Thursday 31st August 2017 - important weeks ahead after crucial month - plus Izzwalkz cards

we introduced a "cards" exercise into our

Clissold Park Izzwalkz today - details below

Posted 3:45pm

Another month has passed along - and what a significant one it was for HMHB.

We have been commissioned to do our first paid Ajani program (doing seven sessions over six weeks, plus all our extras - it's going to be very busy). It's a start. And one we are relishing.

We have applied for some money to expand the Izzwalkz initiative to include five/six weekly health walks all over the borough - and I know we are on their short list, due to questions they have been asking us - but naturally we are up against a lot of other projects so we can wait and see. It would be terrific to get this opportunity to show what we believe we can achieve.

We have ascertained several other funding streams, and over the next two/three weeks will be completing at least four more funding applications to various bodies - for small and large amounts. We will also be contacting other influential people in the borough within the NHS to talk about the project and its inevitable outcomes if we are allowed to do our programs/

We have identified a few people who could help push our social media, in particular our GoFundMe page, and are very hopeful something can come out of that.

September is therefore going to be very busy. We must finalise the time line for all the program activities, as well as prepare the extra paperwork we are intending to distribute for our service users. We will follow up on the funding applications we will be submitting, as well as the one we are currently waiting on - Gunners Fund.  We will continue to negotiate for partners on our new walks, and start looking at a target date to get them all up and running. Plus I need to draw up another to-do list - which I am sure is still going to be long.  Crucially, I must start looking at major funding. Another twelve months has gone by without any salaries - and I now have Luke and Dean to think about as well as myself.  They are relying on me to come through.

Today, it was terrific too welcome back Babs to our CP Izzwalkz, and we were lucky enough to get some warm sunshine too. I introduced the group to a new exercise routine called "cards" - hence the playing cards.  We didnt use the whole pack. Instead we pulled aside 20 cards (without knowing what they were). Each suit was allocated a different exercise - spades was high knees: cards was a standing crunch bringing elbow to opposite hip; diamonds was squats (or touch toes for those with knee issues): hearts was punches.  So a mix of arms, legs and core. The number on the card indicated the number of reps you did each exercise - with the Jack then 11, Queen 12, King 13 and Ace 15 (if you pulled a Joker you repeated the previous exercise).  It was good fun, every joined in, and commented afterwards they enjoyed it - even bringing some laughs and a little sweat.

Tuesday 29th August 2017 - some great communications - part 2 - Tanni Grey Thompson

Posted 1:00pm

Around 18 months ago, Scott and I were very privileged to be invited to the House of Lords by Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson.  She is one of the most inspiring people I have ever met. In total, in her paralympic career, she won sixteen medals (eleven gold, four silver and one bronze) as well as thirteen World Championship medals (six gold, five silver and two bronze). She also won the London Marathon women's wheelchair race six times between 1992 and 2002.  Incredible!!!

I had contacted her following an article in the paper. She was commenting on the lack of access to professional fitness advice for people out of work - either on JSA or ESA. It resonated immediately with me as I had been talking about HMHB for several years, with early intervention for people out of work on health and fitness.

Following a telephone conversation with her, we were invited to meet and chat about what we were doing, our concept, and moving forward.  I felt very honoured as I know just how busy Tanni is on many different campaigns - she is probably one of the hardest working people in the House of Lords.

We got some terrific advice, but especially she pressed on us the need to actually start working with clients, even if that meant unpaid voluntary work. We also developed the concept further, and it was one of the reasons we approached organisations to run a pilot - which of course we did earlier this years with Single Homeless Project.

We have kept in touch, just updating her with what we are doing.  With that in mind, we communicated this week as we are trying to raise some money through a GoFundMe page, and are hoping that she may be able to help us promote that.  I don't know if that will happen. She probably gets a lot of requests to support a large number of projects and programs, so if nothing comes from it then so be it. But I know she read the email and she texted me to say she would contact this week. Any assistance would be incredible. We are just a small little enterprise, trying to establish ourselves among some huge companies as well as the NHS. It can be daunting. But we have a foot in the door finally, and we are determined to get heard.

