BCHA Tenant Talk Shows

In this episode, BCHA’s Co Production Development Worker Mike Knowles, talks to BCHA volunteer Kirsty about her experiences as a lesbian single mother, who faced being homeless, while alone and with a young child. Kirsty is keen that others don’t struggle to find help and acceptance as she did, and would like to create a platform where members of the LGBTQIA+ community can share and talk about the issues they encounter. We welcome your views and ideas on creating a safe space platform for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, so please get in touch with Mike Knowles, BCHA Peer Mentor Development Worker Tel: 07971 616436 [email protected] if you are interested and would like to share your thoughts. Homeless Link has produced an excellent Supporting LGBTIQ+ people document for frontline staff, which lists useful organisations for LGBTQ+ people who are experiencing exclusion and isolation to reach out to.

In this Talk Show about co-production, Alex Lodge is joined by Mike Knowle and Stuart and Mick of Exeter Homelessness Partnership. A very interesting discussion about the impact co-production has, particularly when people with lived experience are treated as equals.

Co-production is essentially where professionals and customers share power to plan and deliver support services together, recognising that both partners have a vital contribution to make. When services are genuinely co-produced, they work better because they make the most of the shared expertise of people who work in the service and the people who have experience of using them. Services that are co-produced generally have better ‘buy-in’ from the people using them – if the service is more closely matched to what people actually want then more can be achieved.

Using people with lived experience effectively gives people a role model and someone to empathise with. A very interesting discussion about the impact co-production has, particularly when people with lived experience are treated as equals.

Many people who become homeless do not show up in official figures. This is known as hidden homelessness. This includes people who become homeless but find a temporary solution by staying with family members or friends, living in squats or other insecure accommodation. This can have an enormous impact on mental health and affects people’s hopes and certainty for the future.

In this Talk Show, Alex Lodge discusses the meaning of hidden homelessness with Mike Knowle, Harry and Kirsty. They discuss what it feels like to have a house, which is not a home and not having financial security, as well as living in a fight or flight scenario. Safety is a theme, which they feel strongly about.

This Talk Show looks at issues relating to being LGBTQ and gender identity – it particularly highlights the importance of raising awareness to help others and to get people talking more about this topic, share knowledge and to provide solidarity.

Alex talks here with Becky and Amy who share their experiences and discuss what improvements need to be made so that people respect individuals’ LGBQT identities and value them for who they are. To be judged by the way you look can cause much distress to an individual. Becky talks about gender dysphoria, which describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. This sense of unease or dissatisfaction can be so intense it can lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life. Another problem faced is gender incongruence, which refers to an individual's discontent with their assigned gender and the identification with a gender other than that of their birth sex. The dysphoria relates to the distress and unease experienced.