“Where everybody matters…” but is this the impossible dream?

“Where everybody matters…” but is this the impossible dream? ‘Where everybody matters…’ is a strapline of a council – but is this the impossible dream? It shouldn’t be, caring about others and for others is what sets us apart as human beings.

Unfortunately, there are many people in our communities that are falling through the cracks, those who’s needs are not being met, where care in the community is failing them! It’s the twenty-first century, have we really moved so little in certain aspects of community life?

Care in the Community came about under the Thatcher Government. Was the aim to save money by closing down the institutions that cared for the vulnerable (young and older)? Was it to ‘enable’ people to be cared for at home and be a part of their community? The reality is the system has failed. Care companies can’t provide the levels of support that individuals need. Supported living funding is dwindling and unlike times gone by people are caught up in their own busy lives to really care or have the time to care about those in the community in need. Those in need may be living in the community but they are isolated and lonely.

The idea of community today seems to some to be talking about great initiatives that go no further than the talk. Some ideas halt either because of a lack of interest or due to in-fighting between the community ‘big fish!’.

Gone are the days when everyone in the community would ‘muck in’ and look out for one another. Technology has made great advancements while community appears to be doing a ‘moonwalk!’ facing forward but walking backwards.

One example of how care has failed is Tom. Is it right that an individual under fifty five with a brain injury is given a tenancy when they struggle to live everyday doing basic tasks? Is it right that this same person is supported for just two hours in the morning by workers from a care agency (contracted by the council) and one hour every night – leaving them alone for twenty one hours! Is it right that no-one in the community cares enough to support this individual? Is it right that this person is on the receiving end of verbal abuse by some in the community (including children)? Is it right for the care agency to respond with verbal aggression to acts of kindness and care towards this individual? How can this all be okay? Of course it isn’t but this is a description of just one of many the cases that charities like HEALS (Help Encouragement And Local Support) see increasingly and alarmingly!

Who is wrong? The Government for the Care in the Community Policy in the first place and then reducing funding? Perhaps it’s the care agency who’ve got the local council’s care contract for not giving enough care and support? Could it be the council’s Social Service Department for not putting in place the right care package? Is it the housing policy of the council and local housing providers for this person not being eligible for supported housing due to the fact they are below fifty five? Is it the community for not offering support? The reality is it’s all of the above – this is where partnership, social and moral responsibility for one another and a true sense of care for one another and community will and can change lives!

Today, no-one should be left alone and everyone deserves to live the life they deserve to live. No-one should believe that death is a better propect than living!

Care in the Community – without care or community is an impossible dream!

It’s not an impossible dream, HEALS wants to make this a reality one day, it can happen, if we believe, if we care, if we work in partnership and collaboration, everybody will really matter!

HEALS believes that “you never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obselete” – Buckminster Fuller. We’re planning to build a network of help, encouragement and local support across the UK. You can be a part of this too – start 2014 by doing something amazing ~ form a local Heals charity. Together we can give hope to those in need and those who fall through the gaps and who the system fails. This what community is all about and what HEALS aims to achieve.

“Where everybody matters …..” is not the impossible dream, it can be a reality.

http://www.alisoncross-jones.com

http://www.heals.btck.co.uk

“The goal is not to have a great picture; the goal is to love the picture you have.” ~ Betsy Otter Thompson

The New Year came with hope for a better times and with joyus celebrations around the world. At least that’s the picture potrayed. The reality is somewhat different, there will be people facing fears, others may be looking at life changing decisions and others will face the year ahead not knowing or understanding the direction they should take. Perhaps this year we should look around us and reach out to those who are going to find things difficult because will help them in their time of need and giv us a reality check.

‘Some people are so lucky’ is a phrase I often hear but is this really true? Is life down to just luck and destiny? I believe we all have a destiny, a path in life that suits us as individuals. However, I also think that our choices and decisions also play a key part in influencing what we have and where we go.

