SIG Comment on High Court Ruling Enabling Eviction of Disabled People

We were disappointed and concerned to read of the High Court’s recent ruling in favour of a Local Authority’s decision to evict and exclude a woman who lives with autism…

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13 March 2024
TJ’s Blog: SIG Join National Charities for Homelessness Lobby

Following SIG’s day of advocacy at Parliament last week, Penrose Roots member TJ Matthews shares the importance of the Ending Homelessness Together Lobby, the impact of h…

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6 March 2024
A Just Culture and Psychological Safety: Top-Down Transformation for Mental Health Services

An independent review into Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust (GMMHT) was published last month, following an exposé on BBC Panorama which showed abuse of pa…

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20 February 2024
Developing Community Mental Health in South London: Are We on the Same Page?   

Last week, Social Interest Group participated in South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust’s (SLaM) workshop for Lewisham Community Mental Health Development. With over…

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25 January 2024
EDI at Social Interest Group: 6 Guiding Principles

Since 2020 the influence of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Programmes has increased significantly. Social Interest Group have steadily built an EDI Programme whi…

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19 January 2024
5 things we would like to see in health, social care and justice in 2024

2024 is shaping up to be another year of turbulence and uncertainty. Whilst elections and global conflicts will likely dominate the news agenda, here are 5 changes we wou…

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16 January 2024
Creative Health: Learning and Arts in Community

A new report addressing skills and health inequality in London by the Institute for Health Equity highlights the importance of investment in community based adult learnin…

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11 January 2024
New Hope at 25: Stella reflects.

Today, we come together to celebrate the momentous occasion of New Hope’s 25th Anniversary. The service opened in October 1998. The team walked into a spanking-new buildi…

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27 October 2023
Let’s talk about shame and anxiety

Trauma-informed approaches are so integral to how we operate as a service provider that we now see this as a common sense approach; after all, it was adopted in response…

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10 October 2023
A Statement of Support for Transgender People

Your identity, your choice! A Statement of Support for Transgender People At Social Interest Group, we champion the importance of positive identity as a crucial element i…

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9 October 2023
External Affairs Blog – Government Shares Major Strategy for Suicide Prevention 

One hundred and fifteen people lose their lives in the UK each week by suicide. So many are living with suicidal thoughts, and though there are complex reasons that lead…

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26 September 2023
External Affairs Blog – Why our ‘Drugs are Bad’ approach has only made things worse.

Why our ‘drugs are bad’ approach has only made things worse: This month, the Home Affairs Select Committee published its extensive report on drug policy and treatment in…

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18 September 2023
World suicidal Prevention Day – Creating Hope

“Creating Hope Through Action” is the triennial theme for the World Suicide Prevention Day from 2021-2023. This theme serves as a powerful call to action and reminder tha…

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10 September 2023
External Affairs Blog – Digitisation in the CJS and Social Care Sectors

Digitisation has become a real government buzzword but what is it and why is it being presented as a solution to many national issues such as the national backlog in cour…

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5 September 2023
External Affairs Blog – Increase In Prison Recalls

The increase in prison populations over the last few years is staggering. Part of the increase is due to recalls also increasing at significant rates; the most recent sta…

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30 August 2023
External Affairs Blog – Women, Race and the Criminal Justice System

Women, Race and the Criminal Justice System Ever heard of Cultural Mediation? Hibiscus Initiatives have shared new research findings and recommendations based on their wo…

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29 June 2023
Bias exists against black people throughout the Criminal Justice System’s processes

‘While black people are more likely to be held in prison to await their trials and sentencing, and for longer periods, research suggests they are also far more likely to…

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21 June 2023
Finding my Roots – TJ Matthews

For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt like an outsider in my own life, searching for a place where I could truly belong. Our society is structured in a way that…

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6 April 2023
Maria’s Blog – Safeguarding Awareness

Last week, I got the dreaded ‘call from school’ on my mobile phone in the middle of the work day. My 9-year-old had choked on a grape, stopped breathing, and…

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22 November 2022
Kenny’s Blog – Visit to Sikh Golden Temple

I remember the 1st time I visited to the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar in Punjab India.  My mum took me of course! We went to visit my grandparents and family…

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26 October 2022
Graham’s Blog – Apprenticeships – a Misunderstood Topic

When we think of someone working towards an apprenticeship, we may have in our minds a young school leaver, working in a vocational role, maybe in a factory or an enginee…

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17 October 2022
Norman’s BHM Blog – The Power of Language

Communication is one of our essential human functions, without which many phases of World Civilisation would not have existed. Consequently, language emerges as the prima…

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7 October 2022
Colm’s Blog – “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64….”

