Urban Villages - Focus Magazine {Issue 11)

30 Years supporting women and still going strong Footprints Women’s Centre is celebrating 30 years of providing essential services to women and children in Colin. Isobel Loughran, Director of the Centre, said, “Our truly inclusive services continue to thrive and grow, providing childcare, respite, women and family support, crisis intervention, training, food services and outreach. I am proud to say, over the past year, through Footprints social supermarket, we have diverted 23 tonnes of quality food from landfill, which has provided for local families, to support them with over 55,000 meals.” The Keeping Healthy Staying Safe joint programme between Urban Villages Initiative, Business in the Community and local organisations, has provided food and support outreach through the delivery of afternoon teas and family meals to local families and organisations including Pineview Manor, Cloverhill Hostel and Laburnum Hostel. Local Syrian families continue to access English classes and food support through the social supermarket. Participants have continued to access support during this pandemic, which has created increased need for Footprints services. Contact us for more information on 02890923444

Strengthening resilience in Colin’s classrooms

In addition to the one-to- one ‘Time 4 Me’ counselling support for primary school children, extra funding from the Urban Villages Initiative has enabled Colin Neighbourhood Partnership (CNP) to commission a Barnardo’s Resilience Programme called BOUNCE for children aged 8-11yrs. The BOUNCE resilience training has been delivered to nearly 1,200 children across all schools in the Colin area, as well as resilience workshops and resources to support parents and teachers.

BOUNCE is a programme that helps children and parents to cope with the ups and downs of life, with an emphasis on emotional health and well-being, which has been particularly important during the past year of lockdowns and restrictions. In the interactive BOUNCE workshops, children discover what it means to be resilient and how to ‘bounce back’ from tough situations. The programme also provides short videos to inform parents on the important role they play in helping their children to develop resilience.

A pupil participant said: “It’s really good, it helps people to be able to cope more when life is hard like it was for me. If you’re sad you can learn ways to feel happier, and get over bumps and never give up. I like that I am unique. Also, that others can help and I am not on my own. When I felt like I had a rock on my back, it was like getting it lifted off. Altogether BOUNCE is a brilliant idea.”

Urban Villages Initiative | Focus Magazine Issue 11