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Leading from the kitchen

Posted By Clore Social Leadership, 15 September 2020
Updated: 19 November 2020

 

Clore Social Fellow Tony Wright, Founder and Chief Executive of Forward Assist, a multi-award winning Veterans Charity, writes about the profound impact a healthy diet can have on veterans’ wellbeing.

One of the best aspects of taking part in the Clore Social Leadership’s Cobseo Emerging Leader course in 2018 was the chance to step back from front line delivery services and spend time reading a plethora of leadership books and exploring leadership theories. During that process I was able to identify that I both identified with and fitted the profile of a servant leader. Instead of the people working to serve the leader, the leader exists to serve the people. I enjoy getting ‘stuck in’ and delivering services alongside our multi-disciplinary team and veteran peer mentors. One of the programmes we have initiated over the last few years in our Veterans Health and Wellbeing Hub is the Veterans Cook2Give project.

The Forward Assist Cook2Give project operates from Salute Café and teaches veterans how to cook healthy nutritious meals for themselves, their families and the wider community. Educating veterans about the importance of a healthy diet is in many ways the most powerful intervention we have. We have found that once Veterans understand the link between diet and wellbeing, they see dramatic improvements in the quality of their lives.

“Attending the healthy eating course taught me how to cook better and make healthier meals. I now enjoy cooking and enjoy exploring new recipes. Because of the healthy eating course I now know what not to eat and how to replace unhealthy food for a healthier alternative. The course also gave me a purpose to get out of the house and meet new people.” - Bob Wilson, Veteran

"The course also gave me a purpose to get out of the house and meet new people." Bob Wilson, Veteran

When you think of a military veterans charity, you may not think it would focus on things like diet, cooking and health. However, Forward Assist – a multi-award-winning military veterans charity based in the North East of England – has discovered that helping military veterans maintain a healthy diet and improve their cooking skills have profound effects on their mental, physical and emotional outcomes.

Far too often, media coverage of military veterans tends to focus narrowly on the lack of services for those diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Yet for the majority of those transitioning from the military the key issues facing veterans are much wider.

There are numerous benefits of a well-balanced diet - from the energy it provides to keep active throughout the day and nutrients for muscle growth and cell repair to the fact healthy eating helps prevent diet-related illnesses such as type-2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Once veterans understand the link between diet and wellbeing, we see dramatic improvements in the quality of their lives.

Fresh seasonal vegetables are also grown in the charity’s allotment and herbs are grown in raised beds just outside Salute Café. These are incorporated into meals when available. Horticulture as an outdoor activity has been shown to help reduce social isolation and loneliness whilst improving physical health. Eating well for less is another central aspect. Forward Assist’s eight-week healthy eating course teaches veterans how to eat healthily on a tight budget, as well as learning how not to be an emotional hostage to food. Far too many veterans, especially when stressed, eat a disproportionate amount of takeaway food and more than one has described the novel culinary experience of eating a ‘Pot Noodle Sandwich’. The charity encourages veterans to avoid readymade meals by teaching them how to cook and prepare fruit, vegetables and pulses and it provides veterans with recipe cards to use at home.

Since 2017, the Veterans ‘Cook2Give’ team has cooked over 10,700 meals. In 2020, the charity was awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service, the equivalent of an MBE, in recognition of the volunteers’ dedication and commitment to civic duty after service. At Forward Assist we believe veterans are a community resource and we are proud to give them opportunities to serve their community.

Every year Forward Assist invites Occupational Therapy students to join the team on a work-based placement. One of the initiatives they developed was a ‘how to cook healthy meals on a budget’ and ‘how to be creative with the content of an emergency food parcel’. Asking for a food parcel can be demoralising, but by teaching veterans how to cook we empower them to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The course has been a great success and came into its own during the Covid-19 lockdown when isolated veterans were able to put the theory into practice.

When it comes to leadership there are many styles and as a servant leader I think Social Worker, Joseph Mayo sums it up best when he said;

"Leadership is not about making other people poor but making a difference in their lives." Joseph Mayo

Other opportunities to develop the veterans’ health includes their annual Veterans Retreat to France where the charity promotes abstinence from recreational substance misuse and further develops their cooking and healthy food skills with help from a qualified and experienced chef who takes the group shopping every day in local street markets for fresh vegetables and ingredients for the daily meals. Together they learn how to cook and prepare healthy meals.

The simple joy of eating together every day creates a much missed sense of camaraderie as everyone has a role supporting one another during the course of the day. It’s incredible the difference regular meals and abstinence from alcohol can have on the physical and mental wellbeing of participants. However, we know this is a highly controlled environment and it’s not always easy for veterans and their families to maintain this structure and discipline when they are on their own. In light of the Prime Minister’s obesity strategy this charity is calling for more measures to help reduce the bombardment of unhealthy junk food advertising, promotions and availability to help support groups like military veterans maintain a healthy diet away from the cooking course. It is specifically calling for the government to implement all policies in Chapter 2 of the Childhood Obesity Plan published in 2018. The strategy made a number of policy commitments, the vast majority of which are still waiting to be implemented.

