UniteHER builds relationships between girls and professionals from across Greater Manchester
Over 20 girls from across Greater Manchester joined professionals and volunteers in an event designed to build relationships and trust with services. Held at Moss Side Leisure Centre, girls were invited to join a netball session with England Netball alongside female professionals – police, youth workers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, and lawyers. Girls had the opportunity […]
Virtual reality technology programme used to tackle youth violence in Greater Manchester
An innovative scheme, which uses virtual reality technology to help young people in Greater Manchester to make the right decisions to avoid youth and knife violence, is being rolled out across the region. Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has worked in partnership with Greater Manchester Magistrates’ Association to launch the Violence Prevention through Virtual […]
Colleagues from Home Office join Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit
Last week, we were joined by Rachel Coffey, Deputy Director Serious Violence Priority Projects Unit, and her team to see Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in action. The day started with a visit to Manchester Royal Children’s Hospital to meet with VRU Clinical Lead Dr Rachel Jenner and hospital staff, colleagues from North West […]
Xaverian College host Greater Manchester Colleges’ Safety Roadshow
This week, Xaverian College hosted the Greater Manchester Colleges’ Safety Roadshow, to promote a range of support services available within the local area to students. The Roadshow, which was first introduced in February 2022, aims to address the underlying causes of violence, and work together with communities to prevent it. Throughout the day, students had […]
VRU holds criminal justice learning event to highlight emerging best practise and innovation
The online event highlighted emerging best practise and innovation from criminal justice projects across Greater Manchester. The event aimed to enable participants to understand links between violence and childhood experiences, understand the value of lived experience mentoring to rehabilitate and reduce levels of violence, and understand how a trauma responsive approach identifies children and young […]
Late last year, a pilot of the Social Switch Project – a multi-layered social media education programme that aims to build the digital resilience and literacy of young people, and the trusted adults around them, to reduce the chances of online risks becoming online/offline violence-related harms – was ran in four schools in Salford. Funded […]
Young role models from the ‘I am greater’ campaign, continue to inspire
18-year-old Naomi Kalu from Oldham Boxing Club featured in the first phase of the Violence Reduction Units ‘I am greater’ campaign. The campaign, launched in May 2021, was developed with young people from across Greater Manchester and shows why young people are greater than violence. Young people shared their stories in a series of powerful […]
Media Cubs mini reporters host Mastermind interview with VRU Director, Damian Dallimore
Last year we joined forces with young reporters from Media Cubs pop-up TV studio and newsroom to give them the opportunity to ask big questions to members of our team. Young reporters from age seven up to 18 have been busy in the newsroom and already conducted interviews with Bev Hughes, Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for Policing, […]
Odd Arts create short film to be used as preventative tool for young people
Through the VRU funded Central Manchester Peace Together Alliance, Odd Arts, a charity that delivers theatre-based programmes that challenge and change attitudes and behaviours and enable people to understand themselves and the world differently, have delivered three projects over a seven-month period designed to encourage reduction in violence in local communities. Young people were given […]
Supporters of the Violence Reduction Unit
