Brighton and Hove Frontline Network
Brighton and Hove Frontline Network
The Brighton and Hove Frontline Network has been facilitated by Justlife since 2016.
Recent activities from the Network have ranged from virtual coffee breaks for colleagues to catch up and make new connections, to meetings between frontline staff and the local Rough Sleeping and Single Homelessness Commissioning Team to discuss strategic priorities for the City.
“Workers have had to navigate delivering services to some of the most vulnerable people in our society with constantly changing restrictions and limited staffing (due to colleagues isolating and an emerging recruitment crisis).” - Kate Standing, Network facilitator
The Network has recognised the huge challenges of working on the frontline during a pandemic, and so its focus on supporting frontline worker wellbeing has continued. For example, in October 2021 it created a safe space for frontline staff to reflect on the impact on workers when supporting someone who dies, or is dying, and talk about how to support one another, drawing on learning from the Museum of Homelessness, and their Dying Homeless Project.
In April 2022 the Network organised a week of 'in-person' activities and discussions. These included sessions on how to support dog owners experiencing homelessness, supporting people on the autism spectrum through to light-hearted arts activities. In June 2022 the Network partnered with Arch Healthcare, a specialist homeless surgery in the city to host a Homeless Health Conference with almost 150 attendees.
In 2022-23 the Network plans to continue to create points of connection for workers across Brighton & Hove through its monthly E-News and ‘in-person spaces’; to provide opportunities for learning; sharing of ideas and discussions on a range of topics.
“I find these events invaluable for keeping up to date with services and priorities in the city – Thanks for hosting and keep up the good work!!” - Homelessness Charity Worker
In addition to topic areas identified by workers locally, the Network is focusing on the following themes:
- PIE (Psychologically Informed Environments) – with opportunities to explore what is ‘PIE’; what does this mean in practice and where we are ‘already PIE’.
- Temporary Accommodation Frontline Network – working in collaboration with Justlife’s Policy and Research Team the Network will be looking to identify frontline workers supporting those living in temporary accommodation nationally, to ascertain both the training and skills needs or gaps, and opportunities to identify and share best practice for frontline workers supporting people in TA.
Contact kate@justlife.org.uk if you would like to find out more or get involved.
Sign up to receive future updates from the Brighton and Hove Frontline Network.
Further information can also be found on Justlife's Brighton & Hove Frontline Network page
'Working Together' provides a snapshot of the VCSE homeless and rough sleepers sector in Brighton and Hove (Spring 2021) and sets out to develop a cohesive understanding of the scale, scope and impact of the VCSE sector’s work and contribution to preventing and reducing homelessness in Brighton and Hove.