CSAN Blog

Celebrating the International Day of People with a Disability

  

According to Scope, 38% of disabled children worry about being bullied and 49% of disabled people have experienced discrimination in shops. Disabled people are less likely to be in employment, the UK employment rate among working age disabled people is 46.5% compared to 84% of non-disabled people.

Every year, 3rd December marks the celebration of the International Day of People with a Disability. Based in Australia but sanctioned by the United Nations globally, the day aims to put an end to the institutional and attitudinal barriers that disabled people face by increasing public understanding, awareness, and acceptance of people with a disability. This day aims to bring together disability organisations, businesses, governments, and communities, helping us to work towards developing a more inclusive society.

For this year’s International Day of People with a Disability, it is important to celebrate the work that Caritas Social Action Network’s members carry out every day across England and Wales. CSAN member Catholic Care delivers vital learning disability services in Leeds by providing residential homes, supported living, and outreach support to those with a range of needs. 54 adults with learning disabilities currently live in Catholic Care’s residential and supported-living homes, proving how it is both essential and possible for disabled people to have a say in where they live, what they do, and who looks after them. The charity also encourages a spirit of community and integration, with their website often featuring updates on communal events. This month, one resident named Caroline attended an event in Leeds for Inter Faith Week. The event was organised especially for those with a learning disability, and Caroline enjoyed the opportunity to be able to talk to others about how important her Christian faith has been for her throughout her life. Outreach services include emotional, social, and practical support for the individual as well as for their families and carers. Helping with the preparation of meals, doing house work, giving benefits and budgeting advice, and forging friendships, all work towards allowing individuals to live full and independent lives in their own homes.

Nugent is another CSAN member which showcases a diverse range of excellent services. Rooted in the legacy of the work of Father James Nugent (1822-1905), the charity offers five secure, caring, and supported living environments to ensure that those living with mental or physical disabilities receive dignified, person-centred care.  Community services include the Individualised Community Support programme which is centred on aiding those with learning disabilities through one on one support and delivering access to activities in the individual’s local community. The drive to promote independence is commendable and visible within all aspects of this programme, ranging from the provision of education to gardening and access to a computer in community bases.

While these charities are amazing examples of the work that CSAN’s members do, it is important to remember that efforts are not strictly limited to residential and community services. On 6th November 2016, Bishop Paul McAleenan, who has worked with deaf people for many years and knows sign language, celebrated Mass for the Deaf Community at Caritas Westminster. The Mass captured the essence of what the International Day of People with a Disability is about – celebrating the community of disabled people itself, not only the structures in place to benefit them.

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Calais: A new chapter starts

  

By Phil Kerton, Seeking Sanctuary

I set off to drive to Dover on the last day of November to make my first visit to Calais since the destruction of the ‘Jungle’ camp. The temperature was permanently below zero as I headed East along the A2 and M2, with the blinding morning sun ahead of me. I had already packed goods from a variety donors into the car and met up with Ben and his son to add an even larger quantity, principally collected by the people of St Aidan’s church in Coulsdon. Ben also handed over a large amount of cash which had been raised in recent weeks to support the continuing work in Calais.

The sky over the Channel was clear, with the French coast already in sight from the harbour and, thankfully for this season, the sea was as flat as the proverbial millpond. On the reaching Calais the temperature had risen by ten degrees Celsius – quite the reverse of the usual cross-Channel pattern in winter months.

My plan was to visit a number of associations who we had assisted over the previous eighteen months and find out how things had changed and what their vision was for the future. My first stop was the Catholic Worker house – a chance to meet some people face-to-face for the first time. The House – the first Catholic Worker house in France – was set up in February 2016.  It’s a large “house of hospitality” that works with volunteers in Calais to try to help some of the most vulnerable people.

An important part of its mission has been to help organise emergency hospitality to the most vulnerable, such as families with children; unaccompanied minors; refugees with medical needs or who are recovering after treatment; pregnant woman, and all at risk of exploitation. Also visiting people in hospital and being alongside lonely refugees. The Eritrean icon artist, Henok, has spent time there and they are looking after some of his work. A few weeks ago there were six visitors, but the number “visiting” was down to two when I arrived, with at least six more being visited in hospital.

