HELPP – Some Updates

A few updates on HELPP:

Website: Our new YouTube channel will be launching on May 13th with the DVD Who Cares… prepared by the WHO Group in Gorebridge. We’re also launching a Bebo page soon and we’re planning regular podcasts. This should begin with a young people’s focus group being set up by our Community Education student Emma. The Grandparents Parenting Again and Kinship Carers website is continuing to grow and we now have a discussion board/forum that is open to anyone who needs advice, support or information. We’re also working with Catherine Evans, Midlothian Community Health Partnership’s Patient Involvement Worker, to create a website that will provide health centres with information on what is available to patients in their area. The pilot site will launch in the Danderhall area soon.

Glencorse: The Glencorse Healthy Living Group kicks off on Thursday 15th May. The six week course includes yoga, excercise, healthy eating and much more.

Grandparent’s Parenting Again and Kinship Carers: The group continues to develop: they are playing an active role in the creation of a national kinship carers network with a major announcement expected in the next few month. Plans are well underway for the group’s summer programme which this year will hopefully include a sports day for the children.

Ladywood Centre: The community cafe will open in June. Already Susan, the cafe worker, and the volunteers are working hard to get things up and running. Keep your eyes peeled for more info in the local press and menus and more information will be available here soon.

An Independent HELPP: Our community reps are continuing to work hard as we move towards independence. We now have an interim board and we’re hopeful that we will be able to announce a date for independence soon. We’ll keep you posted.

So it is busy time for everyone at HELPP. But we’ll keep you informed through the blog and the main website as things develop and HELPP gets stronger and stronger.

HELPP’s Community Representatives Update

HELPP’s willing band of volunteers have been meeting regularly to learn more about being on a board and the various roles involved.

This board training is part of our ongoing shift towards becoming an independent organisation led by the community. Our Community Consultation Day in September last year was very clear: local people wanted more of a say in running HELPP. Independence and a community led board are the best ways to achieve this.

Following on from a successful Community Reps day at the County Hotel in Dalkeith, 21 of us met up at Carberry Tower last Friday for some hard work (and a bit of fun!)

The training was a huge success with both the Community Reps and the staff taking an incredible amount of positive things from our sessions. Although we are all aware there is a lot of work still to be done we are in the fortunate position of having people from across Midlothian willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard to secure the future of HELPP.

The meeting also included group presentations where some of the Community Reps surprised us all with their acting and comedy skills!

The next Community Reps meeting will be held in Bonnyrigg on Tuesday 18th with Janet Findlay and Bob Jarmson bravely volunteering to help facilitate the evening as part of their training.