Wednesday 10th May 2017 - exciting start to pilots in different ways

Posted 4:25pm
Well, we finally launched our first pilot Ajani programs on Monday - with different outcomes.
We will start with Single Homeless Project (SHP) in Kings Cross, on a Monday morning.
Terrific start with 11 people - and it appears we will have 12 for most of the course. The prelim week enabled us to get all our paperwork completed - which has proven to be very beneficial. We also introduced ourselves and the program itself.  I have already heard back from SHP that people are excited for what we are doing.

Already this week we have contacted all the service users individually.  We have advised them all to get a free NHS Health Check - for things like blood pressure, cholesterol, and general overall health, especially as will be doing some general fitness with them. Luke, Dean and myself are all looking forward to what we can achieve.

Then we come to the Disability Action Islington (DAI) pilot - which is Monday afternoons.  The prelim week was very useful. It actually demonstrated that although we feel we can do some terrific work with their service users, the Ajani program itself does not suit their needs.  Nothing against the program, but the DAI outcomes and desires are much more personal to the individuals, and not so much the group - where Ajani is strong.

We feel we can though develop events that can be of benefit, and will be talking to DAI about this over the next week. This has no reflection on DAI , or on HMHB. And it was good to find out in a decent way.

So - ups and downs - but still very strong.
Meanwhile we have already established good links with an Adult Learning Service to provide various educational free courses for people if required.  And we have talked to the Islington NHS Stop Smoking service - and will be inviting them to meet with our service users who have expressed a wish to learn more about how they can deal with their smoking issues. Following a telephone conversation we aim to run a small event at the SHP office just for these people.

There is a huge amount of work to do before next Monday - all our clients will get a file with various papers inside. We will work out an exercise diary for each person, setting our targets, as well as asking them for their own.  We have to provide a timetable for the extra events - and various pull outs each week on our relevant subject.  But this is a thrill.  Yay!!!