Volunteers live simply, in community with their visiting refugees and migrants, and are actively involved in prayer and work for peace and justice. Its coordinator is a Dutch Protestant brother, Johannes Maertens. I was delighted to hand over a sum of money to help with the expenses of running the house, along with sufficient “little bags of hope” – the first to be distributed this year – to provide a festive present to all those that they were currently helping.

My next stop was not far away, at the new Secours Catholique “migrants’ locker-room” whose opening had been delayed for close to a year by wrangles over compliance with various regulations. The eventual result is a splendid resource where they can welcome their migrant friends in a different setting, in a more dignified way away from squalid shelters and muddy fields. Clothes can be selected at a counter where there is no need to queue and where choices are available. Shelves are currently being stocked with winter clothes, footwear and bedding in the firm expectation that, as in the past, numerous clients will return during 2017. For the time being they get just the odd visitor, new arrivals and people staying for medical treatment, or with leave to remain while asylum applications are processed. Goods can be sent to other places where there is a demand, if the shelves eventually get full.

Those working there were able to confirm that they will be pleased to distribute our “little bags of hope” when we have accumulated a good supply – probably to people in the Grande Synthe camp near Dunkirk. I handed over a small supply of bags for them to give their next few visitors and headed off towards the warehouse run by the Auberge des Migrants and Hep Refugees.

My route took me along the port access road to the business estate best known in the UK for its discount wine and beer outlets. Workers were busy erecting the “great wall of Calais” alongside the section of the road that had not been fitted with extra-high security fences and razor wire. This is allegedly intended to abate traffic noise and not to keep migrants off the carriageway, but it is still being erected where the land alongside the road dips down to a much lower. As I drove in at tortoise pace in a queue of HGVs on the carriageway that was not closed to allow the construction work, I pondered the structure, reported to be consuming some £1.9 million of UK aid, and wondered if its designers might soon be bidding to wall off Mexico from its northern neighbour.

To add to my anger I found that the builders had closed the exit slip road that I had intended to use, sending me off on a circular trip of several extra miles!

The warehouse also houses the Calais Community Kitchen, where volunteers were still working hard preparing food, mainly destined for Dunkirk. I get the same report in each place that I visited: numbers at Dunkirk, which had dropped to around 500 a month or so earlier, had shot back up during November, passing the 1,500 mark by a wide margin, now probably hovering near 1,800. This was another place where I handed over a welcome sum of cash. Donations and supplies of ingredients are arriving much more slowly now that the ‘jungle’ has been razed: please people, they are still needed! And the same is true at the neighbouring warehouse which last month distributed 21,000 items to people in Dunkirk, Paris and accommodation centres across the country.

My final visit was to the Care4Calais warehouse, located in Blériot-Plage on the edge of the town. Rather than trust my instinct and speed along the autoroutes, I asked my SatNav for a fast route and found myself in a sequence of traffic jams close to the town centre. There are still plenty of riot police hanging around beside strategic roads and on street corners. They are quick to question anyone who they believe looks like a migrant and demand to see their papers. If there are any problems, then it’s straight into a van to be carted off to detention somewhere.

Handing over the boxes and bags of donations (all very well labelled to assist the warehouse operations), I met a volunteer who had just spent a week in Paris. He confirmed what I had heard on my three previous calls that day: there are hundreds of people sleeping in the open on the streets of the capital. Informal camps have been cleared in recent months and no more are allowed to develop. The capacity of new “reception centres” is inadequate, and the maximum permitted stay is only some ten days.

Temperatures have been down to seven degrees below zero. There is a desperate need of tents, including pop-up designs that can be used on pavements. Other major needs are warm hats, gloves and scarves, along with men’s winter clothes in sizes S and M, and new underwear.

