Author Archives: Jeremy Simmons

“…in terms of addressing health inequalities … partnership working and trust-building … we probably achieved more in the last three years than we have in the last ten.” So said the leader of a faith-based organisation in Yorkshire last year, when I asked her about […]

This blog was first published in June 2023, to celebrate the launch of our Inclusive Social Prescribing report. We are delighted to launch a new VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance report exploring inclusive social prescribing. The report summarises our engagement last year with over 25 […]

A little while ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Rev. Helen Stockley of Spurgeon’s College and Jack Bell of Lodestone Communications about their #FaithinCommunity campaign. The campaign looks to capture good stories of the work of faith groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and […]

Next week is #FaithinPartnership week! What’s it all about, what’s happening, and how can you get involved? In last week’s blog, we announced that, between 5th and 9th September, we’ll be working with the APPG for Faith and Society to celebrate and champion cross-sector partnerships […]

Over the past three years, many faith-based charities up and down the country have been busier than ever before. Activity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has included things like delivering food, offering support to isolated individuals, overcoming barriers to accessing healthcare, and disseminating and translating […]

Trying to influence government policy is not very glamorous. And sometimes, it can feel like an awful lot of work for little reward—at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can point to and say, “Look, we did that!”. In our years of working […]

In December 2020, the UK was in the grip of another COVID-19 wave. There was the announcement that a new variant of the virus had been found in the UK, infections rates were climbing, and plenty of questions were being asked about the viability of […]

This week we are excited to announce a new initiative: the Health and Wellbeing Collective. It’s your opportunity to join a group of like-minded organisations to feed into health and care policy.

Did you know that this summer only 62% of adults felt they were able to cope well with the stress of the pandemic? For people with pre-existing mental health conditions, this numbers falls to only a third. More worryingly, Mind reports that 68% of young […]

It’s Loneliness Awareness Week in the UK, and we’re keen to hear from you: what does loneliness mean to you and your organisation? How have you been tackling loneliness this past year? What challenges do you see in the weeks and months ahead? The background: […]