LEAPS GOALS FOR 2020

Although we’re a little late on the bandwagon for the 2020 posts, we thought we would share with you all our goals and aims for this New Year!

1.     Improve our website

Due to many unforeseen circumstances, our website has failed to be maintained properly, but with a new year and a new start, that will no longer continue! The website’s actual design may not change dramatically but we really hope to maintain the site with news about the group and articles written by group members.

2.     Increase our membership

LEAPS have attended many events over the past year and are eager to spread the word of our existence in order to encourage more people to come along to our meetings. LEAPS provide so many opportunities of help and support that we’re so eager to help as many people as possible. If you’re interested in joining visit the ‘JOIN LEAPS’ page.

LEAPS GO TO ALNMOUTH & ALNWICK | IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMUNITY FUND | AD

Thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, we were able to have a therapeutic trip to Alnmouth! When we arrived, however, we soon learnt that there wasn’t enough to do to take up the full day that we had planned so we took the fifteen-minute bus ride to Alnwick!

ANNOUNCEMENT: A CHANGE OF THE CHAIR

Little announcement to tell you all that our Chair has stepped down and our Advertising Manager; Aimee, was unanimously voted into the position by all members! 

She said:

“It’s an absolute honour to follow in Dave’s footsteps. I doubt I’ll bring what he did to the role but as the members say it might be nice to have a change/different kind of leadership. This group has become a second family for me and their support through my recent mental health crisis has been invaluable. I’m so proud to have secured the very well-deserved grant from The National Lottery Community Fund grant and I’m so pleased to see it be used in such an inspirational way! Finally, I’d like to thank all of our members for trusting me with such a huge responsibility and having faith in me to succeed at it.

UN REPORT ON POVERTY IN THE UK - BY CHAIRMAN, DAVID TAWS

14 million people, a fifth of the population, live in poverty. Four million of these are more than 50% below the poverty line, and 1.5 million are destitute – unable to afford basic essentials. 

The widely respected Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts a 7% rise in child poverty between 2015 and 2022, and various sources predict child poverty rates of as high as 40%. 

Philip Alston, UN rapporteur, discusses food banks; “I was struck by how much their mobilization resembled the sort of activity you might expect for a natural disaster or health epidemic.” 

Philip Alston: "Cuts to council budgets stand at 49.9%. Tories ignoring damage to the fabric of society. Libraries closed, youth centers closed down. Community roots are being "systematically broken" 

UN envoy Philip Alston says that "the women who experience domestic violence are tied in to abusive partner. Universal Credit does not show any understanding of violence towards women."

Philip Alston, the UN’s rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Child poverty levels are “not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster”.

The experience of the United Kingdom, especially since 2010, underscores the conclusion that poverty is a political choice. 

Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so. Resources were available to the Treasury.

LEAPS DOES EDINBURGH | THERAPUTIC TRIP | FUNDED BY THE BIG LOTTERY FUND

As you may have seen in our previous post; LEAPS received funding from the BigLottery Fund for our project: ‘LEAPS Wellness Weeks.’

 

“It was a beautiful day and very exciting because it’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been away”

-       Group Member

ANNOUNCEMENT: LEAPS RECEIVE BIG LOTTERY FUNDING

We here at LEAPS, are so happy to announce that we've just been awarded funding from the Big Lottery Fund!

Wondering why the Big Lottery Fund have given the grant?

'Receiving this award is a mark of the quality of the work you are doing in your community.'

'Congratulations on your grant and thank you for all that you do to support your community.'

Wondering what we'll be doing with the money?

Being such a small organization, this grant means the world to us and we're excited to use it to manage the upkeep of the organization as well as launch LEAPS Wellness Weeks (it will be spread across 7 weeks and there's more info on this to come).

For more information and to keep updated with everything we do, please follow us on Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/leapsonline

For more information on the work that the Big Lottery Fund does:

https://twitter.com/BigLotteryFund

https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK - HOW DO YOU COPE WITH STRESS?

To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week, North Tyneside organisations band together and renamed it Mental Health Action Week with the intention of hosting events to promote that people actually take action around mental health rather than purely raising awareness.

One of these events was at North Shield’s YMCA and launched a new leaflet with Launchpad and Healthwatch. LEAPS were, luckily, approached by Launchpad to have our details published in the leaflets that were full of independent organisations and charities to refer service users to.

HOW LEAPS HELPS MY MENTAL HEALTH BY ADVERTISING ASSISTANT, AIMEE WILSON

Hi guys and girls!

I’m Aimee Wilson, I’m 27, live in Blyth, Northumberland; and I’m the Advertising Assistant and one of four Committee members of LEAPS (for more info on LEAPS visit here).

When I was just fifteen years old, I was attacked by a man at the bottom of the street. When I regained consciousness – after he’d bumped my head against a wall – I, dazed, and confused, went to school and told my Form Tutor who promptly sent me home with my Mum to visit the GP and report the incident to the Police.

INDEPENDANT COMPLAINTS ADVOCACY

FALLING ON YOUR FEET

LEAPS VISIT NORTH SHIELDS QUAYSIDE

Every now and then, LEAPS like to have a therapeutic trip!

We always bear in mind that since members are expected to pay for their own travel (in some cases we can work around this if a person is unable to do so), and most members, if not all, live on state benefits; when picking a destination.

The location is chosen/voted for by members and we usually travel on a Friday (when we would usually have a meeting) so that we can assure maximum attendance.

We find that having a day away from normal life is rewarding for members and it provides the perfect opportunity to get to know one another.