Newsletter-March 2024

March 2024

Please welcome our new Support and Outreach Manager

Hayley Samuels

Hayley has worked in Islington for many years.  We are delighted that she joins us as Support and Outreach Manager.  She will be the first point of contact for people who are referred or who self-refer for mentoring.  Hayley will be visiting referring agencies to get to know you and to tell people about our work.

Hayley has eleven years’ experience of working with people facing multiple disadvantages such as Homelessness, Mental Health, Poverty, Substance Misuse, Ex-Offenders, Victims of Domestic Violence and Sex Trafficked.

As a complex needs lead worker, Hayley managed a caseload of multiple disadvantaged clients who were entrenched rough sleepers, along with the challenge of trying to engage and connect with each client’s individuality and complex personal circumstances.

Hayley places high esteem on equality, inclusion and respect and considers it of high importance to add value to those who have had a harder time in life, those who struggle with low self-esteem and confidence because of the troubles they have faced.

Hayley writes:

I delight in appreciating and respecting each person’s uniqueness, along with supporting and enabling people to become more independent and feel more confident and secure within their own decision making and to explore new and innovative ideas to create a better world for themselves and thrive.

Please let us know if you are working with someone who might benefit from mentoring.

To find out more please look at

https://bridging-mentoring.org.uk/refer-someone/  or email [email protected]

We welcome people in North London who would like to change their lives and are at risk of homelessness or have experience of the criminal justice system or substance misuse.

If you think you know someone who would benefit from mentoring contact Hayley on [email protected]  or ring 07308 615207 to discuss.

Newsletter February 2024

February 2024

Please welcome our new Lived Experience Advocate

Lal Lumley

Lal joins Bridging the Gap Mentoring as our first Lived Experience Advocate.

We are excited to find  out where this new post may lead us.

Lal knows from her own experience the importance of group and one-to-one support.  She has first-hand experience of some of the difficulties of those who are supported by the charity.

Lal has previously worked as a psychotherapist in the NHS and has a Masters in the field, as well as working with vulnerable children and adolescents in various settings. Alongside her work with Bridging the Gap Mentoring, Lal volunteers as a peer mentor in other charitable organisations.

She believes those who are struggling with mental health, addiction and/or adjusting to life after prison need support to guide them towards the future they want, and is determined to use her voice and experience to advocate on their behalf.

Lal writes:

As the Lived Experience Advocate, I will be encouraging service users and other people with similar lived experience to take a full part in influencing the development of Bridging the Gap Mentoring. I hope we can find  ways to encourage creativity, peer support and to reduce feelings of isolation. I also want to offer 1-2-1 peer support in the partnership programme. I’m hoping to support and encourage others who may wish to become a mentor.
I hope to develop a group for those interested in sharing a space with others who may be experiencing similar experiences.

We welcome new volunteer mentors with experience of the problems our service users face
To find out more please look at
https://bridging-mentoring.org.uk/offer-to-mentor/
or email [email protected]

Please also let us know if you are working with someone who might benefit from mentoring

We are very grateful for the continuing interest and support of our volunteer mentors.
More information and advice for mentors is on our website here  https://bridging-mentoring.org.uk/advice-for-mentors/
Donations, of course, are always welcome, please donate  here https://bridging-mentoring.org.uk/donate/

To find out more or make a referral:
Visit our website: www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk
Freephone number: 0800 488 0746
Email us: welcome@bridging-mentoring.org.uk
When you contact us, we will ask for some further details whilst arranging a volunteer match.

We aim to start the partnership in 2-4 weeks.

Newsletter January 2024

January 2024

Happy New Year

Here are some comments our service users made about us…

Please let us know if you are working with someone who might benefit from mentoring.

We welcome people in North London who would like to change their lives and are at risk of homelessness or have experience of the criminal justice system or substance misuse.

If you think you know someone who would benefit from mentoring contact Robin on [email protected] or ring 079564 40309 to discuss.

We are very grateful for the continuing interest and support of our volunteer mentors.
More information and advice for mentors is on our website here  https://bridging-mentoring.org.uk/advice-for-mentors/
Donations, of course, are always welcome, please donate  here https://bridging-mentoring.org.uk/donate/

To find out more or make a referral:
Visit our website: www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk
Freephone number: 0800 488 0746
Email us: welcome@bridging-mentoring.org.uk
When you contact us, we will ask for some further details whilst arranging a volunteer match.

We aim to start the partnership in 2-4 weeks.

Newsletter May 2021

Dear Friend, Welcome to our Bridging the Gap Islington Newsletter – explaining how we help people through effective mentoring. We are delighted to share with you our new video! We hope that the video will explain how we can support people through regular meetings with a volunteer. Just click on the picture below which will take you through to YouTube to watch it. If you have feedback on the video or if you know about other people and referral sources who we might be able to help, please email us. Please feel free to share it to colleagues and possible mentees. Supporting people through the roadmap out of lockdown.  Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular informal support from someone who is concerned about them individually helps people to rebuild their lives. At the the moment we are supporting virtual partnerships and are meeting face to face as government guidance allows. To find out more or make a referral: Visit our website: www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk Freephone number: 0800 488 0746 Email us: [email protected] When you contact us, we will ask for some further details whilst arranging a volunteer match.  We aim to start the partnership in 2-4 weeks. We look forward to working with you. Best wishes, Sam Bridging the Gap Islington Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular support from someone who is concerned about them individually can help people to rebuild their lives.

