The Consortium Against Pain in Equalities (CAPE) from Dundee University and People’s Voice Media have been working with and using Community Reporting to help with research.

CAPE are conducting research into whether there is a link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and high levels of chronic pain in adult life in the most deprived communities and looking at the consequences of this.

The interaction between the CAPE project, People’s Voice Media and the Community Reporter network has demonstrated how lived experience stories can be used as a valuable research tool. To contribute to this research, People’s Voice Media collected stories of people’s experiences of living with pain. At the heart of these stories have been many challenges, but also many opportunities. We’ve now pulled together these narratives and an animator has been commissioned to produce an animation.

The animation will be used in training settings to help practitioners and people supporting people with long term chronic pain to understand the importance of empathy and communication. Understanding individuals’ lived and living experiences of pain can lead to effective change for all. 

In all the collected narratives, being believed and understood were key. Many participants reported that a turning point for them in managing their pain had been when just one person believed them and showed empathy. Sometimes this was from a clinician, but many had found peer support invaluable, to know that they were not alone. Empathy is crucial for people living with pain, and it’s needed within all the interactions people have, from interpersonal relationships to statutory health and social care providers in addition to employers.

Key themes from the lived experience narratives included; work, access to information, advice and guidance and feeling able to do the things that most people take for granted like leisure activities.

These are often difficult because people living with chronic pain might only use their energy for essential tasks, like going to the chemist or doing the household laundry. It might also mean they feel excluded from leisure activities because they can’t do the same or as much as their friends, or perhaps their pain is just not understood by others.

Additional key points are around the prejudice and discrimination experienced by people living with chronic pain. It’s clear from these narratives that chronic pain affects every part of people’s lives, including intimacy and how people view themselves in respect of a relationship. These lived experiences demonstrate the various responses people receive when seeking help and understanding to manage their pain. Many had negative or indifferent responses from others.

Empathy is vital if we want effective and sustainable change in society and the services people access. We need to consider the challenges people face from different perspectives. Then we need to develop more inclusive and equitable solutions, and ultimately, work towards a better world for those living with pain. All this starts by putting ourselves in another person’s shoes and experiencing their emotions and struggles.

The narratives that PVM collects is one way to do this, by listening to individuals’ stories first hand and thinking about what we might do or feel if we were them. Empathising means we can acknowledge their experiences and validate their feelings. It can also mean recognising the barriers that stop people from accessing resources and opportunities.

Through empathy we can start to understand different groups’ lived experiences and develop solutions that are more inclusive and equitable.

During Refugee Week in June (19 – 23) there will be significant events across the North of England where the personal stories of migrants and refugees living in the UK will be heard.

The stories have been collected as part of a Heritage Lottery project running in the North of England. The project is managed by Peoples Voice Media and aims to preserve and archive current stories of migration to the UK over the past 10 years.  From these stories there will be the creation of; an educational toolkit, a database of local new articles and an animation, to share with communities so people can gain a better understanding of the current position of migrants and refugees. These resources will give communities the tools to help to build communities of sanctuary.

Peoples Voice Media have been working with Refugee Women Connect in Liverpool, LASSN in Leeds, Global Link in Lancaster, Dragons Voice in Manchester, MAP in Middlesbrough and using peer-to-peer Community Reporting have gathered lived experience stories as well as undertaking archive research and collected local newspaper stories from the past 10 years. 

There will be 5 in-person events in each area Lancaster, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester to look at the stories gathered during Community Reporting workshops, as well as reviewing key themes from the archive research activities.

The aim of these events is to bring people together from each area; members of the wider local community, cultural and heritage organisations, to explore the findings of the workshops and research. The events seek to open-up a dialogue between different local people about the heritage of migration in their area, how that relates to their current thinking and perceptions and what can be done to better understand, learn from and preserve this type of heritage in the future.

The theme of refugee Week this year is compassion, and this certainly resonates with some of the stories we have heard from participants on the project who have found the British people very welcoming.

“I’m very happy because we met here very nice people, very kind people.’ Karina, Lancaster.

If you’d like to find out more, please reserve your free space by completing the Eventbrite booking forms below:

Monday 19th June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Lancaster

Tuesday 20th June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Middlesbrough

Wednesdav 21st June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Leeds

Thursday 22nd June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Liverpool

Friday 23rd June: 12:00pm to 3:00pm – Manchester

Or get in touch with Kath Peters at People Voice Media at kath@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk

The next stage of HOME? is here. It’s time to come together and learn about the findings of the project so far – and you can get involved!

