Seventh Edition

A few words from our CEO, Caroline Ridley.

It feels like we’ve quickly gone from summer to the festive season, and there’s plenty to share.

Our Senior Leadership Team has made great strides with the ‘Providing a Supportive Hub’ part of our three-year strategy. Supporting our staff is key to delivering high-quality services, and we’ve introduced several initiatives to strengthen resilience across the organisation.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve secured the Ageing Well contract for another five years. This was a competitive process, and we’re incredibly proud of the team and partnership effort that made it possible. These services are crucial for thousands of older people, and we’re committed to maintaining excellence.

As we plan next year’s budget, we’re preparing for challenges including the new National Insurance requirements. Despite this, we’re focused on building on our strong foundations and continuing to grow.

We’re collaborating with other organisations on innovative projects, sharing resources, training, and skills to provide the best services for the growing number of people seeking our support.

Lastly, we’ve updated our Safety Net Safeguarding Training offer to meet demand, introducing hybrid and specific Safeguarding Adults courses. More details and dates will be shared in January.

I wish you all a well-earned break over the next few weeks and thank you for your continued support.

Children & Young People Round-Up

Head of CYP – Jennifer Tulloch

targeted support

health & wellbeing youth work

Referrals have been continuously coming in and we’ve received some excellent feedback:
“Thank you for all the amazing work you do! I get such good feedback from the students!” – school nurse
“I liked that I knew I could speak to you and you wouldn’t judge it you’d just listen” – young person
Collaboration between the Health and Wellbeing workers across Impact Initiatives, The Hangleton and Knoll Project and Trust for Developing Communities successfully continues.
The Wild Mind Stepping Stone has been introduced; a stand-alone taster session of The Wild Mind Project. This was a great success, and the young people really enjoyed their afternoon up at Stanmer Park.

safety net

BRAVE referrals are continuing to come in and there is now a waitlist. We are also receiving some excellent feedback:
“Thanks to your whole team for what you do… your BRAVE intervention is proving so useful and enjoyable.” – school staff member
“It was wonderful to see them talking about their feelings and how open and ‘safe’ they felt with the lady running the sessions. They very much looked forward to seeing her every week.” – parent
We are looking forward to our ‘Choose Respect’ children’s artwork exhibition running at Jubilee library 16 December – 6 January, please do come along and show your support.
HAF family activity day is planned on 23 December for families who are eligible for benefits related free school meals. Children can take part in arts and crafts and parents can have a hot drink and chat. Buffet lunch is available and families will take home a food and activity hamper.

youth support

the wild mind project

We have successfully delivered 23 sessions since May this year, and have received positive feedback from both young people as well as their parents/carers. Young people have shared how they have found it beneficial spending more time in nature, feeling less anxious and more confident, as well as making new friends.

Youth Drop-in

Our young people have been enjoying sharing their favourite recipes, they have inspired our recent sessions! Highlights have included making delicious homemade brownies together.

Youth Champions

Our Youth Champions have been exploring what it means to be a youth champion, along with making a new poster and are in the process of creating a new film to induct new Youth Champions.
They have also planned a new monthly board games session which has included researching and buying new board games with our Co-op funding.

E-motion

With the run up to Christmas we have seen a steady increase in referrals. The E-Motion team came together with the wider CYP team a few weeks back, and underwent some training on self-care and working with trauma. I think we all took something away from the excellent training delivered by Survivors Network.

Adults & Older People Round-Up

Head of Adults & Older People – Maxine Thomas

Advocacy

Self Advocacy Support for Autistic people in Brighton and Hove has been extended for a further 4 years.

ageing well

We were delighted to receive news that Impact’s bid for the new Ageing Well contract had been awarded!
Last week our team distributed a Festive Directory, which partners and others are using to keep people informed of what’s on offer.

ageing well festival

We continue to receive such positive feedback – “Wow, wow, wow, who’d have thought I’d be doing Zumba at my age (83) and on TV too!”

Emergency Food Service

We have seen an increase in the number of people seeking help from this service at this particular time.

The Hop 50+

The Hop’s Christmas Dinners were fully booked really quickly and a waiting list had to be created due to their popularity. The Hop is a vital community service for older people during the festive season.

Workability

The team have continued to meet people who are keen to work but have faced barriers in finding work that is suitable for them. Over 40 people have been helped to secure work since April.

housing ROUND-UP

HEAD OF housing – stevie graves

Stopover

Christmas is fast approaching and although this can be a very difficult time for some of our residents we are extremely grateful as always to our dear friend Connie.
Connie spends the majority of the year collecting gifts from family, friends and her regular church and social groups to ensure that every resident within Stopover receives a number of gifts and treats each year. Connie has been doing this for over thirty years and as Stopover has expanded so have her efforts. Thank you doesn’t feel enough.
We are currently waiting for the delivery and installation in December of our new defibrillator at Stopover 1. We have been awarded this free of charge by the Connor Saunders Foundation; a local charity that ensures heart safety through fundraising for defibrillators.
Our partner landlord Clarion Housing Association is undertaking major works at Stopover 2 including internal decorations, external decorations and replacing the old dilapidated wooden sash windows with new UPVC windows. This should cheer up the house outside and inside and hopefully lead to a warmer space and reduction in heating costs.

Home Safety

We are in the process of confirming our new Home Safety contract with the local authority. We are currently pulling together our statistics and impact report for publication in January 2025.

training

Thank you for your interest in Impact Initiatives. If you would like to give any feedback please contact our Communications & Marketing Officer Katharine.Grummett@impact-initiatives.org.uk

The Impact Informer 07