The Brent Community of Practice [CoP] has been meeting since early 2021 and aims to support a collaborative, holistic and person-centred approach to meeting the needs of people that use services across Brent.
CoP meetings are aimed at frontline practitioners from services in Brent, or those who work with Brent residents. Participants come from any part of the sector including statutory, charitable and community groups, and include homelessness and housing, substance misuse, mental health, exiting prostitution, immigration, community support, food banks and a vast array of other services. The main aim for these meetings is to:
Each session has a theme suggested by participants and which reflects the needs of those who we work with. Recent themes include young people, LGBTQI+, Domestic Abuse, No Recourse to Public Funds and Offenders.
Our first meeting focused on Mental Health and gave the opportunity for colleagues to learn about what services are available in the borough, as well as to impact local provision by sharing their experiences of barriers and needs for those who they work with. We had over 40 local partners in the ‘room’ and presentations by colleagues from psychological therapies, community mental health team and Brent SMART service. Since then, the CoP has grown and developed into a space for learning, sharing information, and understanding each other’s roles, with a mailing list of professionals covering over 100 local services. The knowledge shared and gained in these sessions is an important part of the service offer in Brent, and our commitment to constantly learn and develop.
You can browse resources from Brent Community of Practice below. The documents listed here are those presented in Community of Practice meetings and have been created and shared by the presenting service.
Report for the 2023 London Women's Rough Sleeping Census delivered in partnership between Solace,...
These are the minutes for the CoP session on Sexuality and Gender Identity held in March 2024.
Presentation on the Domestic Abuse MARAC, Exploitation, Violence and Vulnerability Panel and Integrated Offender Management in December 2023.
Presentation by probation on support available for people at risk of homelessness upon release from prison in December 2023.
Presentation on Via's criminal justice pathway for alcohol and substance misuse treatment, from December 2023.
This is Crisis Skylight Brent's response to the ICS draft strategy Jun 2023.
Booklet created by Brent Council providing guidance on cost of living crisis support.
This resource map provides details of local services and the support they offer to women with complex needs/multiple disadvantage.
This presentation explains how StreetLink works and includes tips on what makes a good StreetLink referral.
These are the minutes for the 'Supporting Rough Sleepers this Winter' virtual information event held in December 2022
This part of the Advice for Renters homelessness prevention service offer legal advice, support and advocacy for those threatened with homelessness or live in inappropriate accommodation.
The LRU are a union who support renters through building a community, empowering its members, member solidarity and mass campaigning.
This presentation highlights the pathways for those who present at Brent local authority for support who are experiencing or threatened with homelessness.
Brent Reach, in collaboration with EACH provide floating support to support Brent residents maintain their tenancies. Here is there presentation to learn more about the service and their referral form.
In this meeting we used the deep dive element to discuss the barriers into employment and the services that could support to resolve these barriers.
Crisis conducted research on in-work homelessness, that focussed on both the experience of the employee and the attitudes and actions of employers. Here is the presentation from our CoP and the report itself
Brent works offer a brokerage service to source and support people into work and work closely with Brent Start who support people into work
The SHAW trust support individuals into employment through one of two programmes, that provide coaching, learning and job brokerage.
Through Project Strive, EACH have been supporting individuals into employment, whilst providing a counselling support to support individuals to manage and maintain that employment.