Sandwell paramedic campaigning to end youth violence
A newly qualified paramedic is campaigning to end knife crime and violence among young people with his work at The James Brindley Foundation.
After learning the tragic news of a young man, James Brindley, losing his life after a fatal stabbing during a walk home in Aldridge in June 2017, David Miller launched the Full Circle Program in 2018.
The program is an accredited educational and assessment tool for young people and for professionals.
It addresses the root causes of anti-social behaviour that can lead to violent crime and focusses on educating young people while also exploring the reasons why a young person might be led into the pathway of knife crime.
David, who works for West Midlands Ambulance Service and is based at Sandwell Hub, said: “Alongside being a fully qualified paramedic, I am also a qualified social worker with over 20 years experience, so helping people and supporting the community lies within my core values.
"After learning of the terrible news of a local young man, James Brindley, who was stabbed, tragically taking his life, whilst talking to his girlfriend on the phone during a short walk home in Aldridge June 2017, I knew I wanted to use my own skills and experience to act in a proactive way to teach young people the consequences of violence and knife crime.
"After contacting and speaking to James’s parents, we made the decision to support them by offering the Full Circle Program as a means to starting the James Brindley Foundation.
"During the past three years, we have continually remained focused on all our charity work and have done a number of fundraising events, for example participating in the wolf run, football tournaments, climbing Ben Nevis and much more.
"I am extremely proud of becoming a paramedic and working for West Midlands Ambulance Service and I am hoping to put my social work and paramedic skills to good use."
He says he is now designing a first aid program for wound management and bystander CPR to be part of the Full Circle Program.
"Proper wound management and CPR at incidents such as stabbings or where a catastrophic bleed is involved can make a potentially life saving difference, which is why it is so important to get that information out there," he added.
"My hopes for the future is that we can continue to have and strengthen our response to this scourge on our young people involved in violence and offer them alternative positive pathways.”
To find out more about David’s work at the James Brindley Foundation, visit jamesbrindleyfoundation.com/we-launch-the-james-brindley-foundation.
