residential Service, Phoenix Futures, Westoe Drive, South Shields NE33 3EW
Telephone: 0191 425 5548

Help for carers of problem drinkers:

Gateshead Family Support
11 Regent Terrace, Gateshead, NE8 1LU

NECA / Jigsaw, Cookson House, Suite 19, River Drive, South Shields, NE33 1TL
southtyne@necca.co.uk   tel: 0191 456 9999

CASA, Jackson House, Suite 207, Jackson Street, Gateshead NE8 1ED
casa@talktalkbusiness.net   tel: 0191 447 6488

PODCAST