Cause & Consequence

Thursday evening (9th August 2018) saw Manchester’s people coming together to launch Cause & Consequence: peer-led research into what’s broken for those experiencing mental ill-health and homelessness and how we can work together to fix it.

Opening the event, we heard from the Bishop of Greater Manchester, David Walker, on the work of Manchester Homelessness Partnership and how real transformation is possible.Not only did we launch the report, but we also released a 14 minute film that gave real emotional context as to why our group chose to take this approach and crucially why we are aiming to achieve real transformational in services.

Throughout the film we heard the real lived experience from those who’ve needed support from homelessness and mental health systems and how being in a system can be the point where people have felt most excluded from their society.  Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust and other professionals working in services also share their passion and belief in what the Action Group can achieve.

Neil Thwaite, Chief Executive and Tom Woodcock, Strategic Lead for Community Asset Development (both from Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust) spoke after the film.  Both Neil and Tom commented on the value of this peer-led research and how the trust, as members of the action group, can build on our recommendations; making real change happen and co-producing this transformation in equal partnership with those who have lived these issues.

If you’d like to get involved with the work of the Action Group as we move on to even more exciting times, go to https://charter.streetsupport.net and remember to follow @inspchangemanc, tweeting with the hashtag #CauseAndConsequence

Finally we want to say a massive thank you to the Royal Exchange for providing such a welcoming space and also to everyone who has dedicated their time, passion and stories to the report.

To download a digital copy of the report, please click here, and to see the film, it’s here.

Street Support’s Mark Jepson and Carmen Byrne who facilitated the story tree as part of Cause & Consequence’s development