Copyright © 2021. Bridging the Gap Islington. All rights reserved. https://www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk/ Our mailing address is: [email protected] You are receiving these emails because we have worked with you to provide mentoring partnerships. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Newsletter April 2021

Dear Friend, Welcome to our Bridging the Gap Islington Newsletter – explaining how we help people through effective mentoring.                                                                                                  We are delighted that our outreach and publicity efforts are helping us to provide a service to people from outside Islington. We are planning to change our name to make clear that we provide a service to London, particularly North London. Which name do you think would be best? North London Mentoring Bridging the Gap Mentoring Bridging the Gap London Please help us choose a new name by taking part in our survey here. As well as developing a wider range of referrals from within Islington, from Help on Your Doorstep and other services. We are glad to welcome referrals from a wider area of North London and particularly from the Criminal justice system. We have welcomed: 8 enquiries from ex-prisoners and people under probation supervision. 3 enquiries from Islington residents. 3 number enquiries from Tower Hamlets residents. 7 number of enquiries from residents of other boroughs and areas. We will do our best to help anybody at risk of homelessness or addiction or who has been in contact with the criminal justice system wherever they are, though it will be more difficult for us to help people outside London. If you know about other people and referral sources who we might be able to help, please email us. Supporting people through the roadmap out of lockdown.  Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular informal support from someone who is concerned about them individually helps people to rebuild their lives. At the the moment we are supporting virtual partnerships and are meeting face to face as government guidance allows. To find out more or make a referral: Visit our website: www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk Freephone number: 0800 488 0746 Email us: [email protected] When you contact us, we will ask for some further details whilst arranging a volunteer match.  We aim to start the partnership in 2-4 weeks. We look forward to working with you. Best wishes, Sam Bridging the Gap Islington Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular support from someone who is concerned about them individually can help people to rebuild their lives.

Copyright © 2021. Bridging the Gap Islington. All rights reserved. https://www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk/ Our mailing address is: [email protected] You are receiving these emails because we have worked with you to provide mentoring partnerships. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Newsletter March 2021

Dear Friend, Welcome to our Bridging the Gap Islington Newsletter – explaining how we help people through effective mentoring.                                                                       Our volunteers can support people in 15 languages Bridging the Gap Islington is hugely grateful to the more than 30 volunteers who are mentors. Our volunteers have a wide range of skills and expertise from their personal, professional, educational and volunteering experience. Volunteers undergo training and are supported by experienced professional supervisors so they can effectively help mentees to achieve the goals they are working towards. An additional skill our volunteers bring to Bridging the Gap, is the variety of languages they speak. This allows us to offer mentoring partnerships to mentees who may not have English as a first language. The languages available depend on the volunteers who are available at any particular time. We may be able to support partnerships in: English, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Farsi, Portuguese, Chinese, Malay, Romanian, Italian, Malayalam, Tami, Danish, Albanian. Please email us to discuss further. Last month, we shared a survey with you about changing our name.  We would like a name that tells people more about what we do and shows that we help people across a wider area, not just Islington. Which name do you think would be best? Bridging the Gap London Bridging the Gap Mentoring North London Mentoring Please take just a minute to complete this survey or email us your thoughts. Supporting people through the roadmap out of lockdown.  Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular informal support from someone who is concerned about them individually helps people to rebuild their lives. At the the moment we are supporting virtual partnerships and are meeting face to face as government guidance allows. To find out more or make a referral: Visit our website: www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk Freephone number: 0800 488 0746 Email us: [email protected] When you contact us, we will ask for some further details whilst arranging a volunteer match.  We aim to start the partnership in 2-4 weeks. We look forward to working with you. Best wishes, Sam Bridging the Gap Islington Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular support from someone who is concerned about them individually can help people to rebuild their lives.

Copyright © 2021. Bridging the Gap Islington. All rights reserved. https://www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk/ Our mailing address is: [email protected] Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Newsletter February 2021

