This morning I participated in a coffee morning chat with ‘RHL How Are You Today?‘ members. Rushmore Healthy Living is a wonderful charity in my local area that focuses on improving the health and wellbeing of those suffering from long term conditions and disabilities. The ‘How Are You Today?’ project was set up by a wonderful volunteer, Rachel. She suffers from severe epilepsy while being a wonderful wife and mum.
I joined the local group after I came across it on FaceBook. Seeing that they had a coffee morning this morning I decided to join. It was great to see people of different ages, from different backgrounds, and with different illnesses. We all had one thing in common though, we understood what it means to have a chronic illness.
The chat allowed Rachel to discuss what RHL was up to as a charity and what other events and workshops they were doing. The chat digressed to what we’ve been up to, easy recipes for when you’ve got no energy, tips that help when fatigue hits, occupational therapists, the list goes on.
The other thing that was mentioned that made my brain tick was hobbies. As we were talking someone was doing some crocheting and it came up in the conversation. What hobbies do we all do when we are at home and can’t get out? Painting, drawing, knitting, crafting, jewellery making. Although most people insisted they weren’t very good at some of these things they did enjoy it to keep them occupied.
After the call, I got in touch with Rachel and told her about my project. She got back to me and said that she loves the idea of BRIGHT and that we could possibly organise a creative workshop.
RHL have in the past run a “Knit & Natter” session that proved very popular. Where the members got on with their crafting while having a good chat about how they are. Exchanging techniques and patterns along the way.
Talk Plus is a charity they work quite closely who are run by the NHS to provide a range of counselling services. They say, “over 50% of people with long term health conditions suffer from mental health issues”. The fact they can no longer do what they once could can be a struggle to wrap your head around and to deal with.
I am hoping to make a 20-minute presentation to the team at RHL to show them BRIGHT, what it is and what it aims to do. From there we hope to arrange a workshop which I will run to some of the members at ‘RHL How are You Today?”