The other focus in the New Year for everyone is health. Have you noticed the increased adverts about weight loss and keep fit? How many of us set resolutions to be thinner, healthier, run a marathon and by March or even February have given up? How many of us look at the ‘health’ of our business or charity? It’s important that we do, because a healthy organisation flourishes. I’ve witnessed businesses, charities and organisations clinging on by their fingertips rather than accept there are issues and try to address them.

Have we considered that our own health and that of our business or charity is linked? If you are unwell, unhappy, unfocused, have lost your drive or are lost, then it’s likely that your business or charity will be affected. So we need to be happy and fulfilled in what we do, otherwise what is the point?

We all need those who we can turn to in our ‘hour’ of need, those who can offer advice, help, encouragement and support. There’s lots of this out there if we look. Over the last few years ‘ve come across a number of business networks, groups and organisations and charities. The one that has helped me personally and professionally is I Am Woman ~ it’s a business club for women with a difference.

HEALSUK is striving to be a focal point of support for local HEALS charities and they in turn offer, help, encouragement and support to those in need who are willing to help themselves.

Those of us in businesses/charities look at the year ahead and will have already spent much of the latter part of 2013 being visionary about what should be achieved in 2014. Those who’ve set goals are more likely to succeed than those who leave it to luck.

Whatever we do in life, we should set out and aim to do it the best way we can and to be the best we can. It isn’t just about shouting “look at me and what I do”, it’s about being SMART about the goals we set and setting goals is about much more than just writing down targets. It’s about sticking to our values too. Do your personal and professional values aline with those in your business/charity? If not why not? Why accept things and standards in our worklife that we wouldn’t in our private life?

Some people seem to find goal setting difficult. I know for me, setting personal goals is much more difficult than setting goals for my business/charity but my personal and professional values are alined which is good news. Other people get caught up and focused on needing to be accepted and they slip into changing their values, their business model and objectives just to ‘fit in’ . Will they succeed – it’s unlikely!

Be SMART (Specific ~ Measurable ~ Attainable ~ Realistic and Timely) with your goals and set them so that the tasks to achieve them, require you to put in work because “the goal is not to have a great picture; the goal is to love the picture you have.”

http://www.heals.btck.co.uk

http://www.alisoncross-jones.com

http://www.iamwoman.biz

Welcome to the New Year 2014 – “If you can dream it you can do it” ~ Walt Disney

It’s a new year and it’s an opportunity to start anew and put the past behind us. For one day the world is united in hope, joy and celebration.

We begin an unwritten chapter in our lives. We set goals, (New Year resolutions). These are our the hopes and desires, we believe will help us progress towards better, brighter and happier times. So what better time is there to launch big plans and make lifestyle changes.

Only we can choose and steer our own path, it’s not down to others. How will we use this opportunity? It’s the time we think about what we’d like to change instead of waiting for someone else to do it or change it for us.

Of course we all make and change plans throughout the year about our personal, family, professional and business lives but there is something ‘magical’about the New Year.

Every New Year is a time of Transformation and we must take the gift of the lessons of the past and strive for our goals.

HEALS (Help Empowerment And Local Support) is going to use this is a key time to impliment the plans laid down in 2013. It’s the year we work together and take what started as a small local charity, onto the national scene! Where we build for the future, where we aim high and a year when lives and communities across the UK are changed.

2014 is going to be a year of transformation for me too and it’s a time of reflection. I look back at how far I’ve come and I reach for the incredible journey ahead. I see the challenges and I’m ready to face them, are you?

Ask yourself “What can I achieve in this new year?” “What goals can I set?” and you’ll be directed to your dreams. 2014 can be your year, where everything is possible because “if you dream it, you can do it”.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ~ MAKE IT HAPPEN ~ BELIEVE IN YOURSELF ~ FOCUS ~ AND LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT AND YOU DESERVE WITHOUT FEAR ~ REMEMBER YOU ARE UNIQUE

http://www.heals.btck.co.uk

http://www.alisoncross-jones.com