When we’re working so hard to make it easier for veterans to maintain a healthy diet, it feels wrong that we put them back into an environment that disproportionately promotes and advertises unhealthy food and drink. We’re doing our bit; the government and food and drinks industry should do theirs too. We welcome the fact that the Prime Minister has recognised that people do actually want the government to help make it easier for us all to eat healthily and be active.

Contact: Tony Wright CEO

Forward Assist www.forward-assist.com

Email: tony@forward-assist.com

Tags:  casestudy  food  nutrition  wellbeing 

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The important things in life

Posted By Clore Social Leadership, 02 June 2020
Updated: 23 November 2020

Tony Wright, 2018 Clore Social Fellow, writes about being a CEO of a small charity, looking after yourself and family life… all amidst a pandemic.

Sometimes, running a small charity can feel like ‘clinging onto a runaway train’ and no matter how much we try to make sure we have a work-life balance, nine times out of ten, the rhetoric just doesn’t meet the reality.

It is a competitive world out there and the only thing that buys time in this business is money. By that I mean sufficient funding to employ more staff and delegate tasks, or as I have just discovered, a worldwide pandemic will buy you a lot of time to reflect on what really matters.

Never in a working career stretching over 40 years have I had to cancel every single appointment, booking or project for the next 12 months… but I have, and after the initial anxiety of doing so, it’s been truly liberating.

It was during my Clore Social Leadership programme in 2018 that I was given tacit permission by the programme tutors to put myself first. They told me my health and my wellbeing were paramount and whilst that may seem obvious, it was not to me. They said it was my responsibility to look after myself otherwise I would not be in the best place to look after others or carry out my responsibilities as a CEO in the Service Charity sector.

"Being given permission to be kind to myself has been life changing."


For the first time in my working life I made full use of my holiday entitlement. I was only available during working hours and never at weekends. If I were tired, I would finish early, I am a morning person and my best thinking and productivity is over by 3pm. The last two hours of a 9-5 working day are in my case, quite pointless as I am up at 6am and respond to outstanding emails before the daily commute to work. By late afternoon I am just going through the motions.

The enforced break has for me, been a blessing, as I have had to accept that I was not in control of anything work related. It has proved to be a fantastic opportunity to relax and reflect on professional practice, the direction of my life and what really makes me happy. This can rarely be achieved during working hours or during my annual holiday allocation - I usually get a bad cold and my much-needed break is spent recovering! As they say… the body keeps the score. It takes me at least six days before I stop dreaming about work issues and once I have reached that meditative state, I then start thinking about what I need to do before I return. It is not good!

However, this pandemic was something different, Italy was in big trouble, so I decided to shut up shop on 14th March to protect staff and those accessing our service. A great deal of our work is community based and involves group or one-to-one intervention. The fact we still don’t fully understand how this virus is transmitted tells me that my decision to stop all operations was the right thing to do. In a world where defensive decision-making rules… I was glad that I did!

Within days, members of my family went down with flu-like symptoms which may or may not have been related to the Coronavirus, but we have all struggled with a persistent chest infection for the last few weeks. My household, like many others, has experienced the anxiety, worry and mild paranoia of trying to protect and shield against an invisible threat that even the medical experts are struggling to understand.

"Despite my taking holidays and setting boundaries... the charity that I founded and manage has gone from strength to strength."


Yet, despite the circumstances, family isolation has been a wonderful experience, even the family dog has benefited from numerous walks and constant company. As a family we are concerned for friends and acquaintances and devastated by the tragic loss of life of so many. Yet, we are grateful for everything we have and more appreciative of each other too. Previously I think we may have taken everything and each other for granted. The opportunity to read all the books that never get read, listen to music, wipe the dust off neglected musical instruments, enjoy quality time preparing healthy home cooked meals and the simple joy of eating together has been a truly wonderful experience. We all know what is most important and the reality is, it is not work.

Bizarrely, despite my taking holidays and setting boundaries regarding my availability, the charity that I founded and manage has gone from strength to strength over the last two years winning numerous awards and attracting significant funding for the future. I now know that my employment matters but does not define me. I want it to continue on its current trajectory but if this pandemic has taught me anything, it is that I’m happiest at home with my family and that they come first.

To paraphrase the musician Ray Wylie Hubbard:

"The days I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations … I have really good days."

 



Tony Wright is CEO of Forward Assist and a 2018 Clore Social Fellow. Connect with Forward Assist on Twitter, or Tony on LinkedIn.

Tags:  collaboration  community  covid  fellow  future  wellbeing 

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Volunteering and community during Covid-19, and beyond?

