Monday 30th October 2017 - improve social media entries

Posted 11:25am

Another week without entries - I must up my game with social media. We are working very hard on all fronts with the project, and am stunned I have not made an entry since last monday. So I resolve to get back to daily entries, making sure all our media is up to date.

Our fourth week last Tuesday went well, but we had people missing - some of which we knew about and others have since apologised.  It's something we are going to have to realise will happen. But thankfully everyone should be coming tomorrow to our fifth week.

We had a good time though - talking again about mindset - and Luke gave a good presentation on Sugars and Fats for nutrition. We did a small circuit training session for fitness. Overall we enjoyed ourselves very much.

We are very busy preparing for the CCG meeting - we have finally come to a conclusion re our strategy. It is the most important meeting I have ever arranged. I wont put strategy here as yet - I will wait till after the meeting itself.

On Saturday, Dean and I went to Hanley Crouch Community Centre, and we talked about mental health, the program, and fitness - and we have been asked to run a program from there.  I am hoping that the Gunners Fund will pay for that - and I am starting negotiations.

We have put off the cripplegate application for three months - and will resubmit in January. We are going to get them to fund a program with the job centre.

Lots going on - tonnes of work. But I promise I will improve my media entries

Monday 23rd October 2017 - funding

Posted 3:10pm

Funding is the big issue now. We have the concept and program going brilliantly, but if we cannot get funding to pay salaries then it will just end.  It is that bad.

We apply for funding and get turned down because we are new, or because we are small, or because we have not run enough programs to supply enough outcomes.

None of us can work full time as we are doing this. For me, this has to be a full time job setting this up. But very soon I will be sanctioned and then it goes to pot.#

We meet with Islington CCG on the 6 November, and before they have seen what we have they are already saying they wont be able to help financially but will try and support us - not exactly sure how they can do that without money.

I am starting to wonder just where funds will come from.

Monday 23rd October 2017 - amazing program feedback

Posted 3:00pm

First of a couple of blog entries - I am astonished I have not entered for 9 days.  The time is flying past and I must keep this blog more up to date.

But in this entry we have to concentrate on the feedback that we have received so far from our second Ajani program - last Tuesday was our third session.

It was one of the most fun sessions we have ever done. We were lucky to have Scott, our business mentor, come along to see how things are going - and he joined in with all the activities. We were also visited by a representative from Cripplegate funders - Patrick, who wanted to see us in action.

We started off with a mindset game - creating an advertisement for a product within ten minutes - which was great fun, and both teams had a laugh as they presented their finished advert to the group. Of course, what we were trying to demonstrate that we are all capable of being thrown in the deep end, being pushed into something new and outside our comfort zone, but also then creating something extraordinary, even if we felt we could not do it.  A lesson in life.

We  moved on to Nutrition, and Luke presented a quality discussion around carbohydrates, and how our body uses them, as well as why we need them, but also the dangers of too many. Again, we did not try and tell people what to eat, but it is important to understand, like proteins last week, just what we are putting into our bodies and why.

For fitness, we turned to boxing. This was a great laugh. We demonstrated a jab/punch, a hook, and an upper cut. Using our gloves and pads everyone seemed to enjoy the session - even Scott who we had paired up with martial arts expert Laura - wow can she punch!!!  It's showing people lots of different ways they can raise a sweat and improve their health and fitness.

Jean, from the Oral Health Team at Whittington Hospital was running slightly late for his demonstration so, off the cuff, I invited the group to say some comments to Patrick about how they find the course - be that positive or negative. I had nothing to worry about. Even though this was still only our third week, we were praised to the hilt. It was quite humbling, but also fantastic, to hear such great feedback. People said they preferred our delivery and how we were so positive. One person said they felt "empowered" and "they could achieve more". Luke and Dean were applauded for the way they handle the group and the information and knowledge they impart. That really cheered me - as this is my baby, but they are fundamental to its success now.

Luke, Scott, ,myself and Patrick all went off to chat about our funding application, and I am adjusting it slightly as per his comments. They would really like to see a program being delivered rather than just fund core costs. So that is what we intend to do.

But wow. We have definitely found something good.

Saturday 14th October 2017 - our future

Posted 11:20pm

This is a blog entry I wanted separate from our fantastic news update entry earlier.

HMHB can only have a future if we can get salaries for those involved.

There is a multitude of research and studies around health and fitness with the mind and body, all managed and presented by the NHS and various Universities and establishments. In fact, every week there seems to be another study published extolling the need for people to be more active, healthier and fitter - and all these are showing a general agreement that we are becoming fatter, slower, less energised, and more unhealthy as a species.

Our Ajani program - and Izzwalkz initiative - are a proactive approach to be both corrective and preventive on these issues. HMHB was formed because the way we deliver the concept is not available, but I am confident that in the near future there will be more schemes just like ours. But these will be managed by large companies with their eye on the balance sheet, not on the help that they are offering.

We need a chance. We need people to see what we are doing and trust us and believe in us. We understand that we are new, untried, and maybe seen as a risk. But we have done all the groundwork, and our programs are working - even though we are only on our second. It is plainly obvious to everyone involved that we are affecting lives positively.