So, to sum up, everyone in Calais is preparing for numbers to increase again. Will this be from the brand new arrivals, still turning up in their dozens each week? Or from those – including children – who are dissatisfied with their accommodation in remote respite centres and who have disappeared? Or will those who have not applied for asylum in France be thrown out of the centres and wander back to the Channel coast? Or do the authorities want to keep the numbers in Calais down to a minimum until after second round of the Presidential elections in May 2017?

Meantime, there is the Dunkirk camp to supply, and there are many thousands in respite centres across France, some of who lack some essentials. Calais can act as a hub to supply all of these and any surplus goods can be packed on pallets to be added to vans on their way to refugee camps in Greece.

And spare a thought for the long-term volunteers, who are all pleased that the ‘jungle’ has gone – though not with the manner in which it was demolished – and who are suffering the bereavement of finding a hole in their lives and losing the friends who they had helped for months on end.

And for my own short day of “tourism”? On my way back to the port I snatched up a couple of bottles of Christmas cheer, which I will see consumed with guilt, when remembering what other people need in order to merely survive. (Perhaps I’ll find the excuse to talk about the circumstances in which I happened to buy them?) And I managed to make it on to an earlier ferry and discover that a cousin and her husband were among my fellow passengers. Calais seem to be an extension of London for those who live in the South East, but what a terribly different place it has been for the past year and a half.

As for 2017? Those on the ground in Calais are preparing to do their best to provide aid, whatever scenario develops. If only the politicians of Europe would choose to follow their lead.

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Calais: Aid continues

  

By Faith Anderson, Public Affairs Officer

On Monday 24th October 2016, the day official demolition of the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp began, a friend and I drove some clothes over.

We rented a van and loaded it up with donations of winter clothes, sturdy shoes and thermal socks. We then hopped on a ferry and drove to the Secours Catholique distribution centre near the port in the town of Calais.

The reason the distribution warehouse is in the town and not near the camp itself is simple: there, twice a month, they can hold major distributions where migrants can come and receive clothing in a dignified way.

The camp residents can choose clothes which fit them, clothes they like the look of, without needing to queue like they do for hours each day to shower, charge their phones and get a meal. This wouldn’t be possible on the site of the camp.

The people working there were incredibly kind. The sacks of donations were piled high, with a team (mostly volunteers) sorting through them. The standard for donations is ‘things you would give to a relative’ – this is not about pity rags or shoes with holes. This was about treating some fellow humans as you would wish to be treated if you found yourself alone in a foreign country without money and with winter approaching.

Our van was searched five times in total, by border police, port officials and an armed soldier. The French border official scanned our passports and said that if we were seen protesting near the camp, they would have our passports. However, we were waved through each time.

And whilst there were police everywhere along the road to the port past the camp, things seemed calm during the afternoon at least. There is sympathy for the police who are dealing with a very difficult situation, outnumbered by people who have reached their wits’ end and who don’t understand their instructions shouted in French. Yet the tragedy is for the migrants who face tear gas and batons and watching the makeshift home they have survived in, sometimes for years, getting bulldozed.

It is a difficult situation with no easy solution, yet the Secours Catholique team were an example of Christian response: getting on with sorting the clothes and providing for whoever might come. We asked Pascal, who helped us unload the van, whether he thought there would be less demand following the demolitions.

“There have been camps here for 17 years. There have been demolitions before,” he said in perfect English. He smiled sadly, summing up the whole crisis and the failed governmental response so far: “We expect we will still be ‘in business’ for a while yet.”

Secours Catholique is accepting donations and carry out two major distributions per month for a few hundred people at a time. Donations can be delivered every Monday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon from 14.00 – 17.00 without appointment at 47 rue de Moscou, in Calais.

They need men’s clothes only, focusing on small sizes (S and M), including underclothing, backpacks, hiking boots and trainers, coats, blankets, sleeping bags, scarves, gloves and hats.

 

The opinions and positions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Caritas Social Action Network.

