Tuesday 11th December 2018 - Update on GoFundMe

Posted 1:45pm

HMHB is definitely approaching a crossroads. After years of development, creating a terrific foundation, and approaching business set up with professionalism and vigour, like many things in life it now comes down to the money.

Salaries (2) need covering. General business expenses will come up. If we do not find funding in the next six months I fear all our good work will come to nothing.

I find it extraordinary that we can show we have a good product, producing excellent feedback, and therefore we should be able to access suitable funding, that public sector is almost impossible. Grants tend to not cover any salary, and even "core" funding can be frowned upon.

Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson tweeted our GoFundMe page, which was a fantastic thing for her to do. She has been wonderfully supportive. However, no retweets, and no money. How do some people generate their funds?  I will review the wording on the site later, but even so we have videos and feedback on there.

The site is:   www.gofundme.com/hmhb2016

We have tweeted it, facebooked it, and it is on out website. Yes, we are approaching corporate - and I am just waiting for clearance on the email message and proposal we will be sending out. But the whole system is frustrating for start ups like ourselves.

I still hope one day we can get commissioned locally. We are happy to sit down and chat with anyone re out outcomes, and outcomes they are demanding themselves. We can tailor our work to courses, day events, for corrective and preventive results.  We just need a chance - and I think it is becoming harder and harder to see when that will happen.

Monday 10th December 2018 - Peabody update

Posted 2:20pm

I have been in my flat for over nineteen years. Over that period, it has gone through the hands of various Housing Associations. I am now Peabody, after their merger with Family Mosaic recently.

Ironically, I approached FM several times around seven, six, and five years ago with my project. Each time I was told that it looked really good, but they would not have funding for it. Then, after the third time, they took my idea and tried to introduce it themselves. I was not happy.

However, we feel we have now grown the delivery and adapted the programme to such an extent it would be beneficial to tenants of all Housing Associations, so I re-approached Peabody around five weeks ago. Like most HA, they manage an Employability Course for tenants, and we feel we can enhance their work with our own programme. I do hope we will get a chance, especially as FM stole my idea. I know companies can be protective of their work, we are like that too. But networking and partnerships can bring even better outcomes.

Peabody is a huge HA, with thousands of tenants, and it is clearly in their best interests to have tenants with a positive mindset, good health and fitness, and awareness of a healthy lifestyle. I am sure they run projects on this, but our unique delivery, and incredible passion, might give us am opportunity to be involved.  We can wait and see.

Monday 10th December 2018 - Saturday Fitness Success

Posted 1:40pm

We are enjoying our Saturday sessions at the Sobell Centre, just off Hornsey Road in Islington. That is despite the early start of 9am!!!

We have now had six sessions, and PT Dean does alternate Saturdays, with Lazza running the other weeks. We believe it will gradually build numbers, but we are delighted at the support of the Health Centre, who have given us their largest studio for free.

We do an hour - normally starting with a good stretch before entering into various exercises, fully accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and fitness levels. We try and ensure we use all our muscles, concentrating on Core, Legs, and Upper Body and Arms.

No weeks are the same. I like that fact we mix it up.  It is good to introduce different types of fitness and exercise. And we ensure that if people are older, or less mobile, they are included, as well as making it fun.

The feedback has been very good. We opened it up to both Ajani and Izzwalkz users - as well as outside groups such as Eagle Project, Single Homeless Project, Haringey Mind, Better Lives, and Islington Mind. I have to say, from a personal point of view, that after attending every session it can be a pull getting to the venue on time, but actually once I am up and out I really enjoy the chance to get moving and participate. And we normally have a laugh.

We have the studio till the end of January at the moment, and I hope this can build into something useful for the mental health community.

Friday 7th December 2018 - Haringey Update

Posted 1:45pm

Had a really solid meeting this morning at the offices of Mind In Haringey - in Stapleton Rd, near to Crouch Hill station, on the border of Islington and Haringey.

I met with Pritty Rana, the Service Manager for Haringey Wellbeing Network/Employers In Mind, and we chatted about HMHB and our Ajani programme, with its added value. IIt was important tlo show we aren't duplicating current intervention, but instead enhancing what they already provide.

There was a lot of interest, and we discussed doing at least two programmes, lookinng at different outcomes - one being more corrective, and the other preventive. There was also discussion about residential homes and other services.

Lazza suggested running a one-off two hour session for staff, so that Haringey could get a taster of our delivery, and the passion we have for what we are doing, and that went down well. I would hope we can get that in January, and look to do course in February.

We were very encouraged and I would think we can run a couple of good courses, also based around the outcomes of MIH as well as ourselves

Thursday 6th December 2018 - networking advantages yoga:: izzwalkz

Lazza and Marie with the Yoga teacher

Eagle Project - Wed 5th December

Posted 3:00pm

Another one of our "added value" opportunities is the way we can network with other organisations in a different. I have been on courses myself where they have mentioned other intervention options, but then admit that they have not seen them first hand.