Tuesday 29th August 2017 - some great communications - part 1 - Jordan Syatt

Jordan Syatt

Posted 12:45pm

Please excuse any spelling errors as I have just come back from my two-week check up following my eye surgery on the detached retina - all going well apparently, but they had to introduce drops that have left me light sensitive and my vision in both eyes slightly blurred.  I'll struggle on!! :-)

We have had a few very interesting and exciting communications lately that I would like to share.

The first is with Jordan Syatt - pictiured. On his website it says:

For those interested, I am a 5x World Record Powerlifter as well as a Precision Nutrition and Westside Barbell Certified coach. I’ve been featured in a variety of media publications including CNN, The Huffington Post, Men’s Fitness Magazine, Schwarzenegger.com, T-Nation.com and I have a Bachelors of Science in Health & Behavior Science with a focus in Strength & Conditioning.

I came across his name when I researching for the Ajani pilot - I was looking for short videos about mindset and fitness and health - and on Youtube Jordan is very active - I would urge people to check out his site, especially around fitness and training.  I was more interested in the analogy towards life in general - for example we play one of his videos around "it's ok to fail".

I know they went down well during the program, and it enhanced our own delivery. And his American accent is awesome too. Another reason he came over well is that there was not arrogancy. Some fitness professionals can appear to be "look at me" - "look at my body" - sort of people. Jordan very much is someone you would welcome sitting down and chatting to.

With that in mind, I contacted him to say how much we had enjoyed his videos and used them during our program. And, maybe being a bit cheeky, I asked if he would be prepared to have a chat about possibly doing a bespoke video just for our Ajani service users. I feel, especially for people going through issues and recovery, they very much like to feel that the course or program staff really want to help them, and not just anyone.  I certainly responded better to people when I was recovering from depression a few years ago if I felt they were trying to help me, as Lawrence.

Amazingly, as I know how busy he must be, and probably gets a lot of requests, Jordan has responded and we are setting up a telephone conversation in the next two weeks. If anything comes from that, well that would be terrific.

He says a lot of the things that Ajani stands for. About responsibility, choice, taking action etc. I feel very flattered.

Friday 25th August 2017 - funny videos, guest speakers, new blog news

Posted 1:45pm

It's a lovely bright afternoon - so I am sitting in my "office" (local place having a coffee, where I can plug in my laptop and work) catching up on project work. I am recovering well from the eye surgery - although it still feels like I have a drop of water on my eye, with a little bit of grit (the urge to give it a good rub is overwhelming - but I am being very good).

Our Ajani program is all about being positive, taking action, but also lifting your spirits and confidence. With that in mind, on our pilot we started each session with a small funny video - this could be a celebrity anecdote on a chat show, or a comedy sketch from an iconic series - something along those lines.  It went down very well too - in fact one of our users said how much she liked the videos as it put a smile on her face right from the start.

We are building up a good archive of videos to pick from - and this week I enjoyed several trips through Youtube, selecting a few new stories that literally made me laugh out loud.

We also brought in some guest speakers on our first pilot - one from the Oral Health Team, and another who completed a First Aid session.  Again, I wanted to expand that for our next program, and have already established three more professionals that, we feel, can enhance our own concept.  We will put guests on at the end of program days, so that it does not interfere with our own delivery.  I do not want to put the subjects here at the moment, but I can say they cover topics on health, employment and volunteering - all of which are important.

Finally, we are going to launch our two new blogs in a couple of weeks.  They will be specifically covering the topics around Ajani and Walking - This will correspond with our new program, but also I need time to add some content onto them first.  I think both will be informative and exciting for our users, as well as relevant to anyone going through issues, and the general public too.  These things take time to grow, so patience is required.  Everyone has to launch at some stage.

Wednesday 23rd August 2017 - Izzwalkz initiative

Posted 1:50pm

I have really been concentrating on our Izzwalkz project the last few days.  It is something I am very proud of, and the potential is huge.  We want to have at least five weekly health walks a week in the borough, in five different destinations.  In order to achieve this, we have applied for a small grant from Cloudesley - but to be honest we will find a way of doing it in some form if we do not get the money - but it will be quicker, and of a high quality if we can get the funding.