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

‘Get Online Week’ for Older People: 17-23 October 2016

  

By Katherine Milne, Parliamentary, Policy and Communications Assistant

For today’s generation, digital literacy is second nature. But for older people, the world of online GP appointments, banking and social media is far removed. A lack of digital inclusion for older people is an emerging and growing problem; a campaign launched by Friends of the Elderly raised the concern that the internet may alienate over 700,000 people over the age of 60 by 2030, as shops and service providers continue to place their focus on the online domain. The development of a digital divide between the younger generations and older people is visible within the context of a Digital Britain, leading to the necessity of intervention that ensures the equal equipping of society with digital skills, and therefore the avoidance of a technologically disadvantaged segment of the population.

Research is required to identify the barriers to the digital exclusion of older people. One barrier is the major lack of understanding surrounding how the internet actually works, and another remains a dismissive attitude based on the conviction that the internet is not necessary. In a world where anything from the sharing of resources to discount deals is heavily reliant on the internet, it is increasingly important for the active communication of the benefits of being online to older people.

CSAN members recognise how essential it is that the digital divide is decreased. Caritas Salford, Catholic Care Leeds, Nugent and Irish Chaplaincy work with older people which includes encouraging older people to explore and develop digital literacy. While these charities are working at a grassroots level to counter the problem of digital illiteracy, Get Online Week (17-23 October) highlights this issue on a national scale. This year marks their 10th campaign aimed at overcoming the digital exclusion of older people by helping communities across the UK to discover the advantages of the online world. The Get Online website offers a range of services, including a map of campaign events taking place in places across the UK, such as in community centres and libraries, which aim to teach older people how to use and make the most of laptops, smart phones and tablets.

To take part in this year’s campaign, you can register as a Get Online Week Event Holder to gain access to marketing resources and the training needed to reach out to people in a community to demonstrate how digital skills are vital to overcoming unemployment, staying in touch with family and friends, and helping with healthcare problems. Please visit https://www.getonlineweek.com/take-part/ for more information.

If you are looking to help an older relative or friend to get online, then you can also read this informative news article by the Telegraph for a concise guide to breaking down barriers to the digital world.

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Calais: Donations dispersed with dignity

  

By Kathleen O’Brien, a parishioner of Faversham, on her recent trip to Calais

I’ve visited the camp in Calais twice now and seen men queueing by the roadside to receive food and clothes. I was struck by how much more dignified it was for them to be greeted, welcomed and given time to choose shoes that fitted. Before they left, each man was asked whether he needed a blanket or sleeping bag and was handed one from the stack by the far wall.

“Where do the donations come from?” “All over France,” replied Christine, “and some from Belgium and some from the UK.” She estimated the blankets would all be gone by the end of Saturday. Léa explained that, in the months it had taken to gain the necessary permissions to open this facility, donations had built up. Now that it is open, they will soon disappear.

Organisation

Through Léa, Christine explained that Caritas France (equivalent to CAFOD in England and Wales) is the Catholic Church’s overseas development agency and assists with international emergencies, while Secours Catholique is a bit like CSAN in the UK – dealing with social needs within the country.  “Because the refugees are here in Calais, we (Secours Catholique) are helping them.”

“What will happen if the camp is destroyed?” Léa shrugged, “They will disperse and make new camps. They don’t know where to go, where to live. Most want to live in the UK. It is a complex problem. The UK cannot accept everyone.”

Ahmed

Outside, I asked whether anyone spoke English. A tall young man stepped forward and introduced himself as Ahmed from Sudan.

Ahmed had lived on the streets in Italy for a month before hearing that things were better in France. I asked how he had been able to afford a train ticket. “No ticket, no money”, he told me. When the inspector asked for his ticket, then for money, he explained that he had none. The inspector put him off the train at the next station, and Ahmed simply waited for the next train.

He had been in Calais two months and thought that numbers in the camp were growing. He said that there was more food here than in Italy, “lots of organisations for food”, but that there was still not enough. Sometimes it might be two days between meals, but he had eaten last night.

I asked whether he thought that the camp would be destroyed. He said he hoped that the ordinary people would fight the government and it would not happen.