HMHB believes in promoting as many programs and events as possible - as long as they can help service users get back into life quicker, with more confidence, and is relevant to our own values.

The Eagle Project in Islington is one such project. It is set up for people who have come through various recovery programmes, and is there to try and keep people motivated and inspired to continue pushing forward, offering a variety of sessions.

One of these is a Yoga session on a Wednesday afternoon. Lazza felt this is something we would like to promote, and therefore needed to experience the hour long class for himself. Accompanied by our service user Marie, we did that firstly three weeks ago, But they changed venue that week, and it is now out of 28B King Henry Walk - off Balls Pond Road near to Mildmay.  We went back yesterday afternoon.

It was a really good experience. The teacher is fantastic - calmly leading the group through various poses of stretching and balance, concentrating on breathing and calmness. It is not easy. For example, we were doing a "warrior" pose, which involved a standing balance, breathing control, and muscle work. I have to say we enjoyed the session very much, and aim to come as many Wednesdays as possible. We even stayed for some nibbles and a difficult quiz (many guesses).

We encouraged Eagle users to use our Saturday fitness sessions, and I hope some do turn up. The time of 9am was mentioned, but if people were going on holiday with early flights, or had an important operation booked for a morning, they would manage that time for those events, so why should it be different for a gym session? It's all about how badly people want to improve their health.

Finally, we had another lovely walk today. Seven of us went round Clissold Park. A small wind, with a threat of rain, but we banned all talk of Brexit, and just enjoyed the company.  Lazza admits he is still the only person this year who has managed to put on weight doing these walks, but that will change soon. Lol.

Wednesday 5th December 2018 - Instagram, Website Gallery

Posted 2:00pm

Social Media is very important to us - especially getting us noticed.

Our very clever website guru, university student Kacper, has linked our Instagram account to our website, so any pictures we upload to our account automatically appears on our gallery pages. How this works is beyond me - but is great.

With that in mind, it is therefore important for us to keep up to date with our photographs, as we are encouraging corporate people to view our website, as well as ask service users to follow us on Instagram, and hopefully promote us themselves.#

Our account is:

healthymindshealthybods2016

We realise it is quite long, but if we had called it hmhb2016 it would negate anyone searching for "healthy" on the site.

Lazza spent a few hours yesterday adding 36 pictures to those already uploaded, adding suitable descriptions and dates, and we are delighted with the result. You can check them on Instagram or on the Gallery page on our website: www.hmhb2016.org.uk

The photos cover HMHB general, our Ajani project, various Izzwalkz, our added value fitness sessions and excursions, as well as additional material.  And we will look to take more next year.  The faces of our service users demonstrate why we are doing all we can to launch this project.

Tuesday 4th December 2018 - How my own progress is a good example of HMHB

Posted 2:15pm

I can tell you that we have had the most fun, the best experiences, and the greatest satisfaction when we have been able to work with our service users -both om Ajani and Izzwalkz.  Seeing our passion invigorate people, our delivery motivate people, and receiving incredible feedback, makes everything worthwhile.

But it all starts from believing ourselves - and I am sure I am referring to many of us when I say we need to practice what we preach. How many of us offer advice to others that we then ignore in our own lives? We promote a growth mindset, but then allow situations to overwhelm. We encourage a healthy routine, but then ignore the opportunities to introduce that into our days. Guide people to eat better, and then buy no fruit or veg, overdo the trans fats, and not get the right nutrition balance. Even demonstrating exercises people can easily do on a daily basis, and then sitting back and being lazy. It is easy to fall into those traps.

I like to see myself - Lazza - as a prime example of how HMHB can deliver. Whenever I am more active, that is when results happen. I have suffered with various mental health issues over the last ten to fifteen years, and I hate when the "self pity" rears its ugly head, and situations appear difficult.

But when I have faced them head on, actively looking for solutions, that is when things happen. I am a walking/;talking example of the benefits of HMHB's values. It does not mean everything works out the way I would like - far from it. But success only comes from putting myself in a position where it can happen.

This also is true, not just in my personal life, but with the set-up of the company itself, and our projects. We have energetically approached organisations and companies, reaching out to the top people, promoting HMHB in a field where it is difficult to get a foothold. It can be extremely frustrating, but the only way forward is to find solutions, keep persevering and believing in us and our product.

Both HMHB, and myself, have adapted over the last four years. We have come across many obstacles, lots of disappointments, been patronised, misrepresented, and made mistakes. But I firmly trust that 2019 is going to be the year we finally get core seed funding, salaries for Luke and myself, and the opportunity to show that even though we are a small dot in a very large landscape, by being proactive, persistent, and energised, we can start forging a great future.

Stick with us!!!