I recently was really worried about the artist submissions for the ball. At first we have only 12 submissions. Then we had 24 submissions as of March 26. I was worried that we would not have a lot of people to sign up (since the Call to Art was over with on the 5th of April). Two days before the call ended, I was notified that we had over 108 submissions! This was all thanks to the marketing from myself, the reposting from different orgs like BeWell and the Arts Warehouse. I also spent time everyday emailing different artists and art galleries about the art call. So hard work pays off. On Friday, we started to narrow down the artwork. There are sooo many talented artists out there. Im so blessed to know that I played a small role in them submitting. Im happy they took the event seriously. Seeing 108 submissions really gave me back my motivation for the event.
Mini Grant Triad Needs: A non-profit or organization
Mini Grant SenseMaker Project Story or Micro-Narrative
How This Person Interpreted Their Story or Micro-Narrative
Dovecot Farm hosted Barn to…
Dovecot Farm hosted Barn to Bedside retreat for a leadership team from St Mary’s Hospital Medical Center on Wednesday 24th March.
We incorporated a blend of equine interactions, DISC self awareness, sound healing and drumming as well as HeartMath breathing techniques and nature therapy.
It was a full day retreat with much needed healing for our healers.
Many significant highlights from the team retreat. I think what was significant was using the DISC framework to bring up the burnout issue amongst our frontliners. There was transparency and openness in our discussion about ‘self-compassion’ matters. The S score difference on the natural and adapted columns indicate burnout / wear & tear. It allowed me to bring up burnout in a sensible, factual numbers-related way.
Second highlight is the massively popular feedback on the sound healing session. I incorporated an integral sound healing approach with multi-instruments. Wow. Every single participant went into a deeply meditative state of relaxation. I was concerned that sound healing may be perceived as too ‘woo woo’ for this audience. I was very surprised that the mix of releasing and harmonious sounds had a wonderful impact, re-booting their autonomic nervous systems. Delighted with the feedback. Barn to Bedside received wonderful feedback from all who came. I am over the moon.
Dovecot Farm hosted the second…
Dovecot Farm hosted the second Barn to Bedside retreat on Saturday 27th March.
The group comprised Clinical Director and therapists from the Addiction/ Recovery industry in Palm Beach County.
The agenda was the same as the St Mary’s team. All participants completed their DISC before the retreat. Similar wear & tear on the S column – this relates to the PACE of work/ environment. We held an open discussion on COMPASSION FATIGUE, the therapists were openly talking about experiencing burnout.
The Clinical Director is a huge fan of drumming circles in group therapy so he lead that activity. It was fun!
It was clear that this team really needed to decompress- the sound healing piece at the end was very healing, the team all completely relaxed. Fascinating!
It was a busy week with two retreats only a few days apart. However, the program delivered! I am really happy with the feedback and impact we made.
I am delighted that Barn to Bedside retreats is resonating with our target audience.
Caregivers/ medical / health workers were reaching burnout before the challenges of covid. Now it’s firmly at the top of the agenda.
Therapists are willing and open to discuss burnout. They are looking for solutions, they are open to this kind of wellness/leadership retreat.
Feedback from the LMHC and therapists:
“AMAZING! I loved the DISC, sound healing, kindness/ thoughtfulness.”
“Thank you…Different ways to achieve mindfulness.”
“I really enjoyed the program. Safe space, clarity and organization, peace.”
“This was incredible. It fits perfectly with my approach to therapy. Thank you so much.”
“DISC, guided meditation, knowledge on equine assisted therapy and equine emotional intelligence. This was exactly what I needed at exactly the right time.”
“Amazing work. Keep it up! I loved everything.”
“I wouldn’t change anything. I loved all the process. I appreciated all the healing process.”
“An incredibly beautiful and moving experience. Thank you so much.”
“The sound bath…”
At last my mini grant…
At last my mini grant has traction!
Self Compassion Matters has LIFT OFF!
Dovecot Farm has two retreats scheduled for next week….
St Mary’s Medical Team on Wednesday 24th March.
A group of therapists and Mental health practitioners in the recovery world on Saturday 27th March…
One fascinating trend is emerging in the DISC evaluation response…
Silver Fox Elite Fitness is…
Silver Fox Elite Fitness is committed to carving Black and Caribbean Seniors a culturally relevant space in the fitness industry. The voices of Seniors is key to this goal. On February 13th Silver Fox hosted the inaugural Virtual Black Senior Fitness Fair providing a platform for Senior voices on issues of health and wellness. The event featured Ernestine Shepard, the legendary 84 year old body builder and fitness professional. Black Senior Fitness Fair segments can be viewed on the Silver Fox Elite Fitness Facebook Channel https://bit.ly/silverfoxelitefitness
A Story of Success
Women Helping WomenA Story of SuccessLake Worth West Resident Planning Group, Inc. has been able to provide educational workshops to the community for many years. We have been blessed to have great community partners who facilitate capacity building workshops about a variety of topics to educate the Lake Worth West families and raise awareness regarding physical and mental health, nutrition, safety, and child development, among others.In 2016, the Lake Worth West staff realized the need to offer a safe space for the Lake Worth West women to share with other women their own experiences, challenges, and successes as mothers and wives in the community. The women wanted to create a net of support. That is how the Womens Club began. Before the pandemic, we were able to do sessions in our building, go out to parks for walks and picnics, to museums, botanical gardens, restaurants, and other places. Through this program women have been able to visit places they have never been before, or will never be able to afford, that serve to reduce lifes stressors. Despite the pandemic, 2020 has brought us many blessings, including the Be Well Do Well grant for LWWs Womens Club/Women Helping Women behavioral health and wellness initiative. With the funding we were granted, the participants have been able to participate in new weekly wellness and stress reduction activities like Zumba and Yoga classes. The group also added a weekly cooking class named Lets Get Cooking. The facilitator of this amazing class is a professional nutritionist who comes up with healthy and easy recipes to teach to Women Helping Women participants about eating for good emotional and physical health. In a recent session of the Women Helping Women program, some participants expressed their gratitude and appreciation for all the activities offered. Some of their comments were: The zumba class has helped me and my daughter to relief some stress in these times of craziness. The Yoga class is my time to relax after a busy day at work. The yoga class has taught different ways to breathe to calm myself down when I am anxious and stressed out. I have learned how to cook healthy recipes for me and my family.Thank you for that excellent cooking class, my family and I enjoyed this delicious and healthy recipe.Our most recent accomplishment happened during the November Women Helping Women session when two of the moms took the lead of the class, showed a well-prepared Power Point ant talked to 18 more participants about womens empowerment and beauty stereotypes. They facilitated a great session, allowed other women to share their experiences and opinions and encouraged everyone to love and appreciate themselves the way they are. They reminded everybody how important and valuable they are and the importance of believing in themselves to be able to reach their goals and dreams. After seeing these women leading that class, we, as organization, felt proud of them and their accomplishments. We confirmed that this program has touched the lives of women for good and that we want to keep women empowering more women to become self-sufficient and great community leaders. With the Be Well grant, we have been able to incentivize womens participation and motivate their leadership skills through gift cards and kitchen utensils helpful to preparing the recipes learned in the cooking class. Thank you very much to Be Well Do Well for your support!