Ahmed told me he had left Sudan because it was not safe for him to be there. “My parents are still in Sudan. I ring them sometimes when someone gives me a phone.” Ahmed said, “If I could I would stay in France.” He had begun the application process for asylum but said it was not easy: “I just want protection”. He concluded: “If my country became peaceful, I’d go to my country.”

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

MPs want to reduce homelessness, but the prescription is having unwanted side effects

  

By CSAN Policy

16 November 2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the BBC’s first broadcast of ‘Cathy Come Home’, highlighting conditions of compounding seriousness in which people with housing difficulties could find themselves (one thing leading to another); the stigma and scapegoating associated with poverty and homelessness, and a chronic shortage of housing support from public services, if families and friends were unable to bear the burden.  On a first viewing of the film, the issues and attitudes can seem stunningly familiar in 21st Century Britain.

Over intervening decades, numerous ‘policy solutions’ to various types of homelessness have been tried.  Average life expectancy rates for people with a history of rough sleeping have improved over time.  But so has average life expectancy overall.  The gap between these rates remains large.  In addition, over the next 15 years, gaps in life expectancy for the whole population are expected to widen on socio-economic lines, reflecting increased income inequalities for example.

Despite creation of what some term a ‘homelessness industry’, with innumerable campaigns, celebrity patrons, large-scale professional organisations, the invention of ‘pathways’, and the injection of vast sums of public money, there is remarkably little evidence that any of these solutions have directly improved future life chances for new generations of people, whose histories are most likely (statistically) to predict housing challenges.  Too often, specialist analysis degenerates into questions of retrospective attribution, blame, or chicken and egg.  While there is plenty of finger-pointing about inadequate housebuilding and the impact of welfare reforms, it seems almost taboo to ask whether emerging family structures and social patterns of behaviour will exacerbate homelessness in future.

One of the striking features about ‘Cathy Come Home’ is the way in which family and neighbours try, with varying degrees of will and capacity, to help her manage the initial situation.  The play shows how good will can dry up even where there is a foundation of social capital, a network of support in times of crisis.

It has become fashionable to say that ‘homelessness is not inevitable’.  But what does this mean in terms of mutual responsibilities within families, communities and organisations?

First, perhaps it implies that every individual has a choice to ignore or close the door on someone who faces difficulties with housing.  If only it were so simple.  It might be more accurate to say that the soundbite reveals a more informed uncertainty following policy approaches of the last fifty years.  Where centred on statutory support, these approaches have delivered a clear message: a professionalised pathway for tackling homelessness is ultimately a temporary solution – it is limited by annualised budgets, the supply of skilled staff, maintaining professional boundaries, and avoidance (of fraud, being sued, or other risks to the provider).  In 21st Century public services it is further limited by quasi-science and contracting.  Not only is the person without a home a person to be labelled by category of need, but she/he becomes part of an artificial group – which is certainly not a community – valued not for the gifts and strengths of the individuals within it, but by being assigned ID number(s) within a ‘vulnerable group’, and then to receive a pre-defined ‘intervention’ from a database of ‘what works’.

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee has been inquiring into homelessness (note 1), but the ‘next generation’ solution seems like more of the same.  These legalistic models appear by their very nature to be eroding the irreplaceable social capital that, in its very vulnerability, makes us more human.

Note 1: House of Commons, Communities and Local Government Committee, Homelessness, Third Report of Session, 2016-17.

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Hate crime against travellers

  

By Faith Anderson, Public Affairs Officer

The fact that the Traveller community experiences hate crime is one thing – but what is shocking is that it is not addressed.

The authorities are, at best, indifferent and, at worst, hostile to the Traveller community. In the experience of the CSAN member charities, who work with Travellers if an incident of hate crime is reported, there is a very slim chance that the police will act – and an even slimmer chance that there will be a prosecution or some kind of retributive action.

Naturally, this fosters a relationship of disappointment and mistrust between the victims of hate crime and the authorities – what is the point of reporting abuse if you do not expect that you will be listened to, or that the incident will be properly logged, or that there will appropriate action taken?

