Health and Wellbeing event provides a platform to boost health and wellbeing for residents

Thanks to Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham, residents were able to find out more about services at a market style event, a variety of health-related activities and information stalls were present at the Barking Learning Centre on Tuesday, November 7, with the goal of improving the residents' overall health and well-being.

Residents were able to find out information about health and well-being services for adults and young people and find out about initiatives in the Borough of Barking and Dagenham. This event was useful not only for residents but for stall holders as well. The following stallholders took part to help this event succeed, were Early Help Collective, Carers Barking and Dagenham, Refuge, Change Grow Live, Lifeline Community Projects, Youth Spot Bar, Subwize, Healthy Lifestyles, and Talking Therapies.

We also had the pleasure of welcoming Councillor Donna Lumsden, Mayor of the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, along with Cllr Michel Pongo, Cllr Irma Freeborn, Cllr Victoria Hornby, and Cllr Syed Ghani who also attended our event to hear about the work various organisations are doing to improve the health and wellbeing of local people and engage with residents.

Ruth Lowe, Head of Young People`s Services at Lifeline Community Projects said:

“The event helped us to connect with another service to support young people. They happened to see us at the event and were able to approach us and speak to us. We have since had a meeting and are looking at possibilities to support young people in care through our mentoring.”

Paul Thomas, Communications and Engagement Manager at North East London Cancer Alliance said:

“Thanks to Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham, residents were able to find out more about cancer signs and symptoms, screening programmes and cancer support services at a special health and wellbeing event this month.”

Lisa Appleton, Community Development Worker at Lifeline Community Projects said:

“This event was useful – I met a lot of different people from the community and was able to spread the word about Lifeline`s services provided in the community. I was very touched by a social worker who told me a story about a child, who received mentoring from Lifeline, which they stated, turned their life around.”

Maryam Ali, Early Help Collective Lead, said:

“This event was a great opportunity to build rapport with other organisations in the community and ascertain different ways we could work together. I also found different activities taking place in the community and given that I live locally myself, I now take my little brother to roller skating through this event! So clearly, it’s also very informative for residents.”

In addition to providing a variety of pamphlets and goodie bags, Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham invited guests to take part in the wellness tree activity, which involved writing down their concepts of wellness on paper leaves and adhering them to the wellbeing tree. The wellbeing tree was brimming with leaves and wellness guidance as the event came to an end.

Cake, fruits, and hot beverages were served, and both adults and children enjoyed having their faces painted while adults got a taster massage!