As a veteran teacher working with…
As a veteran teacher working with students that have emotional and behavioral challenges, I always wanted to create a program that could impact students by developing healthy habits with skills that can be used throughout their lives to manage stress and maintain healthy bodies. When Covid shut everyone down in the spring, I knew that this needed to happen more than ever – my students were isolated and not engaging as they did in the classroom. I read Activate by Katherine Mills Hernandez this summer and was pleasantly surprised to find that much research has been done showing the positive impact movement has on learning – as a teacher, it’s logical to try something as simple as adding movement to improve student focus and success. Other research shows that exercise is beneficial for mental health as well. There was no way that I wasn’t going to add movement to my lessons and conduct my own “research.” How to convince the students became my challenge.THEN, I stumbled upon an email from Palm Beach Health about the Be Well PBC Mini-Grant! After the Mini-Grant Workshop, I felt confident enough to apply for my first grant, keeping my students in mind. The program idea involves students getting fit, creating obstacle courses at home, designing an obstacle course for school, and finally creating the course on-site so that students can compete for personal goals and bragging rights. At the end of July I was surprised to learn that $3,000 had been awarded for the idea! I was thrilled and wanted to order the fitness equipment for everyone to start getting stronger a.s.a.p., and was disappointed that the process was a little time consuming with the School District, BUT that turned out to be beneficial.Instead of students having the exercise gear for the first day of school, they got to design a logo for the materials and choose the items for purchase after a lesson on budgeting! While we waited for the items to arrive, we worked out for a few minutes every day in class, exploring different websites and videos. Student engagement grew as their skills improved!When the items arrived, they were eager to take them home and start using them. They are required to log 30 minutes of activity every day. I hold a virtual workout session three times per week! Almost every day someone tells me a story about something they are able to do now that they couldn’t a few months ago. Now that most have “bought into” fitness, we are going to start the fun part of designing the obstacle courses at home over the winter break, and then on campus in January and February.The process is taking longer than I envisioned, but the results so far are greater than I dreamed! This would not be possible without the BeWellPBC Mini-Grant!
I had severe anxiety about the…
I had severe anxiety about the venue for the event. Renting a venue and also providing refreshments for a crowd of people can be difficult and very pricey. I listed the help of Kenya Chaney from Healthier Delray Beach, and she helped me get a meeting with the curator for the Arts Warehouse. To make a long story short, the meeting resulted in me getting the venue for free. Not only will it be for free, but I will also be allowed to keep the artowrk their for an entire month(May)
This mini grant experience has allowed…
This mini grant experience has allowed Youth Empowered to Prosper to roll out a vision that the Director has had to enrich youth in Palm Beach County. Future Leaders Prep Course is designed for high schoolers and youth up to age 22 that focuses on leadership development, financial awareness and job preparedness. This course is designed to provide knowledge and tools for life after high school. We will achieve this through destiny activation development courses that focus on purpose, leadership, entrepreneurship, financial awareness, internships/apprenticeships, career exploration and the like. The goal of these courses is to equip our next generation with self-awareness and knowledge to help make better decisions as productive and responsible leaders in the community.
Family Promise of South Palm Beach…
Family Promise of South Palm Beach County through the BeWell DoWell mini-grant began our series of speakers for “Sharing Survival Stories Saturday” on November 7, 2020. The purpose of the series of eight speakers over the next twelve months is for formerly homeless mothers to share their story of how they overcame extreme adversity and challenges and draw from their strength to become successful women, business leaders and mothers.Our first speaker was Shandra Stringer, who left the care of her grandmother at 16 years old, to escape a harsh life and to focus finishing high school. She went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management and then a Masters in Non-profit Management all the while raising her daughter. She worked two jobs and at one point she had to make the financial decision of either paying her rent or her car payment. Since she needed a way to get to work, she decided they would have to live in the car for a few weeks. Shandra stressed that she never felt like a victim and that through her village – her church and her friends, Shandra went on to become a successful motivational speaker, an entrepreneur of three companies and above all else an excellent example of what one can do in life. Her motto is .If I Can Help Somebody along the Way then My Living is not in Vain