We will be partnering with several different relevant organisations in the borough, which will enable us to market each walk to the largest number of people.  I want people to think "Izzwalkz" when they think of a health walk. The dream is to have walks in maybe seven or eight venues every week - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. But that is for the future.

Meanwhile, we are running our successful one with Highbury Grange Medical Practice every Thursday in Clissold Park. And we are proposing a new walk in several places:

Highbury Fields - looking to partner with Islington Central Medical Centre - I have chatted with them in the past about this and they were very interested. There is a new operations manager there now, and I am hoping to meet up with Ryan very soon.

Finsbury Park - looking to partner with Park Pharmacy - they like to involve in the local community and their manager likes this kind of project very much.  It will also give us an opportunity to link with other pharmacies in the borough - and it is also close to Finsbury Park Job Centrre.

Whittington Park - looking to partner with Islington Mind, Age UK Islington, and Whittington Park Communitty Centre - it's  a great park near Upper Holloway, and even has an outdoor gym we can utilise.

Kings Cross - looking to partner with Single Homeless Project and Better Gyms.

We are also meeting up with the local NHS Health Trust and Public Health to discuss marketing these walks better.

I had to send in some more details to Cloudesley on several matters, and hopefully that is a sign that they are seriously thinking of awarding us the funding for a year to run these walks - it would be amazing, but I know how many organisations must apply each year so we need to be prepared to be told in the negative.  It would be fantastic for someone to see our potential and give us a chance though.

Sunday 20th August 2017 - Capacity Building Program - emails - 2nd program

Posted 1:10pm

I am delighted to announce that HMHB is one of the Islington companies that will be part of the Capacity Building project run by Voluntary Action Islington - this is a year long program offering free advice on all aspects of building your business - from the Business Plan development and funding, to monitoring and evaluation and beyond.  There will be some group activities, where we will mix with the other companies lucky enough to have got into the project, as well as 1-1 sessions to concentrate on our own needs.  Any help as we get ourselves established will be fantastic.

Following our week of downtime, due to eye surgery, we will be coming back to the project this week with a lot of vigour and determination,  We do not want to lose the momentum we had achieved prior to last week.  With that in mind, we have already started chasing up on emails and contacts. Yes, we have managed to get our first paid program commissioned by SHP, but we would much prefer to have three or four programs going at the same time at the moment, so we can really push our outcomes (even just a second one would be great).  So we need to reach out to as many prospective organisations as possible.  We are small, but have big ambitions.

This week coming I want to meet up with as many people as possible, as the following week I will be virtually house bound for 7 days - and will be using that to complete a lot of paperwork, booklets, several funding applications, and a general overhaul of all our social media again.  We also want to put in place a definitive program for our SHP course, which should start at the beginning of October. We want to make it spectacular and exciting and fun.

Sunday 20th August 2017 - week off for surgery

Posted 12:55pm
10 days since my last blog posting - and this is a purely personal entry.

It also demonstrates one of the major reasons behind our Ajani program, and the outlook of HMHB. Issues can come upon us at any time.  We can allow them to consume us, or we can fight them head on and come out the other end stronger and upbeat (not always easy).

Last weekend I found I had lost almost all my sight in my left eye. Come Monday, I was on my way home following a meeting (I'll cover that in the next blog post), and popped into Specsavers. They took a photo, phoned someone, and I was immediately packed into a taxi on the way to Moorfields Eye Hospital, in Old Street.

Long story short, I had a detached retina, macula off, with multiple tears (in fact I later found out I had 12 tears in the eye).  No pain incredibly, but also no sight. It was serious, and I hoped to have surgery on the Tuesday, but this was delayed to the Wednesday. I spent over an hour under local anaesthetic, but hopefully everything has been repaired.

It put on hold all the project work for a week - naturally.  It has been a rollercoaster of a ride for the last few months, so maybe a week of relaxation was required.  But this week coming involves a lot of chasing up of contacts and meetings.

But I have to say a few years ago I would probably have gone to pieces - allowing self-pity to overwhelm me, bringing back depression and ruining things again.  I have stayed very positive all the way through - which I admit was not easy - it is the first time in my life I have been on an operating table.  But I still have my dream, my targets, my hope for the project - and we have to grab the opportunity now. I cannot sit back and let issues dictate to me - I will dictate to them. Yay

Thursday 10th August 2017 - Commissioned - building foundation - emails

Posted 2:05pm

It really is a case of digging in and preparing at the moment.

