Tuesday 21st March 2017 - biggest week ahead

Posted 12:20pm

It's a glorious sunny Spring day outside, and am typing this up around thee Marble Arch area.  This is finally our big week.  The first pilot starting in a couple of days.

This first week is a general overview introduction actually - officially the 9 weeks start next week - this an idea from DAI.  I like it.  We will get our consent forms, waivers, pre-outcomes sheets, and any other paperwork completed..  We can impress on them to get a free NHS Health Check - their choice if they do so.  We can also start looking at their targets and how we can help them achieve them.

Luke, my fellow deliverer, and I attended a Recovery College event yesterday on "being kind to yourself" - not to nick ideas I hasten to say, but to pick up pointers on delivery and what we could see as the positives and negatives of the event.  Feedback is really important, especially as we are starting out.

We have approached the DWP to do a pilot with them, and a meeting with them is being organised for the second week in April.  If so, I would like to see if we could manage to start one on the same day as the SHP one on the 8 May - SHP in the morning and a DWP in the afternoon.

We are very busy exploring all finance options.  Adam has come across a terrific tendering site, and that is definitely where we want to be in the near future.  Contracts are our future, and we are confident we can get there - otherwise none of us would be doing this.  It's all good providing a service, but if you cannot pay your bills and have a life it is not worth doing.

We are applying for a small grant from London Catalyst - the application is proving to be taking a little longer than I expected, but it is most important to get it right.  We fit into their funding criteria exactly, and had a great conversation with them on the phone.  It needs to be sent before the end of the month - and I will get Adam, Scott and Rosemary to review it as well before it goes.  This one is around £4000.  We will also be putting in another application with Arsenal in the Community - it would be terrific to have their backing - that is a maximum of £2500.

However, we are overviewing quite a few options with money.  Bigger applications.  Now that we are actually provinding programs and walks it should open more doors.  There are a couple if events coming up to where we will get a chance to chat with influential people.

I am very aware that everyone is following me at the moment with no salary or expenses - and that is a large frustration for me.  I am relied on to get the money - or at least get us together with the correct people. Stress!!!

I am really excited about all this.  My to-do list is massive - in fact tonight I am going to spend a quality hour building up the list - looking at time management and organising it appropriately.