The Traveller Movement, a charity which campaigns for the rights of the Traveller community, conducted a Discrimination Survey in 2016. Although 98% experience hate crimes, only 27% seek some form of redress. This means that the vast majority of the Traveller community are experiencing abuse or discrimination because of their ethnicity, and the majority do not feel that they can do anything about it through the channels of the criminal justice system.

Can you imagine this from any other community? Can you imagine a survey which found 98% of Catholics had experienced hate crime? Can you imagine going to a police officer to report being denied access to services, the vandalism of your property or physical or verbal abuse and seeing them do nothing about it?

This is the reality of what the Traveller community faces. In particular, abuse online and in the media is completely tolerated. Recent examples include One policeman vs 30 TRAVELLERS: Invasion of caravans and vehicles; Travellers are evicted from London park after getting in through gap in the fenceposts; £3m taxpayer-funded gypsy camp housed a giant cannabis plantation. I cannot help but think that if the media talked about any other ethnic groups in this way, it would not be accepted.

A reciprocal relationship of trust and respect needs to be built, in which the Travellers contribute to and live in harmony with their communities – communities which welcome and respect them in turn.

One side needs to reach out and end the cycle of animosity – and as the majority of Travellers are Catholic, perhaps the Catholic community is best placed to open our Church’s doors, literally and metaphorically, to this community – so that racism against them is eventually condemned as racism ought to be.

This week, for Hate Crime Awareness week, the Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities should not be forgotten.

Did you know that discrimination against the Traveller community was a major issue?

Find out what else is going for National Hate Crime Awareness Week on Twitter with  #NHCAW

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Prisons Week

  

Katie Milne, Parliamentary and Communications Assistant

Today marked the beginning of the 40th Prisons Week, an annual week of prayer for all those affected by prisons and crime, run by the Christian community and this year especially inspired by Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy. The shared common prayer of ‘Lord, have mercy’ captures the crux of a campaign that aims to break down barriers between estranged prisoners and the judgement of the outside world. Faith Anderson (Public Affairs Officer) and I saw first-hand the fruits of this prayer when we visited HMP Pentonville today to sit amongst prisoners, parishioners, and church and charity leaders. The punishment, condemning and despair of prisoners was not the focal point, for the message of forgiveness of prisoners proved to be refreshingly persistent. A memorable moment was hearing a former Pentonville inmate give a spoken word performance which expressed the urgent need to centre prayer on the difficult journey many prisoners have found themselves on, and to avoid the passing of judgement and shame. The poem was especially moving when, mid-performance, he held his arms out in surrender  – serving as an emotive prompt for the congregation to say ‘Lord have mercy’ together.

Throughout the rest of this week, Prisons Week will continue to hold events for other groups affected by prisons and crime, including victims, families, communities, and for those working in prisons and in the criminal justice system. At the event today also, organisers drew attention to Prison Hope. As a year of prison focus for churches, Prison Hope aims to improve the connection between local churches in and outside of prisons during 2017.  This may be achieved through encouraging many more churches to pray for their local prison and developing a volunteering network to carry out great work within the prisons themselves. Essentially, the power of hope in inhibiting despair is the overriding message of the campaign, and it is largely facilitated by the sharing of stories about the hope Christianity can instil within all those affected by prisons.

The following prayer for Prison Hope reveals the pressing need for the development of the relationship between prisoners and communities, while also providing meaningful prayer:

Gracious Lord,

who told us to look for you

in the isolated and the excluded,

bless, we pray, the efforts of Prison Hope

to stir up your Church.

Give us wisdom to restore the fallen,

encourage the fainthearted,

welcome the stranger

and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour –

even the redemption of our debt

through your grace and mercy.

Amen.

To find out more about Prisons Week visit www.prisonsweek.org for information and prayer resources.

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Eight things everyone should know about mental health in the UK

  

Porsha Nunes-Brown, Network and Communications Officer

Mental health is a major issue in the UK, with one in four adults and one in ten children experiencing mental health problems every year. Today, it’s World Mental Health Day which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues and to discuss what needs to be done to make good mental health a reality for everyone.

