' Please Help Fund Platform 2 platform Housing'

Aim

Help me use my own experiances of turning my life around to help others in the same position.

Who am I?

"Hi my name is Gemma Grantham and I am the founder of Platform 2 Platform Housing. I am launching this social enterprise so that i can use my own experiances of turning my life around to help others in the same position."

By developing projects our social enterprise we will provide 1-1 support and advocacy service between multi-agencies such as the Probation Service, Police, substance misuse services, mental health services and Local Authorities.

I am currently a support planner for a local charity who supports vulnerable adults with complex needs resettle back into the community, I will soon be starting a new career with the NHS in mental health services. My background is very complex and I have faced many challenges within my own personal life. I have faced problems with alcohol misuse from a very young age around 13 years old, alcohol was problematic to me. I have suffered from mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and I am diagnosed with boarderline personality disorder. I was offending from around the age of 13 and was going around and around the criminal justice system on and off for around 13 years, it was a cycle I just couldn't seem to break.

I had 2 children by the age of 18 and went on to be in a violent relationship which severely impacted my mental and psychological wellbeing. Life was difficult and at times uncontrollable for me, I lost my children who was put in the care of family members and spent some time in custody. There was many suicide attempts and I lost the will to live anymore I was at rock bottom.

Turning my life around.

Was very difficult and challenging, it was scary and lonely. I began my path of recovery and was supported by some amazing organisations within nottingham such as Double Impact, Framework, Womens Centre, Probation, The Mandela Centre and Social Care. I had multi agencies involved in my recovery and I wouldn't be where I am today without their help, support, guidance and believing in me that I could recover and rehabilitate.

I went on to become a peer mentor and volunteered at different organisations such as framework and Studio House to help engage others who have similar struggles to myself into services and built good, positive working relationships. This made me feel good and really motivated me to help others. I thouroughly enjoyed the training and education which I was receiving and soon found a new passion for education and realised how important this was to me after dropping out of school at 15. 

I went on to complete my level 3 health and social care which is specialised in substance misuse and became a individual member and accredited drug and alcohol professional with FDAP which I achieved whilst volunteering for a local Rehab Studio House. I have qualifications around supporting people with mental health issues and I am a trained SMART facilitator.

I then went into full time work as a support worker for vulnerable adults who suffer from complex needs such as substance misuse and mental health and so my journey continues.

My passion for helping others.

I have always had the passion for helping others but never been in a position to do so as i was the one who needed the help. 

With great gratitude to all those involved in my own personal recovery I am now at the stage where I feel I can give back to those who have faced similar circumstances to myself. I understand the value of support and patients that others need in order for them to rehabilitate and recover from the issues they may have been faced with. I can completely empathise with others who are on a similar path. 

Having offending behaviour and knowing alot of individuals that offend, I soon recognised this wasn't out of choice we wasnt offending because we wanted to there was always a underline issue which was making us respond in this way. 

Hears what others have said about me.

With love my old substance misuse practitioner ❤ THE FIRST PERSON TO GAIN MY TRUST

A now friend who I met through mental health services ❤

The Lovely sister of a old service user I have supported ❤

One of my ex service users ❤

About our Social Enterprise:

We will offer supported housing with person centred support planning, sign-post to further education and training opportunities in order that clients can gain skills, build confidence and take up volunteer and work opportunities in the hope of breaking a cycle of re-offending and go onto a positive resettlement and to move forward to live a meaningful life independently.

Platform2Platform housing will offer vulnerable adults a safe environment to resettle whilst working on other areas of their life's and working towards a positive recovery. We will work with people who suffer from offending behaviour, who have spent time in custody, mental health problems, substance misuse, learning and physical difficulties and homelessness. 

Our aim is to break the cycle of reoffending and to help our clients rehabilitate back into the community to go on and live a meaningful life free from crime and with the skills to maintain their own personal recovery.

We will do this by addressing social exclusion, sign posting and referring to specialist services and engaging them back into the community, by enabling and empowering each individual to work toward their own individual goals and aspirations.

"Working with individuals to change lives and create opportunities"

We believe in recovery and that everyone can achieve their individual goals and go on to live a meaningful life free from crime given the chance and individual support required, tailored to their specific needs in order for them to break the cycle of offending whilst working on other areas of their lives.

Platform 2 Platform Housing is working hard in establishing new partnerships to develop our work and value the continued support of our local community and supporters ❤

So what is a social enterprise?

Social enterprises are businesses that are changing the world for the better. Like traditional businesses they aim to make a profit but it’s what they do with their profits that sets them apart – reinvesting or donating them to create positive social change. 

Social enterprises create employment and reinvest their profits back into their business or the local community. This allows them to tackle social problems, improve people’s life chances, provide training and employment opportunities for those furthest from the support communities and help the environment.

Social enterprises exist in nearly every sector from consumer goods to healthcare, community energy to creative agencies, restaurants to facilities management. Well known examples include The Big Issue, Divine Chocolate and the Eden Project but there are over 100,000 social enterprises throughout the country contributing £60 billion to the economy and employing two million people

They’re creating jobs and opportunities for those most marginalised from the workforce, transforming the communities they work in and making the Sustainable Development Goals a reality. It’s business for good and when they profit, society profits.

A social enterprise is purely to help others and not for our own personal gain.

"Who else is involved?"

I am currently working with a fantastic buisness mentor Tim Smith at SocEntEastMIds is part of the SmithMartin LLP social business family. Tim is a managing partner at SmithMartin LLP and leads on all social enterprise, governance and community business development. Tim is supporting me on my social enterprise journey and will become a director for Platform 2 Platform Housing Limited.

        Our target is currently £2,000

How will the money you donate help?

The money raised through my Crowdfunder page is literally the first steps to raising funds to make this social enterprise possible. As like any buisness you need funds to get it off the ground, any funds raised will go directly into our buisness account and will be managed by our company directors.

We will use the money which is raised towards:

• Office equipment
• Insurances
• HMO Licence
• Properties
• Utility Bill's
• Furniture to furnish our property 

A special thankyou ❤

I would like to thank-you for taking the time to read my crowdfunding page and THANK-YOU from the bottom of my heart for any kind pledges made and to all of you who have given donations in exchange for pledges. Your support means so much and wouldn't be possible without your support and belief in me.

Thankyou to everyone involved in my own personal journey and recovery  and helping me get to where I am today, I will never be able to show how truly grateful I am.

Dont forget to take a look at our rewards in return for your pledge.

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT US.

• Spread the word by sharing and following our social media page  and liking and sharing our crowdfunder page- see the links below.
• Webpage: http://www.p2phousing.org/
• Facebook page: @platform2platformhousing
• Email us at: [email protected]
• Volunteering.  Do you have a passion to help others and have a few hours free each week? You will be welcome to be part of our team to help the delivery of our social enterprise.

This project successfully funded on 30th March 2020