Monday 1st February 2021 - 42 Weekly Health Packs provided so far - website and recipes

Posted 1:45pm

We are absolutely delighted to say our health packs continue to receive amazing feedback, as our unique intervention reaches issue 42.  At the moment, there are plans to complete 52 issues in all, so that we can say we did them every week for a year.

Every week, on a Monday morning, we publish a 26 page pack crammed full on information, news, fun, and positivity.  It has grown significantly since last April, when our first issue was just 10 pages - which was then updated to 22 pages in August.  It has been over 20 pages since May, but there are no plans to increase pages any more.  26 pages a week is definitely enough.

All 42 current packs are on our website, and are in PDF form.

Lazza has also been cooking a new recipe each week, one of which he has never cooked before.

In January these included Chilli Con Carne, Chicken Supreme (pictured), Beef Stroganoff, and a Victoria Sponge.  All were delicious.  We have added all those to our "recipe" page on the website too.  Over 40 dishes have been created.  Just goes to show that anyone can pick up a new skill if they give it a go.

Monday 1st February - Fitness with Camden to start in March

Posted 1:40pm

Delighted to say we have overcome some huge challenges and will be finally providing fitness assistance in Camden from March.

We applied for funding last year, and were awarded that from Camden Giving, to provide some fitness sessions with clients from Kentish Town Job Centre, using Better Gym in Kings Cross, Pancras.

Obviously the lockdowns closed the gyms, and then new regulations came along saying we could only exercise outdoors with one other person outside our bubble.

Thankfully, due to great work from Lazza, and using our contacts with Mind In Camden (matthew), we have been in contact with Kentish Town Community Centre.  This Wednesday, Lazza and Dean will be visiting the centre to meet with Sarah, the  manager.  She has said their dance studio should be available from March, and we will be able to start our 26 week intervention.

We have also been working with Angela, one of the disability officers at Kentish Town Job Centre.  I know both Dean and I are very excited to be providing this help.

Monday 1st February 2021 - Course with Haringey to start in February.

Posted 1:30pm

We are so excited to be running our first Ajani course since lockdown, and this with Haringey Well Being Network.

Starting on Monday 15th February (just a fortnight to go) we will be doing a 12 week course, focusing on building a growth mind-set mentality around confidence and challenges, promoting a healthy nutrition diet looking what we need from our food to keep us functioning properly, demonstrating various ways of incorporating exercise into our lives, and looking at our health/daily routine, and how making small changes over weeks and months can create significant change.

We will be starting this online through Zoom, something we have never done before, so that is both tense and exciting.  We are adapting our delivery, which has received such amazing feedback, so we can continue to provide a relevant and professional intervention, with lots of fun and laughter.

This course will be delivered by our Lazza and Dean, alongside our new recruit Oliver, brother to Luke who we have sadly seen move on.  We wish him all the best, and welcome Oliver.

More details on the course as we go.

Monday 1st February 2021 - HMHB is walking still

 Posted 1:15pm

Firstly, apologies to our followers for no January entries.  This is not down to any lack of effort or work.  It was more down to personal issues within HMHB itself, and internal health issues.  Yep, those are probably excuses.  But we intend on correcting that with social media postings every day in February.  Well, that is the plan.

So, what has been happening.  Frankly, a lot.  We are going to make a few blog entries as there is probably too much news for just one, very long, entry.

Exercise is very important, especially at this time of pandemic and isolating.  For the first couple of weeks of January we didn't arrange any outdoor exercise at all.  Regulations state we can only do outdoor fitness with one other person.  But we received a lot of messages asking if there was anything we could do.  And, personally, I really needed to get out more myself.

So, we have been back walking in the mornings, but ensuring we walk in pairs, and not as a group.  This allows us to interact safely - we make sure we have masks and social distance.

Technically, we may possibly be stretching the rules, and I hope people appreciate the terrific mental health boost this is giving people.

Here, Lazza and Georg sit having coffee following their walk towards the end of January.

 Please everyone, be safe, be active, and we will all come through this.

 

Sunday 20th December 2020 - All our news prior to Christmas

Posted 1:00pm

Plenty going on, and we have been busy.  Especially with London going from Tier 2 to 4 very quickly.

We release number 36 of our weekly health packs tonight.  Our Christmas issue, and it is needed at these times of uncertainty and lockdown.  Lazza will be working very hard in the next couple of days to get issue 37 ready, as I am sure nobody would want to be sitting at the laptop on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

We are delighted to say we have been granted funding from Haringey Giving to do a 12 week course with Haringey Well-Being Network, and we will be discussing with Pritty and her Team re start dates and venues (we have to be Covid ready too).  This is a massive boost for HMHB, and we are so happy to get their trust.

We were walking every morning, but with the new lockdown rules about meeting outdoors we have had to put that on a back burner.  This was a picture during the week, and Lazza was able to and out presents too.

Lazza, Luke and Dean are meeting up on Tuesday to discuss 2021.

We all wish you the best of Christmas (whatever that is for you this year).  Stay positive. :-)

Monday 7th December 2020 - Kentish Town: Funding LIF: Funding Haringey.

Posted 1:45pm

Delighted to ay we have now spoken with both Pancras Gym and with Kentish Town Job Centre.  KTJC are really happy we achieved funding to work with their group, and it is something we are really looking forward to doing.  Just need to iron out the nitty gritty details, but that is now going to happen.

We are so thankful to our terrific local councillors, Osh Gantly, Sue Lukes, and Caroline Russell, who have agreed to fund us some money from their Local Initiatives Fund.  This project is our local walks, and it will enable us to pay a walk leader for three walks a week for every week in 2021. Absolutely fabulous.  It means that I do not have to attend every time, and can find someone to ensure it continues to help people.

Finally, we have completed and submitted an application to Haringey Giving to do a 12 week course with Haringey Well Being Network clients.  I am quietly confident we will get that as I name dropped several people, and we have actually been asked by HWN to do the work.  It enables me to pay Luke and Dean properly too.  It's all very exciting at the moment. :-)

Friday 4th December 2020 - Haringey News and Lazza's cooking

Posted 4:00pm

Once again, HMHB can provide proof that being proactive can bring results.

We were invited to attend a zoom event in November, managed by North London CCG (Care Commissioning Group) in Haringey.  However, it was the day of Lawrence's knee surgery.  He wanted to ask a question around the commissioning of new projects.  How does it happen?  How could we find funding?  Are there processes for new projects.

We did get back an answer, but it did not actually cover our question, so Lawrence re contacted, stressing that we had already done some fine work in the borough, and that we had been asked to do more, but without funding this was not possible.

We then got a great reply back saying they were putting us in contact with the main Mental Health Commissioner in Haringey.  I had a terrific chat online with Pritty Rana, service manager at Haringey WellBeing Network yesterday, and she expressed an interest in us coming in and doing a 12 week course with their users (either one morning or one afternoon every week).  So today I completed a three page document - with the fantastic assistance of my wonderful mentor - detailing who we are, what we do, how much a course would cost, and the outcomes we would be looking to achieve.  I also added in some previous quotes from other courses.  I have sent that off, and hopefully we can get a positive result.

Lazza created a delicious homemade Tiramisu last night for this week's health pack.  This was the first one he has ever made.  I don't think we will be wanting to look at the calories!!!!!!  Absolutely scrummy!!!!!