Health & wellbeing
Cardinal Hume Centre and Carers’ Hub Lambeth jointly awarded prize
Bridging the gap between homelessness and a home
‘Picture a homeless person. What image did you all think of? A man or a woman on the streets with a cup or a cardboard sign? Or perhaps someone sleeping next to the tube station? Or how about a young person going from one friend’s sofa to another friend’s sofa?’
That was the picture painted by the Cardinal Hume Centre team who were jointly awarded the health and wellbeing prize alongside Carers’ Hub Lambeth at the final of King’s Civic Challenge.
They went on to highlight that there are 13 times more hidden homeless in London than there are rough sleepers on the streets, adding that homelessness prevention projects usually target adults and families.
The Cardinal Hume Centre in Westminster challenged themselves and their Civic Challenge team to find new ways to connect with young adults in the borough at risk of homelessness.
Their solution was to co-produce a short film with young people to highlight issues that might lead to homelessness, how to tackle them and where to get help. Following their win, the group will now work with young people in Westminster with lived experience of homelessness to create the film, partnering with schools, youth centres and places of worship.
There is a great need to support and guide these young people who are worried about their housing. We want to be part of the solution and tackle this problem before it becomes a crisis.
Cardinal Hume Centre team, King’s Civic Challenge final
Tackling social isolation among carers in Lambeth
The Carers’ Hub Lambeth team explained that there are up to 8.8 million informal carers in the UK with around 20,000 living in Lambeth.
They emphasised that caring impacts on many aspects of a person’s life, with eight in ten UK carers saying that they feel lonely or socially isolated. Carers, they said, are also seven times more likely than average to report always feeling this way.
Carers already accessing Carers’ Hub Lambeth’s social activities report feeling 41 per cent less isolated. Their King’s Civic Challenge award will now allow the team to develop ‘Caring Stories’, workshops that aim to reduce loneliness among informal carers in Lambeth to help improve their mental and physical health through peer support. It will culminate in an exhibition to raise awareness of the challenges that carers face.
Teams
James Holdcroft and Ellen Reeves from Carers’ Hub Lambeth with Fatma Ali (Lead Analyst), Ali Hepple (Sustainability Officer (Engagement)), Professional Services; Dania Quadri (Medicine MBBS), Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine; Alysha Ratnam (Law LLB), The Dickson Poon School of Law; Alia Yusuf (BSc Political Economy), Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy
Jemila Macauley, Hilary Nightingale and Gemma Silke from Cardinal Hume Centre with Maria Barragan (English Law & Spanish Law LLB), The Dickson Poon School of Law; Quisha Bustamante (BSc Biomedical Sciences), Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine; Shayni Geffen (MSc Global Mental Health) and Betuel Sahin (MSc Mental Health Studies), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience; Haruka Ikai (BSc Economics), King’s Business School.