October update: Sexual health, harm reduction, sell out events on stigma and lots of community joy.
Things are very tough at the moment, but we are starting October strong, working in partnership with grassroots friends and statutory agencies to get things done, ask the right questions and push change through.
For example in just one day, today 3rd October we will be:
Holding a meeting with our partners Haringey Welcome and Haringey Council to look at extending our very successful collaborative work organising and funding housing for people who have come through the immigration system. This work has housed 16 people since spring and shows what productive partnerships can achieve.
Hosting a sexual health drop in aimed at LGBTIQ people, people who are homeless, Sex workers, cruisers and MSM who use the park.
This is a free and confidential sexual health drop-in with partners from the NHS and The Outside Project centring LGBTIQ+ people and/or anyone experiencing homelessness, 2-4pm at @our_moh beautiful new home in Finsbury Park.
We’ll be offering full sexual health screens, free condoms, advice and referrals around safer sex, PrEP, contraception, abuse and support services. @Igbtiqoutside and @our_moh will be providing warm hospitality and support as well.
We are also proud to be attending the first ever London Harm Reduction Collective meeting tonight, which MoH has joined up to.
The London Harm Reduction Collective (LHRC) is a coalition of experts and groups committed to reducing drug-related harm in our communities. LHRC members work on drug policy-related matters and a range of related social justice issues that are crucial for communities most impacted by drug-related harm, such as houselessness, decarceration, racial justice, and labour organising.
Launched on 31 August 2024 and with our first meeting in October 2024, we come together to strengthen collective calls for progressive drug policy reform and enhanced harm reduction provision, including a safer consumption site in London before the end of 2025.
And finally this evening we have more than 100 people attending our event questioning the evidence industry: End it with evidence or Endless Evidence. With fantastic speakers Simone Helleren, Gill Taylor and Beth Watts-Cobbe, we will be exploring the following issues:
Reducing the complexity of people's experiences to numbers, graphs and evidence has always been problematic. Is it a necessary business? For policy-makers and professionals evidence is everything if you want to get anything done.
But are we gathering too much evidence and is the very process of gathering data itself stigmatising? This event is for anyone who is questioning our seemingly endless obsession with numbers and is looking to bring new points of view and even challenges to the status quo around evidence gathering.
In the midst of all of this, we are finding time for community joy, chess tournaments, jelly printing, strategic planning days, film making workshops, archive deposits, collection storytelling, public engagement and shared meals. There are big plans for apple crumble afoot!
Shout out to Nat who spent 6 hours doing solidarity massages and acupressure on Tuesday.
Almost one year since we moved into Manor House Lodge, the site is getting busier every week and we are making plans for winter. As our followers may remember we will be closing to the public at the end of November to focus on community care and emergency support till Spring. We are anticipating a tough winter ahead. Stay tuned and thank you for your support!
One of the museum dogs, Keith, stays dry on a rainy day