Posted By Clore Social Leadership, 06 May 2020
Updated: 24 November 2020

Kathryn Welch, 2017 Clore Social Fellow, writes about her experience of being on furlough, volunteering, and emerging trends that might impact the sector long term.

Rebecca Solnit's book ‘A Paradise Built in Hell’ explores the ways in which disasters can open up pockets of solidarity and connection. She suggests that earthquakes, hurricanes and terror attacks aren't only times of fear and self-preservation, but can also open up our reserves of ingenuity, purpose and generosity. The author observes these moments as signs of long-term potential, of people ‘catch[ing] glimpses, in the midst of a disaster, of a future they want and need’.


I'm an optimist by nature, and throughout the Coronavirus pandemic have been in the incredibly fortunate position of being furloughed, and therefore able to take on volunteer roles in my community. I’ve been doing practical things such as fetching prescriptions and delivering shopping, as well as walking a retired guide dog for a resident at our local retirement home (gratuitous photo of the beautiful Piper included here), and getting stuck in with practical tasks on a local farm - which is rapidly developing into a kind of community-built veg-growing initiative.

I’ve also been the recipient of some beautiful acts of kindness - jars of jam and freshly-cut rhubarb have appeared on my doorstep, and neighbours have stopped by to offer plants, seeds, pots and advice to our fledgling community garden.

"We can aspire to build on the positives we’re glimpsing during this crisis, and embed kindness, connectedness & activism in our communities,"
As help is offered and accepted in all kinds of directions across our community, I’m starting to observe ‘glimpses’ - changes in the nature of our connections and civic participation that feel full of long-term potential. I’m curious about the possibilities for this crisis to engender long-term changes in the nature of our attitude to volunteering, community activism and engagement, and have been wondering about what it would take to sustain these kinds of changes. Here are a few patterns I’m seeing:

The (re)emergence of the hyper-local

One of the great success stories of the current wave of volunteers is the emergence of very local mutual aid neighbourhood networks. A new wave of volunteer activity is being coordinated - with minimal resource, and largely independent of external funding - and a new cohort of neighbourhood-level leaders are emerging and thriving as a result. Communities are banding together to create and deliver the services they need - a proactive approach to place-making that can work just as brilliantly beyond the current crisis (as local initiatives such as the Soup movement illustrate perfectly).

Volunteering becoming 'the norm'

The hundreds of thousands of people signing up to the Red Cross reserves, Trussell Trust and NHS volunteering programmes is unprecedented, and we're also seeing pet foster programmes close their waiting lists, blood donation sessions cancelled as stocks are full and, for the first time in a long time - volunteer programmes being oversubscribed. This is a real step-change in civic responsibility being embraced (willingly, enthusiastically) by individuals. And new kinds of individuals too - younger people, professionals, those with young families - people who for years have been recognised as typically underrepresented in formal volunteering programmes. As the crisis passes and we return to our ‘real lives’ and commitments, there is an imperative to sustain the momentum. This will require both a concerted effort to engage with these new volunteers, and a recognition that volunteer opportunities need to be realistic to the realities of people’s lifestyles and availability.

A desire to connect at the neighbourhood level

Whilst we’re more physically disconnected from one-another than ever, we’re finding ways to demonstrate how much we value everyday, informal kinds of social connection. We’re posting rainbows in windows, chalking cheerful messages on pavements, waving at older people stuck indoors as we pass by. Have we all realised that social connection forms the bedrock to a good life? And if so, might there be an appetite to nurture and deepen those connections post-lockdown? How might we engage and support people to transform these kinds of ‘socially distant’ connections into a lasting kind that is deeper, more personal, more real? Initiatives like The Big Lunch and Fun Palaces have been encouraging us to connect in this way for years - the end of lockdown might just be the moment to grow their scale exponentially.

For now, everything has changed. The question for me is about how we sustain this change, how we encourage not just a 'return to normal', when lockdown ends, but a real transformation in the way we perceive and engage with our communities. Whilst dealing with the immediacy of the crisis is vital, we mustn’t miss this opportunity to look further ahead. With planning and foresight, we can aspire to build on the positives we’re glimpsing during this crisis, and embed kindness, connectedness and activism in our communities for the long-term.


For more information about Kathryn’s work, please visit www.kathrynwelch.co.uk and connect with Kathryn on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Tags:  change  collaboration  connection  covid  volunteering  wellbeing 

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Why aren't enough UK Armed Forces personnel seeking help for mental health problems?

Posted By Clore Social Leadership, 28 February 2017
Updated: 04 December 2020
I’ve worked with the Armed Forces community for many years, both in military help-seeking research at the King’s Centre of Military Health Research and in healthcare policy at the Royal British Legion. I was fortunate enough last year to be a Forces in Mind Trust Fellow on Clore Social Leadership’s Fellowship Programme.