Dear Friend, Welcome to our Bridging the Gap Islington Newsletter – explaining how we help people through effective mentoring. We are planning to change our name to make it clear that we help people across North London, not just in Islington. We would like your ideas about new names for Bridging the Gap Islington. “North London mentoring”? “Bridging the Gap London”? Bridging the Gap Islington seemed like a good idea for a name when we started in 2012. But now we realise that it can cause confusion because it sounds like we work in Islington only. Our services are for anyone in London. For that reason, we will be changing our name to better reflect the service we offer and the people we support. Deciding to change is the easy part. Deciding on a new name is more difficult. So we want to know what you think. Over February and March we are running a short consultation to get everyone’s ideas on different names. We would welcome your ideas! Please take just a minute to complete this survey or email your thoughts to [email protected]. Leaflets for your service users or residents Often we find that the best way is to contact service users or residents directly. People will make better use of mentoring if they have taken the initiative to sign on themselves. We would be very happy to supply leaflets like this for you to distribute to your service users and residents. Supporting people during Lockdown Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular informal support from someone who is concerned about them individually helps people to rebuild their lives. To find out more or make a referral: Visit our website: www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk Freephone number: 0800 488 0746 Email us: [email protected] When you contact us, we will ask for some further details whilst arranging a volunteer match.  We aim to start the partnership in 2-4 weeks. We look forward to working with you. Best wishes, Sam Bridging the Gap Islington Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, expertly supervised volunteer mentors for people at risk of homelessness, offending and addiction. Regular support from someone who is concerned about them individually can help people to rebuild their lives.

Copyright © 2021. Bridging the Gap Islington. All rights reserved. https://www.bridging-mentoring.org.uk/ Our mailing address is: [email protected] Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Bridging the Gap Islington AGM 2020

We held our 2020 AGM by Zoom on November 30th 2020. It was a short meeting concentrating on the essential business. We look forward to holding a larger and fuller meeting with a wider attendance in future years when we are no longer limited by the COVID restrictions. The AGM was chaired by trustee and project co-ordinator Robin Latimer.

Trustee Mick Holloway was absent through illness and all the other trustees asked Robin to convey messages of goodwill for a full recovery.

1. The notes of the last AGM were approved.
2. The Annual Report and accounts were received and approved (see note 1 below)
3. Trustees Sharmila Rajaratnam and Clare Banham stood down and were then re-elected.
4. Robin reported on what has happened since the last AGM – particularly progress in the last two months.
5. Financial forecast for the next few months was considered and approved.
6. Agree date for next trustees meeting (January 2021)

The trustees noted that:
despite the challenges and difficulties in providing a mentoring service during a global pandemic, Bridging the Gap continued to provide quality provision, adapting to new “virtual” means of communication, thanks to the commitment shown by trustees, volunteer mentors, supervisors and service users alike.

The trustees thanked those that had supported Bridging the Gap financially, including:-
Kingsley Napley solicitors,
Islington Community Chest,
The Postcode lottery,
The National Lottery Coronavirus Community Support Fund and
The Mrs Smith and Mount Trust.

NOTES

1.Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 March 2020
The trustees presented and considered their report together with the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2020

The trustees who have served during the year are as follows:
Robin Latimer (Co-ordinator)
Jonathan Joels
Greg Foxsmith
Michael H W Holloway (Treasurer)
Madeleine Robinson (resigned 12 November 2019)
Sharmila Rajaratnam
Clare Banham
Ruth Hayes (From 15 October 2019)

During the year, Madeleine Robinson resigned as a trustee as a result of the pressure of other commitments. The trustees were very pleased to welcome Ruth Hayes as a new trustee. She brings with her an extensive experience of advice work and the legal system.

Objects
The objects of the Charity are: The prevention of crime and the rehabilitation of offenders by offering offenders, ex-offenders and people at risk of offending advice, guidance and support, including to address their needs and promote their integration into the wider law-abiding community, working together with other organisations with similar aims particularly but not exclusively by providing a voluntary mentoring service for people at risk of offending.

Review of Activities

Trustees met formally 6 times during the year.

To achieve its objects, Bridging the Gap Islington offers trained, supervised mentors to provide encouragement and support over up to 16 weekly meetings for people aiming to achieve specific short term goals along their chosen path to a more constructive and participative life.

Our service ran smoothly for most of this year. We adopted a more focused approach to publicizing our services. As a result, there were fewer mentoring partnerships offered but not taken up. The proportion of partnerships that lasted for a full 16 weeks continues to increase. We are exploring the option of offering some mentoring partnerships for shorter periods of time in order to provide appropriate help for a wider range of people.

During the year, we helped 15 people through our trained, supervised mentors. 8 people were helped with health issues. There were also 8 people who improved their ability to relate to others and 8 who got access to better work or training. 5 people improved their housing. There were also 5 people who got help with filling in forms or improved their literacy.

Bridging the Gap Islington AGM 2019

Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Conference and AGM 2019 including our inspirational speakers Arabella Weir, Greg Foxsmith and Ruth Hayes. A big thank you to Kingsley Napley LLP for hosting the event at its offices.

Annual Conference & AGM 2019

Bridging the Gap Islington cordially invites you to our Annual Conference & AGM on Tuesday October 15th 2019,5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Our theme this year is Mentoring & the law including a presentation by Greg Foxsmith & Ruth Hayes. Refreshments will also be provided. The event will be at Kingsley Napley LLP, 14 St John’s Lane, London, EC1M 4AJ. Please see invite below.

Please R.S.V.P. to Josie Osei at [email protected] or 07516394008

Annual Conference & AGM invite 2019