We had a small staff meeting yesterday where we spent a lot of time going over the next commissioned program we have with SHP - yes, delighted to say that we are actually going to get paid for a program - our first time.

It feels like an incredible accomplishment. A concept and idea I came up with quite a few years ago, has developed into a viable program that is exciting and unique, and now someone actually feels it is good enough to pay us to produce it.  I am very proud.  But it is is just a foot in the door. The next program needs to have grown from the pilot - and we will pull our all the stops.  Sitting together with my colleagues, it was exciting seeing it come together.

The only slight downside for us is that instead of nine weeks they have commissioned one of five weeks.  Naturally, we will produce a good product and deliver it to our best capabilities. But one of the reasons we liked nine weeks was because we are changing mind-set and routine, and the body needs time to adjust properly. Also, we build up a terrific interaction, connection and trust over that time - which was commented on favourably by our service users.  It is the only thing that makes me slightly nervous - but with a positive growth mindset I should see it as a challenge. If I learn from my own advice on our program.

I have also been emailing out to other prospective partners and funders.  In fact I am going to review a list of funders over the next couple of weeks and try and get at least another five to ten applications out by the start of September.  The biggest will be the Big Lottery Fund, but there are a lot of smaller charities we can approach,  We are also going to try and get our GoFundMe page noticed.

Tuesday 8th August 2017 - GoFundMe

Posted 2:05pm

Very excited to have updated our GoFundMe page with two videos and several photographs, as well as better wording.  We have probably gone as far as we can possibly go without someone somewhere, or an organisation, helping us financially.

I also met with Rosie today - who was one of our Ajani successes from our pilot program with SHP. We decided to have a look at the outdoor gym area in Paradise Park, Islington - and both thought it would be an excellent fitness session place. In fact I will be suggesting to Dean we use it as soon as possible.

Rosie very kindly agreed to film a quick video about Ajani.; We needed something for our feedback and video is a great avenue to use.  I hope you enjoy listening.

Sunday 6th August 2017 - current website ready and published

Posted 11:10pm

It's been great to finally publish all the necessary changes on our website. It is now live on the net.  I worked a lot myself on the Izzwalkz and Gallery pages - following terrific work by out-going Kacper on other pages.  I really liked the "donation" and "the team" additions - and the extra sections on the Ajani page are focused and instructive.

There are still changes to make - and things to add. We want to get a clear FAQs page - plus a fitness page too. A website is always an ongoing process, and it is exciting to see it change and adapt.  I like the layouts as they are different from a lot of sites - but then again we are proud to be doing a project that, although with similar targets and foundations as other organisations, has developed into a new unique concept.  I want us to stand out. I want to be talked about.

Tomorrow I am going to concentrate solely on the GoFundMe page - I want to add pics and videos, as we desperately need to get some funds in soon.

Saturday 5th August 2017 - Website news

Posted 11:00am

We have been putting in many hours on the website over the last few days. It really needed updating, as it had not been touched for a few months, due to our fantastic website guru having examinations and holidays.

By the end of the weekend though it will be published with a lot of new features, and updating wording surrounding our projects.

I really like the layouts and news. We are pushing ourselves all over the place, and having a solid focused website that gave clear information, with suitable pictures, was vital. We have totally overhauled our main page, "about us"" page, and the pages covering "Ajani" and "Izzwalkz". Before, it was just blocks of text - now there are pictures, proper blocks, and a lot more information.

We are still tidying up the last few bits, so it wont be available to the general public until the end of the weekend.  I surprised myself with the amount of changes I was able to do myself. I really like making something the way I see it for the business. Kacper has made some terrific additions, and his layout is impressive. We do not see eye to eye on every change, but then again it is my project and I know how I would like it to be.

Friday 4th August 2017 - stop smoking event - walk - website

Posted 1:00pm

We ran our "stop smoking" event yesterday - using SHP base at London Irish Centre.  Although we got posters and flyers prepared over three weeks ago, and despite many people saying they were going to attend, it was disappointing to find that absolutely no-one attended.

