Chris, a 33year old man attended the Petrus Hub together with his girlfriend in May 2022. They were both unkempt, thin, and looking very sad. As both were heavy weed smokers, all their money went into paying the rent (his girlfriend’s residence) and buying weed. Elaine, one of the Homeless Alliance Response Team nurses, took time out to chat with them both where Chris disclosed that for the past 3 months, he had begun to drink alcohol again. This was after a 2year abstinence and had now begun to cause problems in his relationship as his girlfriend did not drink. After an initial discussion and the offer of support, Chris made the tough decision to decline the offer of Turning Point and instead try to resolve his issues on his own. Although his decision was strongly disagreed with, a promise was made to him that if he was struggling, he could return to Elaine or attend Turning Point directly. Sadly, several weeks later Chris came back to Petrus. In an all too familiar story, he had been kicked out of the flat by his girlfriend and had slept in an alley for the last 2 nights. Furthermore, he was shaking due to lack of alcohol, extremely upset, dishevelled and not knowing what to do. Remembering Elaine’s promise, he had come back and was now in a place in his life where he needed her support. Chris was given breakfast and a hot drink, followed by a hot shower and clean clothes. He was then sat down, and a plan of action was agreed. This included a referral to Turning Point as well as the Homeless Team at Petrus on account of his homeless status as well as a general health check. However, despite all this support all Chris wanted his mum! Elaine has a son who is Chris’s age, so for her, it was upsetting to see him like this. Having achieved success several years ago with Turning Point, Chris was embarrassed to return there as he felt he had let everyone down, including himself. Reassurance was given with positivity, support, and understanding and it soon became evident that a rapport and trust were starting to build between Chris and Elaine. Later that day, Chris contacted his mum, dad, and sister who offered him some support with a temporary bed for that night which he gratefully accepted. Following on from that night he was offered a bed at an abstinent hostel, on the condition that he remained alcohol-free. The transformation in Chris over the following months was nothing short of extraordinary! He attended group talking sessions, joined the gym, started swimming and even went on a camping holiday with the hostel buying new clothes to take with him. His attitude to life, in general, has flourished and he has now begun a 5-year plan. He’s happy, bubbly, and chatty whilst health-wise he looks brilliant, fit, and healthy. Chris still calls into Petrus but only occasionally now just to give Elaine a hug, say thank you and let her know what he’s been up to and what his future looks like. He’s doing a lot of volunteer work supporting people and providing a positive future to others in between his college work. Twelve months after Elaine and Chris’s first meeting he has been abstinent for 10 months! He’s just completed a Level 2 Counselling course as well as a Peer mentoring accredited course at college. In September 2023 he will start a Level 3 Counselling course in Stockport and following this, he would like to go on to university. Brilliant! What an amazing journey Chris has been on. Elaine, HART and all the service providers are all justifiably extremely proud of him.

Every Thursday, between 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm Petrus hold the Candlelight Café at their centre on Great George St, Rochdale. This service is for women only and they are provided with a warm meal, relaxed atmosphere, areas to talk to professionals regarding their health, finance and housing issues. Activities vary, some weeks there are therapy sessions such as Yoga, Rakhi and relaxation exercises. This week, as it’s Easter we are giving the ladies Easter Eggs that have been kindly donated to us by those lovely folks from Willmott Dixon Construction over at their Rochdale Town Centre site and we can’t thank them enough for their generous donation. Gestures like this really do make a difference to people’s lives. #willmottdixon willmottdixon.co.uk

Come and join us at Rochdale Football Club on 27 April 2pm – 5pm. Have a friendly chat and coffee with us about all things cancer, including breast, cervical, bowel and lung cancer. Find out about; screening advice, emotional support, money worries, diet and nutrition, cancer treatments and more. We look forward to seeing you. The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Macmillan Answer Cancer Can-survive UK Springhill Hospice Cancer Research UK Maggie’s Living Well Your Trust Gynaecology cancer leads Prostate cancer awareness leads #RochdaleWalkAllOverCancer #RochdaleBoroughCouncil #OneRochdaleHealth&Care

The Greater Manchester Resilience Hub provides a central point for mental health advice and support on 03330 095 071 or via email GM.help@nhs.net The Money Helper offers free and impartial money advice by telephone on 0800 448 0826 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm) or via WhatsApp ( +44 7701 342 744 ) Whatever you're going through, a Samaritan will face it with you. They're here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org Greater Manchester Bereavement Service can help to find support for anyone in Greater Manchester that has been bereaved or affected by a death, no matter how long ago. Call 0161 983 0902 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (Except bank holidays) or email gmicb-sal.gm.bs@nhs.net

A big thank you to all that attended yesterday’s LTI face-to-face session. June’s topic covered “dealing with threatening & violent behaviour. Tony & Jim from What A Kerfuffle (W-A-K), delivered an entertaining and insightful course to help us deal with difficult and challenging scenario’s we sometimes face in this sector. The Course covered: UK Law regarding use of force & self-defence, Communication techniques during emotive & self defence, Factors likely to increase the risk of violence in the work place How to identify relevant information quickly and effectively Medical implications of different methods of assaults Collaborative team approach to violence in the workplace Thank you again to all those who attended and if you missed the chance to attend W-A-K course, it is available to book on as part of our MDP event in July (link Below) https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/mdp-thursday-13th-july-2023-2231109

Do you know what Primary Care is? Primary Care is the first point of contact you will have with a health professional and is made up of GP's; Dentists; Pharmacists and Opticians We want to know how we can make Primary Care your first career choice

Todays well attended meeting was hosted at the sunny Bellavista. Topics covered were QOF, National Primary Care Recovery Plan, Workforce & Core Plus. Thank you to all those who attended and a special thanks to Zully from Viatris and Tom from Napp for their presentation and sponsorship.

Rochdale Health Alliance are proud to be the shirt sponsor for St Gabriel's Roman Catholic Primary School football team. Rochdale Health Alliance Sponsorship with St Gabriel's Roman Catholic Primary School We all wish you good luck in all upcoming games, and have fun!!! https://www.stgabrielsrc.com/

RHA & PCA arranged an away day for all staff, giving an update on the future of Rochdale Health Alliance & Primary Care Academy, Its goals, career planning and a Network Update from Business Support Officers. It was a beautiful sunny day hosted at the Bellavista with lots of fun activities organised by Mary Chadwick.

Some photo's from last nights GP First 5 Education Event at Rochdale FC! Last night's topic was Freedom From Torture. Make sure to check our training calendar for our forthcoming training & education events.

The Greater Manchester Wellbeing Toolkit is an interactive toolkit to help support our health and care workforce to be at their best. The toolkit has been refreshed to reflect the things that you have told us to matter to your well-being. It provides advice on keeping well physically, practically and psychologically, as well as top tips on how you can support those around you, and find help for yourself or someone you know when needed. Look at the latest version of the GM Wellbeing Toolkit , launched in June 2023, and the supporting GM Wellbeing Engagement Quiz . These resources were produced by NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care, in collaboration with colleagues from across the Greater Manchester system. For further information please email: gmhscp.gmworkingtogether@nhs.net The views expressed in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care.

On Thursday 29th of June, Myself, Kayci Renshaw (Admin Assistant) and Melissa Foster (Wellbeing Co-ordinator), attended Stockport Town Hall, to represent Primary Care Academy, The GM Recruitment Programme and GM Pre Employment Programme. Here, We took 30 applications for our Pre Employment Programmes in Dental and General Practice, ready for us to roll this offer out in Stockport. All in all, we had a fantastic day and enjoyed introducing people, to the wonderful world of Primary Care.