As we approach the end of LGBTQ+ Pride month, I would like to follow up on the excellent Blog by Rares earlier in the month with a few thoughts about growing older as a g…

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27 June 2022
Rares’ Blog – Living with Mental Health: Homosexuality

This would have probably been the title of this blog had it been written before 1973, when ‘The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)’ s…

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17 June 2022
Happy Mother’s Day – Vanessa’s Blog

This Sunday will be celebrated in the UK as mothering Sunday, while most of the rest of the world, celebrate Mother’s Day in May. So I’ve been thinking about mother…

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25 March 2022
Meet Jas, our 2022 Fundrasing Hero

Jas Uppal raised money for the Social Interest Group earlier this year. Jas trained for the Hampton Court Half Marathon as part of her fundraising efforts. She…

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25 February 2022
Pride Blog

June was Pride Month, a month when the LGBTQIA+ community is celebrated. Whilst much of Pride is for celebratory purposes, the occasion also marks an important historic b…

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13 July 2021
Norman’s Blog -Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

The 25th May marked a year since George Floyd was murdered in the United States, triggering worldwide condemnation and protests. Naturally our thoughts were with George’s…

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13 July 2021
Liridona’s Blog – Equinox Lewisham

My name is Liridona Ahmeti, but you can call me Liri. I am the new Activities Coordinator at SIG Equinox Lewisham. I take the lead on Service User Engagement and my daily…

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21 June 2021
Victoria’s Blog – International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is such an important day for me. I love being a woman, celebrating all women and sharing women’s success and achievements. For me, paying it for…

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8 March 2021
Colm’s Blog – LGBT+ History Month – Part 1 “Mind”

“This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be” – Alan Turing in an interview with The Times newspaper, 11th June 1949. Wh…

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5 February 2021
Kenny’s Blog – Working & Caring

There are many of us who are carers, trying to balance that role with a career.  I am sharing what it has been like for me as a carer and the difficulty the lockdown…

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8 January 2021
Victoria’s Blog – Mindfulness

It’s been a wee while since I contributed to our blogs. I know I’m not the only one who has found this second lockdown and ongoing threat of the virus at times overwhelmi…

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16 December 2020
Marcia’s Blog – Upcycling

Our staff are some of the most dedicated and innovative and are always looking for new ways to engage Service Users. Please read the blog below from Marcia, a Recovery Wo…

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14 December 2020
Colm’s Blog – What the Red Ribbon Means

Since 1988, December 1st has been designated World AIDS Day by the World Health Organisation and this year’s theme is “Global solidarity, shared responsibility”.  It…

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1 December 2020
Rochelle’s Blog – Aspinden Rises to the Challenge

Today marks a month since I’ve been hurled out of the duty of motherhood and back to manager mode. I’ve left the safe cocoon of maternity leave, my dressing gown and the…

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20 November 2020
Sarah’s Blog – The Perfect Storm

Sarah is a Service User within our Brighton Trailblazer service, who has recently completed a programme of recovery and been supported to get her own home. The aim of t…

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20 August 2020
Stuart’s Blog – Living With Diabetes

This blog is from Stuart Jenkin, the Vice Chair of our Board, about how he copes with his diabetes. Many Service Users and some of our staff also live with this disease,…

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29 July 2020
Katherine’s Blog – Fundraising

We have now published our fundraising page and have launched our first campaign and welcomed the first of our donors through the door. We are now well on our way to build…

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29 July 2020
Colm’s Blog – Pride & Prejudice

It’s probably because of the strange times we are in, but I had to be reminded that June is Pride month.  I suppose I have started to get used to seeing rainbow flag…

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23 June 2020
Adam’s Blog – The Calm Inside the Storm

It’s day 36 in the Big Brother pandemic simulator; the area formally known as my living room re-purposed for strategic-level admin. I use two screens to make myself feel…

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28 April 2020
Darren’s Blog – Securing our Future

So here we are in the third week of the significant government enforced restrictions. I am not personally a fan of the term “lockdown”, it sounds like something which is…

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7 April 2020
Colm’s Blog – Keeping things PIE in challenging times

As we move into April and a new month in lockdown, I am aware of the growing challenges of social distancing and self-isolation. For many of our Service Users, isolation…

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1 April 2020
Cassie’s Blog – Room with a View

Today we are testing our pandemic plans across the business which includes closing Head Office. But what does home working look like for me? Well, this little fella, Budd…

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19 March 2020
Gill’s Blog – Thank You

Dear colleagues It’s strange how the world works isn’t it? Only two weeks ago the government were describing social care workers as ‘unskilled’ and the media spent time d…

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18 March 2020