An NHS Memory Support Worker referred a SIS Service User (SU) to Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) for a Carer’s Assessment. The SU is the unpaid carer for her husband who has dementia, and she also has a long-term physical health condition. BHCC asked SIS to provide advocacy support to the SU. An advocacy…
Hello. My name is Hanno Koppel, and for ten years, until 2020, I was a counsellor for the NHS in Brighton and Hove. I worked with asylum seekers and refugees (I was a trauma specialist) I needed interpreters in many of my sessions – I worked with over fifty different languages. At the beginning I…
Through its Bilingual Befriending project, SIS sets up Befriending matches between people with a shared culture and language to create friendships. Migrants, particularly the most recently arrived, are especially vulnerable to loneliness and isolation. A regular weekly phone call is a positive social experience that relieves isolation and other social stresses. It is distraction from…
Our team of Bilingual Community Navigators have been offering Social Prescribing casework support to residents of Brighton & Hove since 2018. Here is a recent example of the brilliant support offered by this service. Service User D self-referred to SIS. He had been suffering with a severe problem with his spine and his knee ligaments;…
A SIS Service User (SU) called our virtual switchboard and left a message in his language to ask for our support. A SIS bilingual Volunteer called him back to find out more about his needs. He explained that he wanted to be seen by a specialist about his spine and knee problems, as well as…
Our Volunteer Social Prescribers play an absolutely integral role in the success of our Social Prescribing provision in Brighton & Hove. Here is a recent story from the service which really highlights the importance of their role with SIS and the difference they make in the lives of our Service Users. We received a message…
Here is a recent story from our Social Prescribing + service which supports people with language support needs to access specialist advice and information in Brighton and Hove. Service User R self-referred to our service, having used it previously and been very pleased with the help provided. She said that she still had a lot…
We received some great feedback from a Social Worker about one of our Community Interpreters: “I wanted to mention how impressed I was by your interpreter X who supported myself and my client. As well as her language and interpreting skills, her sensitivity, empathy, diplomacy, and particularly her knowledge of x culture and history, was…
During an interpreting session, a SIS interpreter identified that a Service User (SU) may need some extra support from SIS. The interpreter referred the SU to the SIS Projects Team, and a Bilingual Volunteer Social Prescriber carried out an initial triage on the phone and offered some light support regarding form filling and benefits under…
We have been supporting a Service User with regular wellbeing appointments. They have had a SIS Community Interpreter for 10 hourly sessions spread over 3 months. The same interpreter has been involved. This helps to build trust and to improve outcomes. We received this unsolicited feedback from the practitioner: “I would like to give some…
