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The Experts by Experience Network is a group of people with lived experience of the most challenging circumstances including homelessness, mental ill health, substance misuse and offending. We work with Fulfilling Lives Newcastle Gateshead to raise awareness of these issues and encourage local organisations…

In July 2020, our System Change Lead Claudene Cetinoglu and our Female Engagement Co-Production Worker Lou Thorpe were invited to take part in a New Social Leaders podcast discussing the value of co-production, how it can work…

“I feel like I’m being punished for not engaging” By Keith Gibson, FLNG Data Analyst People experiencing multiple and complex needs (MCN) are often referenced as ‘difficult to engage’ or ‘hard to reach’ and a common theme amongst services is inconsistent…

In July 2020 we contributed to a national Fulfilling Lives Evaluation webinar exploring experiences of closing down beneficiary support projects where we shared our learning from bringing our own direct work to a close through the pilot of a…

Finding the time to put the Co in Co-production? By FLNG System Change Lead Claudene Cetinoglu This time last year, the Experts by Experience Network at Fulfilling Lives Newcastle Gateshead was approaching the end of National Co-Production Week with a celebration…

Learning from our Critical Time Intervention pilot Between June 2018 and March 2020 we piloted a Critical Time Intervention (CTI) model with people experiencing multiple and complex needs (MCN) in Newcastle and Gateshead, one of the first full-scale pilots of…

On Friday 29 May 2020 our Experts by Experience (EBE) community took over our blog and social media channels to share #EBE_Voices during the Covid-19 pandemic. Click on the links below to read all about it, including examples of co-production…

Online group reflective practice during Covid-19 By Dr Ray Middleton and Kevin Dobson, Fulfilling Lives Newcastle Gateshead Hi, I’m Dr Ray Middleton, I’m the Workforce Development Lead at FLNG where we are working hard for a better response for people experiencing complex…

Online group reflective practice sessions during Covid-19 – Blog by Workforce Development Lead Dr Ray Middleton and Peer Research Co-Production Work Kevin Dobson Tips to taking a trauma-informed approach to coronavirus part 1 – Blog by Workforce Development…

Empowering the Women’s Voice in the Experts by Experience Network By Lou Thorpe, Female Engagement Co-Production Worker, Fulfilling Lives Newcastle Gateshead Since the start of this year I can say with pride that the voice of the women within our Experts…

Starting a new role during a global pandemic By Kevin Dobson, Peer Research Co-Production Worker Walking into a new office, with new colleagues, to start a new job is something I think we can all agree is a nerve wracking experience….

Our core partner Changing Lives is calling on Government to do more to protect women who are experiencing sexual violence or sexual abuse during the Covid-19 outbreak. An Open Letter to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and Lord…

FLNG and DWP: a case study of collaboration by Lindsay Henderson, FLNG Programme Manager Many people experiencing multiple and complex needs rely on financial support from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) so we have always recognised the vital role…

Alex Smith is FLNG’s former Operational Lead who played a major role in setting up our Critical Time Intervention pilot. Before she moved onto pastures new with Homeless Link in August 2019 we asked her to share her experiences…

Being an ethical peer researcher Ang Broadbridge, FLNG Research and Evaluation Lead In my last blog (available here) I shared some of my learning from training eight cohorts of peer researchers as part of FLNG’s peer research programme.  Our Peer…

Friday 8th November: our fifth annual event was finally here at FLNG and what a day it was! By Lindsay Henderson, Programme Manager I don’t think I realised just how powerful the day would be when we began to plan the…

Keith joined Fulfilling Lives Newcastle Gateshead (FLNG) in August 2018.  His academic background includes degrees in Physics, Applied Mathematics and Engineering.  He has a passionate interest in inequality and poverty and joined FLNG to use his skillset to contribute to…

A Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE) is a space which considers ‘the psychological make up – the thinking, emotions, personalities and past experience – of its participants in the way that it operates’ (Johnson et al., 2012). Fulfilling Lives Newcastle Gateshead…

We took part in the fourth annual Co-Production Week in July to promote the benefits of co-production by sharing good practice and highlighting the contribution people who use services make to improving services. Championed nationally by the Social Care Institute…

I ended my last blog as we were about to start our fieldwork. I didn’t end up interviewing any of the TiaC service users for the research, but this was actually really useful as my reading of the…

I’m Sheila and I’m a peer researcher evaluating Together in a Crisis.  After a series of unfortunate events I had a mental health crisis, which led to me getting involved with organisations that help people with mental…

John was sofa-surfing when we supported him in his Universal Credit application. John didn’t have a bank account, so his Navigator went with him to a high street bank to start the process for opening an account there…

John has been a Fulfilling Lives client since June 2016. When John was referred to us in February 2016, he was living with his father and claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Between February and June, when he…

The introduction of Universal Credit is one of the biggest changes to the benefits system that we’ve ever seen. Universal Credit brings six current benefit payments together and pays them all as a single monthly payment, to mimic…

John has faced a number of challenges throughout his life. He grew up in a chaotic household, exposed to his mom’s substance abuse, and joined a gang as a teenager. John began to drink alcohol problematically and was arrested…

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