Sunday 31st May 2020 - apologies for lack of entries - june and onwards

Posted 1:45pm

It's the end of May already, and possible soon the end of lockdown. Well, bits of it are gradually being relaxed.

Healthy Minds, Healthy Bods, would like to apologise for our lack of entries in the last few weeks. We have been working tirelessly on producing our weekly mental health packs (6 so far, and number 7 coming out tomorrow), as well as funding applications.

We love our packs - everything from the design and formatting, to the research and distribution.  They are almost becoming a full time job - taking up to 30 hours a week.  Pack seven is going to be 20 pages, and we are hoping to keep that number, at least for the next seven.

We were successful in getting funding from Islington Giving which covers costs for the first 17 copies, and we have applied elsewhere to enable us to then continue afterwards. There are volunteer costs - we covering four hours a week for volunteers even though we are clearly doing a huge amount more - as well as costs of producing and delivering (postal, email, and by hand).

Kacper, our website guy, currently in Scotland, is updating pages on our website, and we are looking at increasing our pages and content during this time too.

With funding, we are doing all we can to get noticed, so we can try and influence seed funding for salaries. To our knowledge, we are the only organisation we can find who are producing weekly mental health packs, covering all these topics, that can then be printed off and sent to people who are not online. Something we feel is vital at this time.  Most companies are just providing online support that leaves out a big chunk of people who may need it.

From tomorrow, the 1st June, we will again start doing daily blog updates, on both our blogs.
Keep well everyone. Yay!!!

Friday 8th May 2020 - Pack 4, Exercise, Filming

Posted 1:35pm

One of the biggest moans I hear at the moment is people saying that they are bored.  I have to admit if I did not have the project to oversee, develop, and promote, I would probably be struggling to find things to do. But I like to think I would be productive.  It is a tough issue.

This is not me belittling anyone though. I totally understand how this lockdown can produce feelings of boredom. But it is up to us as individuals to keep ourselves busy, and find jobs to do. In fact, in the pack I am putting together at the moment, I talk about procrastination.  This is an amazing time to do all those little jobs you have been putting off:  cleaning out cupboards; decluttering objects and clothing;  catch up on box sets;  listen to CDs you have not heard for a while, or go through your DVD collection, or learn a new skill/language.

Lazza is currently working on Mental Health Pack Number 4:  It will be 16 pages - and that will be the maximum for every week now.  We aim to include a recipe each week, and some will create a new page about outside help people can access.  HMHB is hoping to promote the packs in multiple boroughs - including Islington, Camden, Haringey, and Hackney, as well as beyond - so will  not be able to list individual borough help, but more focus on assistance over various boroughs.  This pack, as always, will be live on Monday morning.

We have started to film some fitness intervention - photos for our packs, and videos for our Youtube. This did not go well first time, but that is a learning curve. In fact Lazza and Dean are meeting with two of our users Rosie and Marie tomorrow on Highbury Fields for just that tomorrow morning - maintaining proper distancing rules at all times I hasten to add.  Should be fun.

Finally, Lazza is putting his weight loss journey into the packs from this issue. Firstly, as an example for people to use for themselves for their own targets, as I am sure there will be pitfalls and failure along the way.  Secondly, to demonstrate the advantage of accountability.  Lastly, as he feels it will really help him conquer his demons.  Good luck to him.

Saturday 2nd May 2020 - Thanks to Islington Giving Covid Fund + Zoom

Posted 6:30pm

Delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant by Islington Giving, which allows us to really concentrate on our mental health packs. It is a fantastic award, and we have to thank Lazza for his efforts on applying for funding.

The award is to cover certain expenses:  These include paying some volunteers for their contributions, and that includes the preparation and design work, the filming of fitness stuff where we will also take photos to include in the pack, and the online work for website and Youtube.  A lot of effort goes into producing these packs - which we love doing though.

It also enables us to get a quality camera to film videos and take pic, plus a load of stationary - such as paper, ink, and some branded stuff from Vistaprint.  We also want to get some resistance bands and give them away.  We are so grateful to Islington Giving for believing in us.

We have other funding applications out to cover other costs, to do with Core funding and equipment. Plus postage and envelopes to post packs off.  We also would like to produce other content for the packs, including some cooking (where we want to pay a volunteer to make some recipes and provide the food content for that too), as well as practical advice from professionals on some fields - such as oral health care, dietary guidance, and some more games.  But that will come from other funding we hope. We are still waiting to hear on one fund, and are applying on three more this weekend.

Lazza attended an online class on Zoom - the online place for meetings - and we hope to have that up and running later this week. This will enable us to meet up through the internet, discuss what HMHB can continue to do, as well as maybe do some live get togethers.  Exciting times.

Finally, Lazza, Luke and Dean are all well, and to our knowledge none of our users have had problems with Covid 19.  Naturally, we send all our best wishes. This is tough. Please keep well, follow the guidance, and stay active. Yay!!!