Wow!!! It has been an extraordinary five weeks since the last entry.
At the time - we were quite positive.
Setting up a business - especially one trying to get established in a tricky field of mental health - has proven to be more challenging then any of us could have possible imagined.
We have developed and designed, following the advice of many people, and listened to what people expect of us. We have done all that has been asked. But are still reliant on other organisations allowing us the opportunity to work with service users to prove our outcomes.
August started with much optimism. It was great to get the lottery money to run four programs. We intended to do two in August and two in September. Lawrence was able to come off Universal Credit and earn a full time salary for two months. Luke was able to come and work for two days a week for HMHB, which provided some terrific input in August, as well as helped develop certain pieces of work for the programs.
Oh, how things can let us down. Our programs were not promoted enough by organisations, and others appeared to see us as competition in some way. Both August ones fell through, which natyrally led to frustration and pressure. Then both September also collapsed, leaving us in a perilous position.. We had funding, and would need to show we had spent it well.
We think we have managed to sort things. But it has not been easy, has been stressful, and ultimately has caused internal issues. We look to run two programs in October and four in November, if possible.
We know, because we have been told, we have a good product - and we are adding to it all the time. But in the end, unfortunately, at the moment, it comes down to other organisations pushing us too, as well as finance. I am sure there is a future for us - that we can become established - that we can make this an on-going self-sustainable product. If only someone with money could pop along and back us - and we continue to look for that.
Apologies for the gap between entries. We are all about honesty here, and it has been a time of "is there a point to all this effort?" It's ironic that we are running programmes about Growth Mind-set mentality and then we end up struggling a bit. However, we remain strong, which is also the point of the course - we have targets and aims and are determined - so maybe we are also our own prime example of why it is important to keep pushing.
Thanks all.
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