Next month we’ll be hosting 5 in-person Knowledge Exchange events in Lancaster, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester as part of the HOME? Project. We’ll be looking back at lived experience stories gathered during Community Reporting workshops that explore people’s experiences with migration. We’ll also we reviewing key themes that have emerged from the archive research activities (a collection of local newspaper articles from each of the 5 cities mentioned above themed on people’s experiences moving and living in the UK).

The aim of these events is to bring people together to explore the findings of the HOME? Project so far and start to envisage what impact these findings might have. We’ll open up a conversation between local communities about the heritage of migration in their area, how that relates to their current thinking and perceptions and what can be done to better understand, learn from and preserve this type of heritage in the future.

Sounds up your street? Reserve your free space by completing the Eventbrite booking forms below:

Lancaster Knowledge Exchange Event: Monday 19th June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Middlesbrough Knowledge Exchange Event: Tuesday 20th June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Leeds Knowledge Exchange Event: Wednesday 21st June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Liverpool Knowledge Exchange Event: Thursday 22nd June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Manchester Knowledge Exchange Event: Friday 23rd June 12:00 – 15:00 (BST)

We are currently finalising the plans for each of the Knowledge Exchange events and can’t wait to welcome you to the spaces. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – enquiries@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk – we’d be more than happy to help.

International Child Health Group (ICHG) are looking for organisations working with refugee and asylum-seeking young people to collaborate with them to produce a short film to celebrate Refugee Week in June.

ICHG are producing a short film showcasing community led art projects involving refugee, migrant, asylum-seeking children and their families, sharing reflections on their dreams.

ICHG see the film as a means of denouncing anti-migrant racism, hostile rhetoric and policy and hope it will build solidarity among health professionals, VCSE groups and the public to resist and challenge harmful and unjust policy.

They’re are asking organisations to invite the children, young people and families they work with to draw, paint and create art pieces reflecting on their hopes, wishes & dreams. Each piece should also be accompanied by a written description explaining their ideas.

ICHG are asking that organisations then email a photo of each piece of artwork and its description to minpinamy2@gmail.com by Monday the 15th May.

The images will be included in a two minute film with possible animation of some of the artwork. They hope this will humanise people seeking sanctuary, give platform to the voices of children and young people and challenge the narrative around forced migration. The film will be available to share on social media platforms in time for Refugee Week (19th June). In advance of this they would send participating organisations a copy of the film for review and if you are happy with the product they can include your logo.

If you’d like to get involved – get in touch with them via the email listed above!

The Home? Project was set up last year to create a space to give Migrants, Refugees and Asylum seekers a voice to speak about their lived experiences in Northern England with the view to change the narratives that surround migrant communities. The project hopes to serve as a vehicle to drive the message home that things need to change for the better. Common themes and key findings from the stories will be created as an animated film and distributed in the wider community such as schools, colleges, universities, museums, libraries, informal education settings, councils, community groups and grassroot organisations.

These stories have been gathered through using PVM’s methodology of Community Reporting and Archive Research training.

PVM has partnered with 5 crucial partner organisations spread across the Northern region to train volunteers to become Community Reporters and begin the story gathering / sensemaking process.

We kicked off our first community reporter sessions last year in October with Refugees Women’s Connect based in Liverpool and completed the Community Reporter training at the end of February with Methodist Asylum Project in Middlesbrough.

There’s been a variety of stories and feedback shared from people that convey many different challenges and successes when entering the UK. For example, as English is not the native tongue for most people migrating to the UK, it has been difficult to find work or know where to turn to get appropriate advice and direction. However, people found that the longer they have stayed in the country, they have met other people in the same or similar position through charity organisations and have made friends and received knowledge on steps to take to get educated into English culture. They become familiar with the organisations that have been setup to help aid migrant communities. With these developments, some of our volunteers have reported that their experience has become more positive over time as they learn the language and expand their knowledge and communities.

With government coming down hard on migrants and bringing in new legalisation that will make a migrant’s life even harder, it is crucial that the lived experiences of migrants in the UK are heard and action taken to improve their lives and well-being.