  1. Anyone at any time in their lives can be affected by mental health, but there are some specific groups who face higher risks including children with parents who have mental health or substance misuse problems and looked after children. Concerning adults, those who have been homeless, adults with a history of violence/abuse, refugees and isolated older people face a higher likelihood of experiencing mental health issues.
  2. Traumatic events including road accidents, serious illnesses can result in long last mental health issues – around one in three adults in England have experienced at least one traumatic event which can lead to Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.
  3. Different ethnic groups have different experiences relating to mental health – Black and minority ethnic groups are more likely to be diagnosed with mental health problems and more likely to experience a poor outcome from treatment. Research suggest, Irish people have higher rates of depression and alcohol problems whilst African Caribbean people are more likely to enter mental health services via the courts or the police.
  4. Poor mental health has substantial consequences in today’s workplace – 70 million working days are lost each year due to poor mental health, costing Britain annually £70-100 billion. The stigma surrounding mental health creates an environment in which employees do not feel able to discuss openly with their line managers their struggles with stress.
  5. Gender plays a role relating to mental health –Women are 20-40% more likely to develop a mental health problem however men aged 20-49 are more likely to die from suicide than any other cause of death.
  6. There are geographical differences concerning mental health – prevalence of mental health illness in Northern Ireland is 25% higher than England. The North East has the highest suicide rate in England while London has the lowest.
  7. Poverty increases the risk of mental health – during economic downturns, people with no previous history of mental health may develop mental health issues due to having to deal with the constant stress of job uncertainty and the impacts of financial tribulations.
  8. People with mental health issues are more likely to be victims of violent crimes and experienced intimate partner violence – it’s estimated that 60% of female mental health service users have experienced domestic violence.

The prevalence of mental health problems in our schools, workplaces, hospitals and families can no longer be ignored.

How do you think we can better help people affected by mental health challenges?

 

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.

Calais: In their shoes

  

By Kathleen O’Brien, a parishioner of Faversham, on her visit to the clothes distribution centre in Calais

A short journey

As my parish in Kent is closer to France than London, I feel that the Calais refugees are my next door neighbours. So, this Monday, after hearing that CSAN’s sister agency Secours Catholique had opened a new facility to assist migrants, myself and a fellow parishioner, Marie, set off to investigate.

When we rolled off the Dover ferry in France, our supposedly European sat nav refused to cooperate: “Calais? Would that be in Surrey, Northampton or Wales?” Fortunately the facility at 39 Rue de Moscou turned out to be only two streets from the port.

The Migrant Relief locker room

Secours Catholique has volunteers on hand to receive donations on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-5pm. We’d chosen to visit on a Monday which also coincided with a distribution of footwear. As we arrived at the warehouse, or ‘Migrant Relief locker room’, men were gathering at the gate.

We passed a small van parked in front of the open doors and two volunteers unloading boxes of donations. Inside, others were busy sorting clothes into organised-looking piles in different parts of the space. There was a sense of efficiency and purpose. We added our donation to the ‘in tray’ then went through to the far end of the warehouse.

The locker room

Here a rudimentary free ‘shop’ had been set up. Four volunteers stood behind a counter made of two tables. Behind them, shoulder height racks of footwear, mainly trainers, were arranged by size. Beyond the glass entrance door, we could see a number of young men on a row of chairs in the courtyard, patiently awaiting their turn.

The volunteer manager, Christine, a small, softly-spoken woman with a quiet authority, stood by the entrance. When we apologetically asked, “Do you speak English?” she called over her granddaughter, Léa, a lively young woman in her twenties. Léa speaks very good English and told me that she is a law student, helping at the warehouse until term starts next week.

As we watched migrants and refugees having their feet measured and being handed shoes to try on, Léa told me that they were expecting about 100 people today but on Saturday, when clothes are distributed, there will be 300—400 people. Even with today’s comparatively small distribution of footwear, Léa believed that the warehouse would have run out of some sizes by the end of the day.

The views expressed in this blog are not CSAN policy.