It was not the end of the world though. Fisayo Omoniyi, from the Solutions4Health stop smoking service, stayed and chatted with myself, and Sarah, who is the mental health champion at Single Homeless Project.  And it was very interesting.

According to their website:

Expert advisors and evidence based treatment: Using a combination of behavioural support and pharmacotherapy products, our proven model has been highly successful in helping smokers quit. Our protocols conform to NICE standards. All Advisors are NCSCT accredited, with expert practitioners in Pregnancy and Mental Health

We had a breath test - and a couple of staff who smoked also tried it - and the difference of particles in the body were very evident (I am a non-smoker - in fact I have never smoked).

He was a terrific contact, and on future Ajani programs I intend on contacting him and bringing him in to speak to people who show a preference to stop smoking.

Website:

We have been updating our website for a while now - and it has got to a stage where it is crucial to have it published and available as we are talking to more and more influential people about HMHB, Ajani and Izzwalkz. I feel we are reaching out well, but having an active and exciting website is part of that. Kacper has been working hard, and still without funding - which is not easy. I will be working on it all afternoon too.

Friday 4th August 2017 - a foot in the door??

Posted 12:50pm

I am sitting at a table in an establishment near to Highbury and Islington roundabout, sunshine streaming in, and reflecting on a good week for HMHB.

We had our meeting with SHP on Wednesday, which went how we hoped, and the feedback was a real boost to all of us. The pilot was great fun to do, and we felt we had done well, but it was all down to outcomes and feedback from SHP. Once again, we were tremendously grateful to just be given the opportunity to work a program after years of development.

I had prepared a PowerPoint presentation, and that was accompanied by a small report.  We wanted to express our feelings on the project, how we felt we should make changes, and also propose how we can do further programs.  All of these were met with positive vibes.

We had seen terrific improvement in confidence and energy from our "core 3" users. We always knew it would be a challenge working with people coming through and out of recovery.  But we promised an interactive and proactive program, and we delivered that in abundance - especially all the extras we managed to include.

We are learning though. There are things we need to improve and things to change. We will be altering the length of the program day from three hours to two hours (although we can always extend that by a few minutes if required). Instead of targeting one subject a week, we will do smaller sessions on out four main topics every week - mindset/routine, health, fitness, nutrition. We will get better communication between users and key workers. Provide better information before and after the courses. But overall, considering it was our first time, it probably could not have gone much better.

We sent through a costing spreadsheet in regards to doing another program with SHP - and they said the costs were reasonable. None of us are getting rich, but it would be nice to be able to not worry about paying bills, and having a bit of a life again - so we can just concentrate on delivering the best possible program we can.

I am delighted that this is possibly the start of a long relationship with SHP. This also now gives us a great base to be talking to lots of other agencies - including DWP, CGL, Housing Associations, BITC, Councils, etc. to produce further programs with them. Hopefully SHP would give us a good reference too.

All we wanted was a chance to get our foot in the door.  We have done that now - and it is up to us to ensure that we push on from here.

Tuesday 1 August 2017 - fitness videos

Posted 1:10pm

It's a fine afternoon - and I am currently sitting in the coffee area at KPMG preparing for a meeting with Scott, but I wanted to put an entry about our filming this morning.

We were kindly given the main studio at St Pancras Leisure Centre for free, all morning.  Luke filmed using his phone (the video camera we bought has not got a good sound system). Dean ran us through over 20 different exercises - and we all had fun.

We managed to get each video to be around about two minutes in length, as we intend on putting on a title header graphic, as well as a disclaimer graphic at the end.

For each exercise we performed a medium version, and then an easier version for people who might struggle.  We intend on doing a "harder version of each exercise" video later.

We also tried to tell people exactly which muscles they were using, as well as common mistakes people make.  I like the banter between Dean and myself, as well as the fact I struggle with some exercises.  I have actually lost some weight from the last filming date, but still have a couple of stone to go.

All the videos will eventually end up on Youtube.  Being new we are still finding our way, and possibly will film them all over again some time in the future as we grow in confidence and awareness of what we are actually doing.  But, as I said earlier, it is great fun.