WHAT WE DO?

CHANGING SOCIETY WITH ROXY'S WORKBOOK. HOW? (SUMMARY SLIDE BELOW) 

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History: The Problem

In November 2014 I looked around and studied the presence of an energy which surrounded me whenever I attempted to join society. It seemed to me un-natural and made me feel significantly out-of-sorts but was obvious whenever I watched the news, shared public transport and particularly consistent in the faces of the people I observed, enough for me to question; why is this happening and if it’s so obvious to me, why isn’t anyone sorting this out? The inescapable problem was the disconnection between the elderly and the youth. They seemed like worlds apart and ironically two vulnerable groups who needed each other desperately. Such a simple problem which I suppose has created distance over time. I recall a quote, “Distance doesn’t separate people, silence does”. The problem was apparent but the solution eluded me for years.

I don’t know what the solution is but in order to fix it I would need an elderly group and a youth group. I decided, to work on creating the groups and expected to have the solution by the time the groups were established.

Elderly Wellbeing

Since November 2016 I created the Active Communities Mondays group with the like-minded Communities’ Manager Navin Seneviratne at Harrow Leisure Centre. He arranged the session, space and back-office stuff and I, with Vimmi Khanna (Accessibility Instructor), would manage the sessions. Mobility exercises are coached by Richard Coker (The Exercise Referrals Manager) and a 2nd class of either Qigong or Zumba create some variety with other coaches. In Nov 2016 a social group of approx. 6 elders attended but now on a regular basis every Monday morning this has grown to 45-50 elders today (June 2019). We are working on more groups in care homes and other groups. Elderly group, check! 

Look at the video here.

Youth Sport

I have been promoting a sport called “Summey”, after it’s inventor, which was designed by a service user at Hillingdon Mind where I was working. He asked for my help getting people to play his sport. The conversation went more like:

Summey: Andrew, can you help me to get more people to play my sport?
Me : Sure, I think I can do that. Is there anything else?
Summey: Yes, I’d like it to be bigger than football!
Me : Err…well let’s start getting more people to play it first, ok?

After reviewing the rules, dynamics and a few changes I went to schools, youth clubs and anywhere I could to see how it would work. Watford Sports and Community Centre gave us the opportunity to demonstrate and play in a few locations between Feb to September 2018. It became an integral part of the mental health work we did as part of their youth mental health “Empower” programme. I decided to use the sport to engage the youth. We are going to start running sessions in Harrow, Hayes and Hillingdon as a means to manage aggression as it expelled so much energy. We will combine it with Qigong to centre and focus the participants then finish the session with football to see if there is better focus, teamwork and strategy. 

Youth group, check!

Check out the video here.

FINALLY, THE SOLUTION BRINGS IT ALL TOGETHER

While working on these projects, since 2014, I have also attempted to get a better understanding about mental health. I worked in various roles with Mind, Rethink Mental Health and Time to Change. I have been through mental health awareness and first aid training, certified as a L3 Counsellor and Qigong Instructor. I eventually realised there was no overnight fix for ill mental health, was overwhelmed by the vast subject area but knew I had to focus on one area, the most important area, and make it good. This was children’s mental health, the only way to make significant change was through generations. So I started to write a book to educate children, raise awareness, reduce stigma and provide resilience. It went through the hands of counsellors, psychologists, mental health professionals, parents and lay people. I made changes, more changes, about ten final versions and now it’s ready to implement, 3years later.

This book is for adults to read to children before they move into secondary education. While they are still young, and as well as the outcomes above, it is designed to facilitate discussion, provide emotional vocabulary and through discussion and exercises will create the psychological space to discuss feelings and emotions initially relating to the stories but to also to tease out content from the readers, adult and child. This space will be used by the kids when they are ready to talk later in life and if read with a family member (grandparents), it will be a space they can nurture and maintain throughout their lives. Anchoring the emotional stability with elders who have life experiences to share.

This book is the answer to the problems in society identified years previously. Emotions are the same no matter what generation but the experiences they’ve had are all different. Bringing the elderly together with the very young will create a respectful space of trust, reminiscence and most of all, human one-to-one interaction. This is what we all need in an age of screens, texts and video.

Every child needs this education and every elder needs to have respect and purpose.


We are reaching out to:
  • Families: (kids, parents, grandparents, uncles/aunties, godparents)
  • Businesses: to sponsor a class of school kids: We have a school programme where the book can be part of a lesson plan over the course of a week. They take the book home to read with their mums, dads or whoever will read with them and engage in school sharing the education as a class.
  • Mental health professionals: This book can be used to facilitate discussion or at least recommended to create this space at home, alleviating problems with parenting later.
  • The Local Authority/Council/CCG/Health Watch/Health and Wellbeing Boards: This is an answer to problems already identified in Joint Strategic Needs Analysis countrywide.
  • Elderly Groups: They understand the value of this space and by creating it could ensure respect and connection to the family unit for years to come.
  • Parenting groups: This education should not be left for schools to implement. Education of emotions and feelings should primarily be driven from home. This would support any work the education sector is performing.
  • Primary Schools/PTA’s: This is where the book should be placed, pre-transition year. It is designed for children of this demographic.
This is a piece of inter-generational work which needs to be shared. It will eventually be translated into other languages and into different size print. It is vital for this work to be supported and if you’re reading this you now understand why.

Thanks you for reading about our project to change society!

Email any questions you have to andrew.samuels@mind-angels.com

"Distance doesn't separate people, Silence Does!"

The slide below shows where Roxy's book fits to maximise it's potential. You can download it at the bottom of the page.
This page shows where Roxy's workbook is placed to support our project to change society. It shows the problems from the youth and elderly perspective and the benefits of this piece of work. Please share. This is one way we wish to continue to fund our work and make it self-sustaining.  
Click here to download this pdf.