But we need money - we need salaries and costs.  To get contracts we have to do many more programs, but they have a price!!!  We will be applying for various funding - but none of them will pay three salaries.  We have a meeting with the Islington CCG on the 6 November. I am truly hopeful they will see what we are doing, and recognise the "significant benefits" (a quote from my MP Jeremy Corbyn).  Let''s see

Saturday 14th October 2017 - program, british library, councillor

Posted 11:00am

I was sure I had made an entry this week, but it appears not.

It has been a solid week for the program - a great second week for our second group.

Learning from our pilot, we are mixing up these sessions better, and it was a really good Tuesday morning in Camden.

We started off as usual on our "mindset" promotion - challenging people to think a bit more and realise a growth mindset is the way forward - instead of being stuck in a fixed mindset.  We did a small game giving two groups different situations and making them look at things in a negative way (which would be the natural way to see them - we did a failed job interview, as well as the break up of a relationship). Both of these showed similar emotions and thoughts of blame, self-pity, anger. But actually both can be seen as a challenge with positive outlooks. It's all down to mindset.  I think it got our message across well.

Luke did a great presentation on "Protein" for our nutrition section. I learnt stuff, and I continue to do so. We gave a very good handout to accompany it too.  We do not believe in tell people what to eat - they are adults and they can choose what they consume for food and drink.  But if we can raise awareness of why we need certain things in our diet (such as vitamins and minerals from our first week, and proteins in our second week) and how our body can stay health because of them, we are seeing if we can get people thinking about their own short term and long term nutrition needs.

We did three more exercises following last week's squat, crunch and press up.  This week we introduced the lunge, plank, and the always popular burpee.  Sadly I am unable to make the personal training session today, due to commitments, but I know that Dean and Luke will be doing some circuits with the group - and involving these exercises.  The group are pushing themselves into all of this, which us terrific.

Our health section had Fisayo, from Solutions4Health, come in to talk about stopping smoking. They run an excellent service that can help people move forward with this. He gave a very good presentation and it involved a carbon monoxide test for all the group - which proved informative.

Yesterday, Friday 13th, we had an amazing trip to the British Library. We met outside beforehand, and six of us enjoyed a chat and some lunch before going in at 2pm. Dan was our guide, taking us around the building, including some places that are staff only.  We learned a lot, and it is an incredible place. I was most impressed with the library that had been gathered by King George 1, and he managed to collect a large number of books from all over the world, and it was thought provoking seeing so many on shelves proudly displayed.  We were also shown how to become free members of the library so we could use research, and I know one of our group who expressed interest around her own college course.  I also am anxious to do some more research.

We have to offer our heartfelt thanks to the British Library, who gave us a lot of time, and have said they would be delighted to offer more of our groups a tour in the future - something we will definitely be taking up.

On Thursday evening I met up with Osh Gantly, one of my councillors.  She is heavily into mental health issues - as is Jeremy Corbyn (with whom I am meeting at his surgery next week). I updated Osh on our progress and she said she wanted to be kept up to date.

Sunday 8th October 2017 - biggest ever month ahead

Posted 4:10pm

Well, we have one of the most important months coming up for HMHB since the original idea conception nine years ago.  Of course, I have not been working on this solely since then. There has been periods of work, plus of course the depression in there too. The last three years have been the most concentrated.

This second Ajani program we are running has to provide good outcomes as we need to impress upon people the need for funding to move forward. Without the prospect of funding I am not saying it is the definite end of everything, but if we are to move forward in a professional way it is vital.  Therefore we need to show fantastic results - and I believe this course will be a good one.

We had a really good Personal Training session yesterday in Highbury Fields.  The usual myself, Dean and Rosie were joined by Geoffrey for his debut - one of current Ajani service users.  He has a damaged ankle - which is going to need another operation in the near future - but he really flung himself into the work. We all had a great time.

I have just been on Youtube (our channel hmhb2016) and adjusted all the titles for our videos - and I am looking forward to adding more over the next few weeks.

Friday 6th October 2017 - new program starts

Posted 2:00pm
I have been most neglectful on the blog front - so this has the potential of being full of news.

The main item is the start of our New (second ever) program last Tuesday (3 October). We have been working very hard on this one with a lot of preparation, and it paid off handsomely.  We had five attendees (but we know that will grow to a possible ten this coming week). But all five said they had enjoyed the session - one describing herself as feeling "inspired" - Wow!!!!  This is the whole reason we are doing this.

We had adjusted the format from the first. Frustratingly we did start late yet again - we have stressed to people the need to start on time this coming week - and in fact we will start at 10:30 regardless. We are now doing mixed sessions every week - targeting mindset, nutrition, fitness and health. We definitely enjoyed ourselves.

Thankfully all our guest speakers have confirmed - and I am very excited about that.

We have an amazing trip to the British Library organised for the Friday 13 October. I went along on Monday and had a terrific hour long chat with three of their employees about us and the tour. They were really interested in the work we are doing and I am confident we are going to have a terrific trip.

We had a follow up with Voluntary Action Islington on the Capacity Building project - sadly the first session on Business Plan I am unable to attend as I am having my eight week review following my eye surgery in September. But I think we will still be able to get something going.

We got turned down for the Cloudesley funding to expand the walks, which was disappointing. I thought we had a good chance of this one. Finance very soon is going to be our major problem. It also does not help with stress. It would be nice to just be able to concentrate on delivering the very best possible program without outside concerns.