In January I started a three-month project exploring wellbeing in my local community. I’m into month two.
This photo is of me going off into the town. The bridge behind me is iconic in the community it is the original Ivy(clad)bridge from which the town grew around.
This project started out as an experiment, it doesn’t really have a set goal or outcome. I just keep following the bread crumb trail as it unfolds.
Check out the link if you want to understand the background of it.
What am I learning?
It’s proving both challenging (it’s just me doing this in my spare time) and the project is also uplifting.
I hadn’t expected to be massively touched and inspired by the incredible work that is going on in our local community of Ivybridge. There are dozens of people who quietly get on and run groups for those in most need. These community leaders are often volunteers and are drawn to create safe space for people to meet up.
They intuitively understand that they are creating a space that enables the natural resilience and wellbeing to come to the surface. They are providing small pockets of fellowship that self-support.
It’s been a wonderful education for me. To see the incredible compassion, love and connection that people have for each other. This has been pretty mind-blowing to witness first hand.
So how have the last few weeks unfolded?
During January I reached out extensively into my community and started to connect with people on social media. so far I’ve:
- Attended a meeting where I met up with the CVS, Social Prescriber, Care organisations and charities.
- Been to the Health and Wellbeing Fair at the library and asked people what they loved about Ivybridge
- Collected about 30 responses to my questionnaire which was looking at wellbeing in the community
- Booked to go to Cornwall to meet up with someone who runs a group in Newquay exploring wellbeing
- Started to build an email list of people in the community (a grand total of 9 people so far)
February 2020
In February I put out shout-out for ‘unsung heroes’ in the town via FB – I got over 100 comments from people about this. It’s led me to:
- Visit some of the unsung heroes and interview them for a podcast. I’ve seen the food bank, toddler group, breast feeding group, mother’s group, Coffee morning, Veterans group, Slimming world, Art group and I’m hoping to visit Judo club and scout group too.
- I’ve spoken to a venue space about the possibility of collaborating on an event for ‘unsung heroes’ in June
I’ll be collating the answers to the questionnaire when I can get my head around what to do with the information
What’s my dream/aspiration?
I’d love to support some of these community leaders further. They often give tirelessly – it’d be good to acknowledge what they do. Here’s a photo of the Ivybridge Karate group.
My aspiration is to run some kind of training for them that would help them get an understanding of Inside-Out.
What would it be like if these leaders were running groups and they had an embodied understanding of the Inside-Out understanding?
That’s what I’m curious about. I think it could be of such great value for the community.
The town is very practical rather than architecturally beautiful. It’s great for groceries and essentials, but there are several empty shops and other neighbouring towns and villages are more attractive. But I’m really starting to fall in love with the people that inhabit this town. They are wonderful.
Please Like the Inner Compass Guide Facebook Group for daily nuggets of inspiration from this project.
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About Inner Compass
Liz Scott & Stu Newberry are trainers, coaches and speakers. They work with individuals and groups across the UK. They also help develop coaching cultures (founded on wellbeing) within schools and organisations.
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Liz I’m inspired by your actions, and very much looking forward to welcoming you to Newquay. Wellbeing is what community is all about, and what communities are really good at. I look forward to sharing more thoughts and ideas. #healthymindsnewquay #whoswhoandwhatcanwedo
Thanks Adam, I’m so inspired by what’s going on in Newquay. I love your hashtag #whoshwhoandwhatcanwedo