Gateway Family Services
Changing Lives, Changing Services.
We work to improve health, develop skills and opportunities and fight inequalities. We change the way public services work.
Our Keyworkers get people into the jobs they want
13 weeks pregnant and under a lot of stress, Diane* was a client of our POW service. She was involved with an abusive partner and had suffered an early miscarriage, as well as experiencing the onset of depression. During that time her benefits had also been cancelled.
Diane was referred to the key worker service where she was offered support and guidance from one of Gateway’s Key-workers, Susan Bernard. When Susan met her she was still struggling financially. Susan supported Diane through frequent one to one visits and phone calls and signposted her to relevant agencies, who helped Diane get motivated and search for courses as she was interested in voluntary/paid employment. Diane’s burning ambition since leaving school has been to work in the Travel and Tourism Industry.
Diane was very resilient despite all that she had been through as a young person and had been doing voluntary work with West Midlands Fire Service for a time. She had also managed to find a voluntary placement with Travel Lodge which she has hoped would lead to a permanent position.
She enrolled for a French language class which she has been attending one evening a week to improve her skills but unfortunately had a setback due to a car accident which meant she wasn`t able to continue her role with Travel Lodge. This was really disappointing for her because she had set her heart on working for them as a Receptionist/Front of House role and had done all the required training for the organisation .This was just another barrier to overcome for Diane.
Susan supported her to complete a quality CV and covering letter so she was prepared for future job vacancies.
With the gained confidence and tools for finding employment Diane applied for a job with Birmingham Airport for a Security post. She was not expecting to receive a positive response due to lack of experience but was keen to apply and hope for the best. Diane was then short listed for the interview which was a full days assessment. Diane was very nervous but Susan supported her with interview preparation and confidence building to help Diane focus on the task ahead.
Diane’s application was successful out of sixty applicants and feels over joyed with what she has managed to achieve after such a difficult start
Diane has now started her new job and is finally getting to where she wants to be in life, all with her new baby!
*Name changed to protect identity
Losing 5 stone? That’ll be the Health Trainers
Health Trainer Paul Clarke’s client, Jenny*, was referred into the Health Trainer Service as she wanted to lose a bit of weight and also was very keen on learning more about healthy eating.
Sitting down and discussing her lifestyle, Jenny was easily able to identify the reasons behind her problems in losing weight. She also explained that she had managed to quit smoking with the help of Call to Quit, and identified that the constant support and weekly monitoring really assisted in her achievement her goal of quitting. Jenny said that she was able to give up smoking because of all the support she had.
Jenny and Paul decided that weekly monitoring would really help with weight loss. Paul explained to Jenny about the Lighten Up programme which would help her to receive the support she required with losing weight.
Paul encouraged her to attend a trial session at Weight Watchers to make sure she enjoyed the programme. Paul and Jenny were both happy with the programme and indeed Jenny had lost 4lbs in the first session!
Following on from this, Jenny had lost a further 9lbs, taking her weight loss to 13lbs. Although she was happy that she was losing weight and had almost lost a stone to this point, and had set herself a target of losing a total of 55lbs – with the support of Paul and Lighten Up
Over the next 10 weeks Jenny lost 40lbs – Which was AMAZING!! Her BMI had also decreased in this time from 31 to 24
Although the progress Jenny made was excellent, she was still determined to lose the final 6lbs to reach her target weightloss of 60lbs. Within 3 weeks of her final appointment she contacted Paul to confirm the good news that she had lost the final 6lbs she had hoped for.
In total, Jenny lost 68lbs, or an equivalent of 4 stone and 12 pounds and has vowed to keep strict on her lifestyle choices and is enjoying the time being able to be more active with her daughter.
A great example of working together, well done, Jenny Paul and the Lighten Up team.
*names changed to protect identity
POWs get more mums to breast feed
19 year old Jess talking about why she wants to breast feed.
Our latest statistics show that 70% of our mums started breast feeding, compared to 68% across Birmingham.
Most people agree that breast feeding is the best start for any baby. They got all the nutrients they need, it helps give them a strong immune system. It’s so important that UNICEF’s ‘Baby Friendly’ initiative is promoting it around the world. And we always encourage our new mums to breastfeed. Some of them say they don’t want to, but we find that’s because they don’t know how good it is for their babies and how good it is for them.
