Welcome to our podcast 'Hope in the Deep End', brought to you by the Shared Health Foundation.

In this podcast series we are exploring all the different complexities of working in areas of deprivation, poverty and entrenched health inequalities. From clinicians to youth workers, we want to inspire, challenge and give inspiration to all those that work in the deep end.

Agatha Phiri is a journalist, community organiser, HIV activist, Podcaster, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Agatha’s Space CIC. After spending 14 years trapped in the UK immigration system, surviving on £5 a day, and raising her daughter alone, she turned pain into purpose by creating a safe space for women to heal, grow, and be seen. Through Agatha’s Space, she supports women to rebuild confidence and gain skills to become financially independent.

Agatha started Agatha’s Space to make a difference, to challenge stigma, and to change the narrative. She wanted to be the sister women can come to without fear of judgment. Today, Agatha’s Space raises awareness to end new HIV transmissions and supports women living with HIV to live with confidence and dignity.

Agatha is also a volunteer Positive Speaker and peer mentor with George House Trust and an active voice in Greater Manchester’s community movements for equality, justice, and inclusion.

Agatha has been involved in Shared Health and the APPG for Households in Temporary Accommodation's campaigning for homechildren and families in temporary accommodation.

Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @Sharedhealthgm
Want to appear on 'Hope in the Deep End'? Email us on contact@sharedhealth.org.uk

Welcome to our podcast 'Hope in the Deep End', brought to you by the Shared Health Foundation.

In this podcast series we are exploring all the different complexities of working in areas of deprivation, poverty and entrenched health inequalities. From clinicians to youth workers, we want to inspire, challenge and give inspiration to all those that work in the deep end.

This episode was recorded as part of our Politics Series, where we speak to colleagues from all sides of the House, campaigners and activists about what keeps them hopeful in their work.

Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP has been the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden since May 1997. She has led countless campaigns to secure decent housing, boost education, protect health services, secure jobs for young people and protect the less fortunate.

She worked in the housing sector before becoming an MP and was London’s youngest councillor when she was elected to Merton Council in 1982. As Chair of the Housing Committee, she oversaw the demolition of the tower blocks in Phipps Bridge and their replacement by houses and gardens.

Siobhain is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation, which Shared Health is a co-secretariat of. The APPG's most recent campaign, the SAFE Protocol, called for councils to notify GPs and schools when homeless families are placed in temporary accommodation. The SAFE campaign's asks have been implemented in the Government's Child Poverty Strategy and the Homelessness Strategy, alongside an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill being welcomed and passed in the House of Lords.

Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @Sharedhealthgm
Want to appear on 'Hope in the Deep End'? Email us on contact@sharedhealth.org.uk

Welcome to our podcast 'Hope in the Deep End', brought to you by the Shared Health Foundation.

In this podcast series we are exploring all the different complexities of working in areas of deprivation, poverty and entrenched health inequalities. From clinicians to youth workers, we want to inspire, challenge and give inspiration to all those that work in the deep end.

This episode was recorded as part of our Politics Series, where we speak to colleagues from all sides of the House, campaigners and activists about what keeps them hopeful in their work.

Margaret Mullane is a Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham since 2024.

Margaret has been a consistent champion of council housing. Using her experience as a Council Cabinet Member to hold the police to account and tackle crime in her constituency of Dagenham and Rainham, and offer a new model of politics for the area, putting the community at its heart.

Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @Sharedhealthgm
Want to appear on 'Hope in the Deep End'? Email us on contact@sharedhealth.org.uk