It’s only just April and the Impact team have already ploughed through several You Programmes and are looking forward to starting the follow on YOUR Recovery Pathways in Leighton Buzzard on 1st May.
We have had some fantastic feedback too!
Among the many end of programmes forms to complete, our learners have an opportunity to ‘tell it like it is’ and share their experience with us through words and many a smiley face ?
Here’s a few comments from our programmes in Leighton Buzzard and Bedford…
“Thanks for the supportive & kind atmosphere. A helpful reminder, refresh and new perspectives.”
“I have really enjoyed my time here. I have learnt some very useful information that I can apply to everyday life. I have also enjoyed feeling part of a group.”
“I have enjoyed the course and the people as I have been able to relax. I have learned a lot of useful information and I am now more optimistic than I have been for many years.”
We will have new course dates available for The YOU Programme and YOUR Recovery Pathways for Central Bedfordshire and Bedford by mid April, so please check back, or get in touch.
Farewell To Impact Pop-Ins
After a great deal of thought-provoking discussions, Impact have decided to stop running Pop-Ins at the Grove Theatre.
We are so grateful and thankful to all of the Grove Theatre staff, especially Rhea and Ellie for their kindness to support the Pop-In gatherings over the last three years.
A big thank you too to all the learners who attended and to the Impact staff and volunteers, without whom, the Pop-Ins would not have existed.
But That’s Not the End!
This is not technically the end of our vision to offer post-programme peer support opportunities.
In true Impact style, we have continued to listen to our learners and consider their needs, suggestions and recommendations, and through the many team meetings and discussions with learners, we have all agreed that Impact want to reflect better, our values and beliefs around empowering health and enabling wellbeing in our post-programme opportunities.
Say hello to Impact Community Events ‘ICE’!
ICE is the new Impact, post-programme opportunity for learners to keep in touch with peers, get involved in their local communities, engage and continue practicing their RAMPS©
RAMPS© is an Impact tool that learners start to practice on the YOU Programme. A tool that focusses on five key areas in life, which Impact believe act as the five cornerstones for total wellbeing.
To help our learners carry on practicing their RAMPS© under the stewardship of Jessica Hewitt, ICE Volunteer Coordinator, Impact will be promoting activities and community events run and created by other organisations, all over Central Bedfordshire and Bedford.
The aim and vision is to encourage, empower and enable our learners to pop-along and meet up with old friends, the Impact team, make new friends, develop and make new hobbies and find new interests – out in the community.
This is a fantastic way for Impact to work in partnership with many other organisations, sharing news and events that will help learners hit each of their RAMPS©!
It’s a new idea and we are incredibly excited. It’s also going to take some time to build, so bear with us, please! However, we’ve started and that’s what counts.
To launch ICE, the Impact team will be participating in the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign on Wednesday, April 10th at 10am. Central Bedfordshire Council have kindly offered to supply is with high viz jackets (cool!) litter picking tools and rubbish sacks.
We plan to get some great pics and report to you all on our first event for the Impact team and ICE.
Our future events are set to be varied and inclusive but we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on what Impact could be promoting in your area, so please get in touch or leave a comment at the bottom of this page.
The next event, which we will be promoting in BaseCamp, on our website and social media, will take place in early May. We really hope you’ll keep an eye out for the details and pop along to see us there.
Recruitment At Impact
Impact will shortly be advertising for the recruitment of two new volunteers to help the team with supporting learners on programmes.
Our recruitment model is simple, to understand who we are and how we work, all new staff and volunteers are encouraged to first attend a programme – just as we did!
We have a comprehensive induction programme waiting for the right people but first, we strongly encourage anyone interested in becoming a volunteer for us or for other organisations to complete an introduction to volunteering course.
This is a great way to learn more about the role of a volunteer and to continue building skills and confidence for whatever you decide to do in the future.
A four week, Introduction to Volunteering course is available, free of charge from NOAH Enterprise and like us, funded by Central Bedfordshire Council in partnership with Bedford Borough Council and The Skills Funding Agency, European Union Social Fund.
Since 2015, our facilitators have continued to research a wide variety of areas around information, practices and tools to help and enable our learners to improve their mental wellbeing.
Much of our current research, particularly over the last two years has focussed on how the brain works in relation to our emotions, thoughts and behaviours, and, adapting lifestyles to include positive change and healthy habits.
These areas are incredibly important to us and to our learners, with a raft of new, global research and science providing our facilitators with strong evidence and information to improve and create more effective and beneficial learning practices, within our programmes.
More recently, Jackie and I have increased our research on the subjects of diet and mindfulness meditation. We have included both these areas in our programmes for some time now, as we know personally, what a difference changing your diet can have on your mental health along with practicing mindfulness and or meditation.
With emerging evidence and facts around the significant health benefits – physical and mental – we have taken our research up another level!
Jackie and I are presently studying to become mindfulness practitioners and look forward to sharing this fantastic knowledge and all of the practices with all of our learners.
We also agreed to spend one week practicing a vegan diet! It’s day five today and honestly? It’s been okay for both of us! Although, neither of us would have believed how much time and effort went into preparing vegetables, nuts and seeds J
As with all of our research topics, we read a huge amount, search the internet, ask questions from professionals and our learners and discuss our findings with everyone.
I hope this shares a little insight into how we work to ensure our programmes are relevant, reflect current health issues and meet the needs of our learners.
Jackie and I enjoy all of our research, for our learners, for programme development and for ourselves – we do this because of our passion to help others and frankly, because we love it!
I have listed a few of our more ‘thumbed’ research books for you below – all of which, feature in both of our programmes. (by following the links and purchasing via Amazon, Impact receive a small commission which all goes towards helping us continue to provide our services).
For Your Mind
For Your Body
For Your Soul
Whatever your plans for Easter, plan the time you need for you and your health.
Here are six ‘Easter & YOU’ suggestions from the Impact team…
- Learn how to walk the Nordic Way!
- Get Crafty J create, build, sew, stick and paint! Loads of free ideas here …
- Why not have a go at Mindful Meditation?
- Fancy following in the footsteps of the famous Mary Berry? Try this Easter Bunny recipe – it says 30 biscuits but by the time I finished icing them, I had 24 to give to the family!?
- If you want to fire-up that grey matter, why not try a free course from the Open University
- De-clutter your home; de-clutter your mind, as they say. Something I’m doing this Easter in between a bit of meditating and a few more Easter Bunny biscuits!
Déanne, Jackie & the Impact Team
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