Monday 7th October 2019 - Lazza updates us on a busy first Oct week

Posted 2:45pm

Healthy Minds, Healthy Bods has given itself three months to really get close to goals. So that means we cannot let up at all. Lots of targets and goals, many meetings to create, and a huge effort to be had.

So the first week of October has flown by, but we have made progress.

Firstly, we are now waiting to hear on two completed small funding applications - Islington Giving and Camden Giving. We think that both applications are good, and have an excellent chance, but then again there are probably a lot of groups looking for money. It would be amazing to get both, as it would allow us to finally work with the Job Centre in both boroughs.

Through persistence, we are waiting to hear about possible Haringey funding we can apply for, following a meeting last week. And through Twitter, we have established that Hackney has some money to spend and we have made contact to see if we can discuss things with them.  I just wish all this did not take so much time.

We are busy preparing for our upcoming Kensington and Chelsea days with Peabody. It will be interesting to see the feedback and outcomes. We know we can raise confidence and build excitement, but the secret is finding out if people feel they can then be proactive and make changes.

We are waiting to hear back from Single Homeless Project, with whom we are looking to do two day events with the Islington money, if we are awarded it. We chased them this week.  We also chased the London Metropolitan University, who we contacted about doing some work with incoming students.  With that in mind, Lazza intends to contact several more universities and colleges in london to see if they will allow us to do some intervention around preventive mental health.

We have chased up both Islington and Camden Job Centres to discuss preventive intervention with them. It feels like we are constantly looking for contact - and face to face meetings are most important. We will also do this for Haringey and Hackney Job Centres this week.

We are starting to get new members to our Tuesday and Saturday fitness sessions - which is great news. Izzwalkz had its 150th walk last week, and next month has its 3rd birthday.

Finally, on a personal note, Lazza is meeting with a sports specialist this week in regards to his legs, which are in constant pain now, and we wish him the best. In November, he is at UCH for meetings re his hernia and legs too. Good luck!!!