Some mums simply aren’t confident about trying it, they say they won’t do it right, and sometimes they do find it a bit difficult, and don’t have enough support to get it established.
We visit mums before they give birth to let them know what to expect, and then once the baby’s arrived we visit them at home to answer any questions and help them with any problems. We always encourage mums to give it a go and then support them so they keep going.
Starting up a charity – with help from Gateway
19 year old Francis from Northfield in Birmingham has founded his own charity with the help of Susan Bernard from Gateway Family Services.
One in five young people is now without a job. So it’s tough to find work or even work-experience. It’s especially tough to find work you really want to do, but with the help of Gateway Family Services one young man is beginning to make a dream come true – a dream he didn’t even know he had. Six months ago he didn’t have a job – now he’s started his own charity.
Last summer Francis left University without knowing what to do next. He was struggling to find full time work and couldn’t see much hope for the future.
He heard about one of our ‘Back to Work’ events, he wasn’t sure it was for him, but went along anyway and met Susan Bernard. Susan is a Gateway Family Services Key Worker, funded by the Big Lottery. Her role is to advise and support people to get the skills they need to find work – and that’s what she did for Francis.
He’d got some ideas about voluntary work with young people and children; he loved football, and he’d heard about a charity in the Cameroon that was helping young people through the sport. He wanted to get involved, he wanted to help. Then he had an idea of setting up his own charity to work with the one in Cameroon – but didn’t know where to start.
But Susan did. With her local knowledge and contacts, Francis found the right people to talk to; he got the right experience and the right help. From first aid qualifications to business advice. So, with Susan’s encouragement and support he set up his own charity. Based on the principles of ‘Football4Action’ it’s called ‘Rural Development Centre UK’ or RUDEC UK, and it aims to equip young people in Cameroon with the skills to make a difference to their local community and a difference to their own future.
Francis has found more support, from two other charities – Edward’s Trust and Acorns, and from Waitrose in Harborne – and Susan is still supporting him too. In June he will be making his first trip to Cameroon to see at first hand the challenge for his charity.
So – in a few short months, a young man who didn’t know what to do has found the direction he wants to take with the help of Susan and Gateway Family Services.
Gateway Wins Award for Reducing Barriers to Employment
From left to right: (Gateway Programme Manager, Laura Ward, Sue Gladwish and Kerry Chase from Action for Blind People)
Gateway Family Services were delighted to receive an award this week from Action for Blind People, the charity that represents those who are blind and partially sighted, across the UK.
Gateway, who are a social enterprise that helps overcome barriers to employment and community health services, received the charity’s ‘See the Capability, not the Disability’ award for their work with Sue Gladwish, a registered blind lady from Kitwell in Birmingham who, after a six-month paid placement, has now been offered employment, helping to transform her confidence and self-belief. In the video below, Sue talks to us about how, after 18 years, she is enjoying being back in the ‘working groove’ again.
Sue is the administrator for Gateway’s Lighten Up Service. She said: “Gateway Family Services has recognised my capability, not the disability of sight loss. Their support has boosted my self-esteem, showing that being visually impaired shouldn’t be a barrier to work. I can contribute just as much as my sighted colleagues, thanks to the company’s innovation and support.”
Getting Healthy and Losing Weight for the New Year
In November 2011, Susie* was referred to the Health Trainer Service through her GP surgery.
Like many, Susie was keen to lose weight, but with the festive season looming around the corner, she thought it would be a challenge to commit to any goals. Traditionally Christmas & the New Year would bring more sugary indulgences and larger portion sizes, not to mention the excess of wine.
Susie was allocated Keiran McKenzie as her Health Trainer. During the initial assessment on the 13th December, Susie told Keiran how she had previously struggled to lose weight and how her weight had increased over the last 2 years. She had tried cutting out chocolate, and even tried cutting out snacks after 8pm; all to no avail.
Keiran was able to listen to her problems and offer alternative advice on healthy ways to lose weight and improve her life. Susie embraced the advice given, and after setting herself some realistic goals, she was ready and determined to face Christmas.
Having enjoyed her Christmas season, whilst keeping to her goals, Susie returned in the New Year, unsure of what the outcome would be. To her delight, she had lost 3.2lbs, and is now even more eager to stick to her goals. This goes to show how healthy eating can in fact be just as enjoyable, whilst helping you lose a few pounds if executed correctly.
