Monday 22 June saw the final session of a six week self care skills programme held at Spring Street. This is the first time that the selfcare skills programme has been delivered with Threshold. The learning experience was shared with staff and customers and it proved to be a great success.
The self care skills training course has been developed by Oldham Community Health Services, part of NHS Oldham, and helps motivate and empower individuals to consider self care approaches they can use to improve their lifestyle, which will then lead to positive health behaviours.
The course is made up of six activities. Each activity introduces you to different self care methods and uses short activities and discussions to outlines relevant theories. The learning then enables each individual to make important changes to their health behaviours so that when they experience short term conditions, minor health problems or stressful situations, they have the confidence and skills to understand self care and when it is appropriate to use health and social care services.
Jason Bromley, from the NHS ran the course and he said
“We consider Self Care to be for everyone. This training gives people the skills to make informed choices around their own health and well being, as well as developing their ability to manage stress and become more empowered as individuals”.
Here’s what one of the delegates thought:
“It gave me a great insight into day to day self care skills which would normally be taken for granted”
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Oldham’s festival of diversity runs annually and this year opens with the fantastic Mela in Oldham’s Alexandra Park on Sunday 12 July. The full programme of events runs for a month which then closes on Sunday 8 August with a ‘we made it’ event in Oldham town centre.
Threshold is very proud to be associated with this year’s event and our service users have been making kites and sled banners which will feature at the Mela on 12 July. Here are some of the service users making kite banners with artist Brian Redmond.
Later in the festival, Threshold’s service users will be showcasing their cooking skills developed through ‘Learn 2 cook, Cook 2 learn’ at the ‘we made it’ event where some of our fabulous home made soups will be on offer.
Watch this space for some more on our work with the festival.
For more information about the festival, go to www.festivalofdiversity.co.uk
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The Active Involvement Course was a collaboration between Threshold Floating Support Services, Stockport and Richmond Fellowship, Manchester Project. The course was written by Helen Robinson from Threshold and Bev Pattison and Jenny Stedford from the Richmond Fellowship. The course was facilitated on a weekly basis at local venues in Stockport.
The course covered all areas of life skills including priority and non-priority debt, communication, assertiveness, tackling anxiety, recognising skills, negotiation and decision making. The course has received very good feedback from the participants and following a meeting with SP recently, we have been encouraged to deliver the course to service providers with a view to involve service users in the delivery of the course in the future.
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Hi, my name is David. I arrived at Threshold's Spring Street mens hostel in June 2008 because I had nowhere to live and was homeless. The staff at Spring Street were really helpful especially Geoff, my Support Worker. He encouraged me to get involved with groups and meetings going on at Spring Street. I enjoyed the film night on a Wednesday and believe it or not, I didn't mind doing my chores such as vacuuming the lounge or tidying the kitchen after cooking something. I also took advantage of the facilities on offer and enjoyed the Army coming in giving a careers talk and advice on joining the Army.
I then was offered my own flat thanks to Geoff. He helped me to bid for properties and sent a support letter to the housing on my behalf. I was re-housed within 7 weeks which was fantastic.
I was then helped further by Threshold by my Floating Support Worker, Audrey, she helped me settle into my flat and helped me to get furniture. She also took me to the Honeywell Centre and I enrolled at Work Solutions. They helped me to find a job and I am now in work full time and I feel normal again, it's great.
I suppose I have come full circle because not so long ago, only a few years ago, I had a career, I owned my own house but I lost it all through the drink. I ended up homeless and with nothing, I was at rock bottom.
I went to Threshold who helped me to sort my life out and through their help I now have my own place and a job.
All I can say is the only way is up now and thank you to everyone at Threshold for helping me get my life back on track.
Cheers!
David
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Local rugby legend Barrie McDermott and Councillor John McCann presented certificates during Adult Learners Week to Spring Street residents marking the completion of a garden makeover. The residents transformed the rear of the building to creat vegetable plots, shrub beds and a barbeque area. The project was run in partnership with Regenda Landscapes who delivered training to enable three residents to gain a qualification in Managing a Garden Project.
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Through our Stepping On project, we have been holding weekly cooking sessions with residents from across Oldham. The sessions run weekly and have a different twist each week. This weeks session took the form of a 'master chef' cookery competition with a difference. The participants were given a selection of donated tinned and fresh produce and herbs grown in our gardens and asked to present their signature dish to an expert panel of judges.
The standard and quality of the entries was fantastic, which made the judges decision very difficult.
Jamie, the eventual winner, is pictured with his dish; a chicken paella made with fresh vegetables, chilli and paprika. The judges were wowed with Jamie's entry which showed a real flair and fantastic understanding of flavours.
Here's to next week....
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Threshold service users were active participants at today's Get Active Day which took place at Manchester's Sport City complex. The annual event organised by Homeless Link offers lots of sport taster opportunities for homeless people. A great day out was had by all.
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The first round of matches in the community league were played on Wednesday 18 March at Failsworth soccer centre. The sun was shining and everyone played in the spirit that the league is intended. The league set up was completed by the new arrrivals from teams representing Aftercare and NACRO. Threshold currently top the league following the first round of matches - the other teams will be out to beat them next month!
Service users from various schemes are interested in taking up the offer of free refereeing courses provided as a benefit of the community league. Matchday 2 will be taking place mid April so speak to your support worker if you are interested in getting involved.
As the league progresses, we will be providing add on events to the league such as health advice, benefits and financial help, taster courses etc so come along and see if there is something for you to benefit from.
Please refer to The Zone for further information on league tables/fixtures.
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Threshold was well represented at a Supporting People organised market place event for providers and referring agencies. The event took place on 16 March at Dukinfield Town Hall. Featured below, with Steve Goslyn, Threshold's Director, are John Hughes, Tameside Housing Strategy, and Andrea Puttnam, from Tameside Supporting People team. The second photo features members of staff together with service users.
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Yesterday Threshold staff and service users participated in a virtual social enterpise consultation and information event at the Honeywell centre in Oldham. Around the theme of learning and cooking, delegates visited different corners of the venue acting as different elements of the proposed social enterprise. The ambitious proposal, which we are calling Threshold Life, has been submitted to the national Spark Challenge, set up to promote social enterprise in the homelessness sector. The full details are under wraps at present while we await the Spark bid announcements on Monday 16th March. You can find out more about the Spark Challenge, and find Threshold listed, by clicking on the link bel
http://www.sparkchallenge.org/2009_applicants.html
Latest update : We've not been selected as one of the 15 winning teams but have been invited to meet the consultants involved to develop our bid for a resubmission next year.
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