Recognition for local mentoring/befriending project
Community360 (C360) has recently achieved the Approved Provider Standard (APS), recognising the excellent work of their mentoring/befriending projects.
Tracy Rudling, Chief Executive Officer of C360 says “this is a huge accomplishment for us and is a reflection on the C360 team – without everyone’s dedication and commitment, we could not have achieved this quality mark”.
The Approved Provider Standard (APS) is the national quality standard designed specifically for mentoring and befriending projects. APS is managed and delivered by NCVO, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
APS aims to support safe and effective practice in mentoring and befriending. Organisations that achieve the standard have been assessed and found to exemplify good practice in:
- Their management and operation, including their commitment to safe working practice
- Their processes for identifying service users and assessing their needs
- The way they manage their mentors and befrienders, who are usually volunteers
- They way mentoring and befriending relationships are managed and the results they achieve
This quality marked could not have been achieved without the valuable contribution of a dedicated team of volunteers across C360 befriending projects. Gary Larkin joined as volunteer in 2018 and says, “It has given me the opportunity to meet a whole bunch of new people, some of whom I’ve supported, and some have supported me. Volunteering has been brilliant at allowing me to develop my skills”.
The Approved Provider Standard is the only quality standard that focuses on good practice in mentoring and befriending.
Further information about APS can be found on https://www.ncvo.org.uk/practical-support/quality-and-standards#aps.
The Standard improves the management and delivery of mentoring and befriending projects. Though rigorous, is designed to be simple to implement and not to generate large amounts of paperwork.
Community360 (C360) was formed in May 1968 and this year is celebrating serving residents in Essex for 50 years. A registered charity and company limited by guarantee, C360 exists to build ‘thriving local communities’. They do this by serving as a voice for the local voluntary sector – working with over 300 different community groups each year, many of which only exist to serve local residents and are run by volunteers. Further information can be found on www.community360.org.uk.
#essexdementiaday
Friday 18th January 2019 is Essex Dementia Day. Colchester Dementia Action Alliance will be working with members, including Colchester Borough Council, Colchester Borough Homes, Thompson Smith and Puxon, Bluebird Care, Alzheimer’s Society, Carers First and Age Legal Services to offer information and activities at the One Colchester Shop and the Colchester Market.
At the shop and stall, partners will be on hand all day to talk to anyone who wants to find out more about how their services can support someone living with or affected by Dementia.
Exclusively in the shop, the Alzheimer’s Society will be running a ‘Singing for the Brain’ session in the morning and Colchester Borough Homes will be facilitating a Dementia Friends session at lunchtime.
The shop is open 10am-3pm Monday-Friday for general enquiries and is located at Unit 81, Culver Street East, Colchester CO1 1LF.
Please let us know if you would like to get involved and what you may be planning for Essex Dementia Day.
St Helena – My Care Choices Register
A different kind of planning for 2019
There are lots of phrases around the subject of planning:
“Failing to plan is planning to fail”
“A goal without a plan is just a wish”
And what would a new year be without any plans or resolutions?
But what about plans around the type of care you would like to receive towards the end of your life? Is it something you have considered? Maybe not for you but for someone you know? Or perhaps the thought of it is enough to stop you reading this article, after all it’s not in vogue to talk about death and dying unless you really have to.
I must confess that it isn’t a subject I would have chosen to discuss openly before I started work at St Helena, but the whole reason St Helena exists is to support those who face incurable illness and bereavement, helping people to die with dignity and choice. Consequently it has become a more natural conversation for me to have and I’ve been able to chat to my parents about some of their wishes and even convinced my mum to join me for a coffee at a ‘death café’!
For those who find the subject harder to broach, St Helena has produced a booklet, which can help to start the conversation. The My Care Choices Record looks at what is important to you now and in the future. Anyone can access the booklet and have the conversation with loved ones but only those people living in North Essex with an incurable illness, dementia or frailty who can request to have their details added to the My Care Choices Register. Once on the register, the person’s details can be accessed by all their relevant healthcare professionals.
If you think that advance care planning would be a good one to add to the 2019 resolution list for you or a loved one, you can find out more information by visiting www.mycarechoices.online or speak to your healthcare professional.
Sally Thompson – marketing team, My Care Choices Register
The Essex Fund
Grants of up to £10,000 are available from the ‘Essex Fund’, managed by Essex Community Foundation, to support the work of local voluntary and community organisations. Funding applications can be made for core costs, project costs or capital costs.
All applications must demonstrate at least one of the following areas of work:
- Support to carers
- Improvements to the environment
- Provide community resource
- Help and activities for young people (including projects that increase awareness and participation in activities which explore culture and heritage)
To read the criteria and to apply to this fund, visit: www.essexcommunityfoundation.org.uk/grants/our-grantmaking/apply/the-essex-fund/. The deadline is 5pm on Friday 18 January.
Lets Talk Good Finance
Social Enterprise East of England is working with Big Society Capital to bring their Lets Talk Good Finance events to Braintree, Essex. This event aims to demystify social investment and enable organisations to share their experiences.
Why attend?
- To meet social enterprise and charity leaders who have already accessed social investment
- To be able to ask questions in a safe and non-judgemental space
- To meet potential social investors
- To learn about new social investment initiatives
- To understand more about when social investment is not suitable or appropriate
The venue will be: The Archers Community Centre, 28-32 East St, Braintree CM7 3JJ. And it will take place from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
Coffee and tea will be served at 9.30, followed by a series of presentations, an opportunity for questions and networking.
This event is funded by the Barrow Cadbury Connect Fund.