Well done to Susie and Keiran!!
* name changed to protect identity
You can’t damp-en our spirits!
It has been reported across the media this week, there is a shortage of houses across the country and an even bigger shortage of affordable houses which impacts on a large part of society, mainly those with little other choice. With homeless figures in Birmingham increasing by almost 20% in recent months, and winter upon us, it is imperative that people can access good quality, safe and affordable housing when they need it most.
Many of our clients are referred with housing issues, in fact over the last year over 40% of our pregnant women have came to us needing help with their housing situation and this number looks set to grow further.
Natsenet, a client originally from East Africa came to Gateway as she needed support with her English skills and was referred to ESOL classes in the local area. What soon became apparent however was how desperate Natsenet’s living situation was. Although she was lucky enough to have a one bedroom place of her own, the flat was full of mildew and damp and completely unsuitable for a mum to be as can be seen in the below pictures.
Natsanet’s problem with damp was so bad, paint and plaster (and the dust) were peeling from the wall
After contacting her housing officer, Natsanet was told that they were unable to help, with them blaming her for somehow causing the damp (!). Despite continually trying to get the help she needed, Natsanet was still no closer to getting the repairs she needed. After more continuous effort and rejection, trying to get some support through her housing officer, Natsanet turned to her Pregnancy Outreach Worker, Maria Hesson who called and called on her behalf, making the most of her experience in dealing with these organisations and trying to take some of the pressure off Natsetnet at such an important time in her pregnancy.
After many, many phone calls and lots of excuses, Maria managed to get hold of someone at the housing association and was able to tell them all about the situation, even showing them the pictures of the squalid conditions that this vulnerable lady was living in. Thankfully, they were happy to help, following the intervention from Maria, and they agreed to repair Natsanet’s house and remove the damp and mildew, even paying for Natsenet to stop in a hotel whilst the work was being carried out.
Natsanet, who has now given birth to a beautiful baby is delighted with her home now and feels that she can begin a new life with her child, something that she puts down to the help given to her from Maria, who received a text message from Natsanet a few weeks later, thanking her for all of her help.
Strictly Not Rehabilitation
Our new out-patient service offers cardio out-patients and their families the chance to work with a “befriender” to progress their recovery plan.
The befriender will be a first contact point for any aspects of the recovery programme and could assist with going to the shops, getting to the planned dance classes.
Part of Strictly is an invitation to attend a weekly dance class – whether to improve your dancing skills (!), meet with other patients or one of our team, or simply socialise.
The Strictly dance session will be held weekly, at Selly Oak Methodist Church in Langleys Road . At this class the patients and their partner/friend, if you choose to bring one, will be invited to get up and dance. Dances will be available that don’t need a partner. Professional instruction will be provided! If people don’t want to dance and just prefer to just sit it out that’s fine too. The idea is to have fun!
The programme is free and will last 12 weeks during which you will be asked to complete questionnaires so we can get an idea of how the programme is doing.
Here, one of our volunteers, Jim, explains why he has decided to give up some of his time to volunteer within his local community after being made redundant
‘No food for a week’ – support from Gateway
Our pregnancy outreach workers find themselves doing remarkably simple things to help women get the help they need for a healthy pregnancy.
Here Lynette is loading up her car with food donated by friends, relatives and staff at Gateway. This is common because we often find women who can’t afford to buy basic food.
We’re not alone in doing this. Food Banks are becoming more common. Fare Share is a national food bank charity which has a depot in Nechells – handing out food parcels. In September the National Lottery granted £425,000 to a the Narthex group in Sparkhill
A Big Lottery award of £425,000 to the charity Narthex Sparkhill sees a commitment to opening and running a five-year funded food bank in Sparkhill. The National Lottery, through the Big Lottery Fund, has made this grant to Narthex which will enable them to expand the work they are already doing amongst some of the most needy people in the city.
Sparkhill food bank project will address the needs of the most vulnerable within the community including people placed in sudden financial crisis due to change in personal circumstances leading to financial hardship and in some case destitution or homelessness.
Like us, the Ladywood Food Bank relies on donations from the public for its work across the constituency, plus donations from Tesco’s Morrisons, Sainsbury’s Cost-Co, Asda, Aldi, Farm Foods and other businesses.
Food is fundamental and the pregnancy outreach workers provide a critical link – they know when women are short of food and make sure they get the help they need.