An area I care very deeply about is the mental health of our Armed Forces community. We live in a stressful world, there is no doubt. The World Health Organisation reports that mental health and substance misuse problems are the leading cause of disability worldwide, and one in four of us will experience a mental health problem in our lifetime.

In the UK Armed Forces community, the most common mental health problems are depression and anxiety. Most recent research suggests these may be experienced by Service and ex-Service personnel at double the rates of those in the general population. Despite much effort to improve service provision and mental health attitudes by the Ministry of Defence, the NHS and Service charities, help-seeking rates in the Armed Forces community continue to remain extremely low.

My provocation piece asks us to rethink our conceptions of mental health and help-seeking in the Armed Forces. The piece begins with an imagined character in the Armed Forces giving advice through a letter to those struggling with mental health problems. Whilst this letter is my creation and exaggerated for effect, it is based on some real views I have had recounted to me in my research interviews with the Armed Forces community. The language in the letter seeks to highlight some very important issues that prevent individuals from seeking help for mental health problems in the Armed Forces.

I highlight the main barriers to seeking help for mental health problems in the Armed Forces. These include mental health stigma, the preference to solve problems alone, a lack of social or family support, and finally the pervading culture of masculinity that equates help-seeking with weakness.

In terms of what can be done to address these barriers, I suggest that:

  1. We need to get talking about our mental health to one another and to our families;
  2. We need to educate ourselves on how to look after our own mental health, how to spot signs and symptoms of mental ill health and know what services are available that can support us;
  3. We need to challenge the weakness culture. We cannot continue to uphold the notion that seeking help is akin to failure. True courage is found in honesty, in facing up to problems, taking action to help ourselves and being strong through support found in others.

Our significance as leaders is measured by the courage of the questions we ask in order to confront and change negative cultures and attitudes that should not be promoted in our communities. The barriers and cultures that prevent Armed Forces individuals, past and present, from seeking help is a problem that all people in the Armed Forces community can take a stand upon and demonstrate leadership in promoting the type of environment we want to live in. It is time we changed the conversation and refuse to accept the state of things as they are now. I believe changing the culture around help-seeking for mental health problems in the Armed Forces will need all of our combined strength and leadership.

You can download Marie-Louise Sharp’s provocation piece here.

Please share your views and comments below, or you can contact Marie-Louise on Twitter.

Tags:  casestudy  change  crisis  fellow  future  health  socialsector  wellbeing 

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The hidden problem of children who witness police home raids

Posted By Clore Social Leadership, 09 November 2016
Updated: 04 December 2020
This week saw the publication of my Fellowship research Collateral Damage. In it, I have sought to shine a light on the hidden problem of children who witness police home raids. These children, whose parents or siblings have committed crimes, are the unseen victims of those crimes, often left deeply traumatised by the raids, and overlooked by the police.

In the report I have sought to make clear recommendations to key groups to encourage them to take some simple steps which have the potential to bring about significant change. But in those recommendations are some important lessons for leaders seeking to bring about change in a far wider range of sectors.

1. Easy does it

In San Francisco, inspired by the testimonies of young people, the Chief of Police has adopted a trauma informed approach to all arrests. This means that the police now do some very simple things to reduce the traumatic impact on children such as getting down to their level to talk to them or, when possible, giving the offender the chance to say goodbye.

It is easy to be lulled into believing that, because a problem exists and is deeply entrenched, only those with the ability to develop complex and intricate responses will be able to bring about solutions. But sometimes the most powerful responses are simple and straightforward. They just need people willing to get on and do them.

2. There's no I in team

Following on from the report, key charities such as Pact and Banardos, have made a commitment to working in partnership with their local police forces to develop solutions - such as the police providing families with contact details for those charities following a raid.

Leaders seeking to bring about social change can't do it in isolation. We must be able to work in partnership, across sectors and within sectors with 'rival' organisations. This means moving beyond the blame game and developing shared goals. And this will often require leaders who are willing to not take the credit or get all of the recognition they might deserve.

3. Talk isn't cheap

It almost defies belief that until now we have been willing to turn a blind eye to the harm being done to the children and siblings of offenders - and to the impact this has on society as we increase the likelihood of them becoming swept up in the currents of criminality. But it does not take many conversations on the topic to realise that this is because as a society we have a deep-rooted belief that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And unless in the longer-term we tackle this narrative, we will never see really systemic change in how these children are treated.

This is the case for many of our most entrenched social issues, yet 'communications' is still seen by many leaders as an afterthought, the fluff to get around to when the real work has been done. But through communications - changing mind-sets, raising awareness, and bringing together stakeholders - we have a chance to move beyond sticking plasters to long-term solutions.

Tags:  casestudy  challenges  culture  fellowship  research  socialsector  wellbeing 

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