I’ve been involved with Natural Choices for Health and
Wellbeing from the beginning of the programme a couple of years ago (on and
off), but have now moved out of the region. So it was great to catch up with
friends at a meeting summing up the findings of the programme evaluation.
Following a great lunch at Blackburne house, Andy Hull
kicked off the meeting , by encouraging us to think of evaluation as a
celebration rather than dry figures and graphs! Clare Olver and Sarah Dewar,
who have been running the programme, gave an overview of just how many
community groups had been involved and what they’d all been up to. Here’s the
numbers: 3274 participants, 100 partners, 84 events, 1159 workshops, 867
volunteers, 135 employed, all from a total £300k funding! Wow how did everyone
find the time and energy! And this was the key point that Sarah and Clare
emphasised – none of this great work would have happened without all the
community organisations and volunteers commitment – so Well Done!
And this is the important bit – to keep on meeting together
to support each other in continuing the great projects and partnerships.
As well as numbers the programme has collected a huge amount
of stories and pictures – from the shortest of comments: one of the participants felt amazing swinging
off a branch of a tree! (forest school project). Looking at the ‘bigger
picture’, the collection of stories and feedback really reinforces our understanding
of the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’, for examples, for Take Notice ‘the location
provides a safe haven’, for Give: ‘Community members now volunteering to help
sustain the environment’, for ‘Be Active’ – well there were just too many
comments to count!
The invited speaker was Dr William Bird MBE who gave a great
presentation on how physical activity can extend our lifespan! In his view,
obesity is not the priority, it’s being sedentary and being stressed that we
have to avoid. Even just walking at a moderate pace, several times a week can
improve our health and help prevent disease. If we do this in a park or
greenspace, then this is also likely to reduce our stress - which again helps prevent physical and
mental health problems. Indeed William made the point that stress and lack of
physical activity can feed each other in a vicious circle, but community
activities such as Natural Choices for Health and Wellbeing, can help break
this circle. He thinks of chronic stress within 3 categories; People, Place and
Purpose. These concepts are really just like the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’.
Finally William emphasised how community organisations could use evidence about
what can improve health and wellbeing to give weight to funding applications
for future community projects. This is where the evaluation from Natural
Choices will help – showing that these projects had benefits for the people of
Liverpool is a great way of suggesting that more investment should go to these
type of projects to enable even more people to get involved.
Hi Neil,
ReplyDeleteThere is so much to be said about the returning to a more natural way of life.The soils are depleted from NPK farming techniques.Frequently vegetables and fruit bought from the supermarket are all but tasteless.The Food industry is underfire with fizzy drinks being linked to obesity, diabetes & cancer and beef that was not what we had hoped, capable of giving us galloping consumption(Excuse the pun) Not true of course.Nevertheless the food industry is there to satisfy its shareholders, whose interests may indeed be placed before the consumers.
Becoming involved and taking ownership of our own health is the first vital step, in sustaining the vitality needed to enjoy helping others, help themselves.The sharing of any knowledge that improves natural health and thus well being will help to reduce the dramatic drain on NHS resources.
The redirection of such savings could be directed into community projects that address isssues such as affordable housing shortages(conversion of empty business premises),flooding followed by drought(water diversion & collection schemes) Remineralising of soils and introduction of vertical gardens, would all help provide local produce (improve the carbon footprint)and provide purposeful employment, motivation and stimulating outcomes within communities.
You may be interested in this article http://www.nutritional-value.com/nutritionist
Thank you so much for what you have shared with readers in this blog. I will spend my free time support for you.
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