We are Family Gateway
Creating lasting and unique change in the lives of individuals, families and communities across
the North East.
The Barefoot Professional Model
The Barefoot Professional Model provides people the security, resources and coaching to work in community spaces that facilitate unique, positive and lasting social and personal change in their own communities. Our staff look like, sound like, and act like the people they support. They are fantastic role models, and proof that you can achieve a job that is exciting and rewarding even when you’ve taken an unusual path to get there. A Barefoot Professional is someone who uses their invaluable lived experience to demonstrate to their community that it is possible to thrive in life not despite your experiences, but because of them.
- Qualified by experience - We create impact in ways that other organisations struggle too because we’ve lived the experiences of the people we support. Our stories are more than enough to make us into skilled and trustworthy professionals.
- Self determination - Our model differs from other Lived Experience models because there is no set blueprint for the success of the people involved. We do not mark success by how well we mold someone into a pre-existing image, but by how well we allow them to create their own vision for their life.
- Check and Challenge - We equip people with the power to stand up for themselves and their communities. A healthy amount of check and challenge is essential to ensure our organisation is always doing what’s best for everyone.
- Uniqueness of place and person - Our model works because people see themselves in us. Challenges and experience vary hugely by region and by place, and we understand that a Barefoot Professional from North Tyneside wouldn’t be as effective in North Yorkshire.
- Progression and ambition - We encourage our Barefoot Professionals to think big and always be looking ahead to the future. Our organisation is a safe place to hone the skills and knowledge needed to move into dream jobs in the charity sector and beyond.
Our work
We work to improve the lives of people across Howdon, North Tyneside and the wider North East.
We do this in two ways: providing activities and resources to residents at Howdon Community Hub, and offering direct support services to help people overcome issues affecting their lives.
We’re proud to call Howdon home, and our community hub is the base for all of our work. Having a place where people can access our full range of services allows us to help people in whatever way they need. Working this way means that we can provide engaging and community focused activities to people who need them, and this can be a foot in the door in situations where people need to take that further with intervention from our family services team.
We put our community members at the heart of everything we do. Our work can only be successful if it helps them create the life they want for themselves. When we provide support in people’s homes, we make sure that the end goals are always set by them.
The timetable at our community hub is created as a result of our annual #HaveYourSayNE survey, which allows the community to tell us exactly what they need from us.
Latest news from Family Gateway
Family Gateway 2023-2026 Strategic Plan
We are excited to announce the release of our Strategic Plan 2023-2026, a roadmap that will guide our charity’s mission and impact over the next three years. Developed in collaboration with our community partners and key stakeholders, this plan outlines our strategic priorities, including enhancing service delivery, fostering partnerships, and increasing our advocacy efforts. This…
Family Gateway 2023 Annual Report and Accounts
With thanks to our auditors, Azets, we are proud to publish Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending March 2023. This report represents both the culmination of a period intense work and self reflection, and a signal of all the work we will embark upon in the coming year to improve prospects for every…
Family Gateway joins the End Child Poverty Coalition
We are delighted to announce that we are now members of the End Child Poverty Coalition. Time and time again, we find the consequences of poverty at the root of the problems we help families across the North East address. Between April 2021 and April 2022 4.2 million children in the UK were living in…
Case Study: Maternal Mental Health Week
The 1st to the 7th of May marks Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK. Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is a week-long campaign dedicated to talking about mental health problems before, during and after pregnancy. The week is all about: Raising public and professional awareness of perinatal mental health problems. Advocating for women…
Family Gateway & Newcastle United Foundation: Delivering Prince’s Trust in Howdon
Since September 2022 our centre, Howdon Community Hub, has been home to some of Newcastle United Foundation’s Prince’s Trust Teams. We’ve been proud to host Teams 18 and 20, and are excitedly preparing for the arrival of Team 22 in a few weeks time. The Prince’s Trust was set up by the then Prince Charles in…