Our summer issue of Being Alongside magazine is out, with a cover featuring the theme of “setting free”.
We begin by paying a grateful tribute to our late patron Professor Andrew Sims, who died in November last year, and Jamie Summers reflects on a thought-provoking afternoon of conversation with the distinguished professor a few years ago.
Ben Wilson introduces our new grant scheme for local drop-ins, with a special focus on helping to get new projects off the ground.
We thank outgoing trustees Miriam Reyes, Marissa Lawingco and Stafford Cunningham for their service to our association over a combined total of nearly 20 years.
Continuing our series exploring organisations with similar aims to ours, we meet Befriending Networks, among whose members is our affiliate Battersea Befriending Network.
Our administrator Lucy Roose, a priest with a passion for compassion, tells us about how something as simple as a table can signify something rather special.
The second half of this issue features content from “Setting Free”, the conference we held last Spring with a focus on the inter-related topics of addiction, prison life and mental health. Dr Paul McLaren gives us the medical view of the latest analysis and trends in the area of additions; counsellor Tess tells us how Alcoholics Anonymous enables her to be a better person, and outlines what rehab owes to AA; Revd Jonathan Aitken, a chaplain at HMP Pentonville, entertains and enlightens with the lessons he learned since becoming the first cabinet minister since Tudor times to be jailed; and custodial manager Neil Fraser introduces Pentonville’s innovative Neurodiverse Unit.
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