Community Chesterfield’s 2022 Success Story: Celebrating our project’s triumphs over the yea
It’s a fresh new year, a time for resolutions and reflections, and we wanted to look back at 2022 and take stock of the major milestones over the year, and what a journey it has been! Firstly we want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has been involved; volunteers, community groups, students and lecturers, businesses, friends, and more!
2022 began with reviewing how to best measure the impact of our work beyond the simplicity of the number of hours of training provided, or meaningful connections made. We looked at the impact we had, explored the understanding of the changes we have made, and how we can improve the support we offer to community groups, businesses, charities, and students and staff at the University of Derby. This dictated the reaffirmation of our key values for the year as Open, Inclusive, Trusting, Developing, and Community focused.
March saw us working with the charity and social enterprise P3, where we facilitated a connection with mental health nursing students from the University of Derby with their organisation.
“I love it when a plan comes together when you think it might not! One of my favourite meetings of the year was with Mental Health Nursing Lecturer Angela Pereira and 2 very enthusiastic managers at P3 Mental health charity.
Angela was looking for placement opportunities and the new relationship between the two finally worked out to be a success. 6 Mental Health Nursing students were placed at P3 for 6 weeks in March 2022. I was so impressed with the ‘can do’ attitude of P3 I decided to send a message to their CEO on LinkedIn! It’s connections like this that will shape the way referrals and career choices in the voluntary sector are made by healthcare professionals of the future”. Says our Community Relations Coordinator, Alison.
May was packed full of the fruition of months of planning and hard work from our team. We were granted a further two years of funding from the National Lottery to progress our work. This means we can continue to develop and deliver free activities and training over the next two years for community groups, charities, and the University of Derby, as well as supporting local businesses and communities in building relationships together. This fantastic news came just in time to deliver the good news and celebrate our achievement with those integral to the project at our Showcase event.
This event was designed to celebrate everything the project had achieved over the last three years. It brought local community groups together with staff from the University of Derby at St Helena Campus in Chesterfield, which provided them an opportunity to contribute to future delivery planning, and a valuable opportunity to network and build relationships across the event, as well as talk about their own work and projects.
Our Project Director, Jenny said “This event really (was) a chance to reflect on these successes, celebrate the positive impact we have had across Chesterfield’s health and social care sector, and provide an opportunity to plan for the future of our project with those who it will benefit the most”.
After the event, the attendees were offered the opportunity to provide feedback. Overwhelmingly, the event was considered highly successful, as 100% of the respondents said that they would attend another event like this in the future.
Towards the end of the month, we stepped outside and donned our walking boots! We were joined by Derbyshire Carers Association and nursing students from the university, for a walk in some of our county’s beautiful spots as part of a mindfulness activity.
“As everyone knows I love an event that has real impact and purpose and this one really did! On 20th May we provided the opportunity for nursing students to learn about the role of the informal carer and what kind of barriers and challenges they face. Derbyshire Carers Association and University of Derby nursing students attended a walk from Baslow to Chatsworth, allowing them to engage in meaningful conversation. It provided a unique opportunity to engage with service users, without being in their uniform whilst practicing communication skills and active listening”. Says Alison, Community Chesterfield.
Carers who attended said it was a great idea to educate our future nurses in this way and they were relieved to share stories about some of the daily challenges a carer faces.
Faith Vargas, Lecturer in Pre-Qualifying Healthcare at the University, added: "Having the opportunity to engage with students in an informal environment and, to see them benefiting from interaction with service users, was the highlight of my year."
Feedback from the student nurses from the day included:
"Thoroughly enjoyable - excellent opportunity to talk to informal carers and listen to their perspective."
"It was great, on so many levels, to hear of experiences past and present and to see and understand the impact the great outdoors can have on wellbeing."
To finish off a very busy and exciting month we were thrilled to be joined by Asian Association of Chesterfield, Chesterfield FC Community Trust, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, STAND TO, and Volunteer Centre Chesterfield at the University of Derby, to deliver the Community Capacity Public Health Event. These groups worked to promote the 5 ways to well-being framework and delivered a series of lectures and workshops to over 180 students. The event showcased the critical role these, and similar, organisations play to improve mental health and well-being in the community.
“It was a thought provoking and engaging day. It gave our students a real insight into the role of the voluntary sector and established a firm foundation for future learning and engagement with community groups. A huge thank you to all who participated!” Says Faith Vargas
In June we were overjoyed to win the Nursing Times Award as part of our partnership with the University of Derby for ‘Best Student Experience’. Recognising educators for their efforts in providing an exceptional overall student experience. Our work in providing training, placements, shared learning, and more for nursing students helps allow them to grow beyond the classroom and prepare them for their future as excellent healthcare professionals.
July saw the culmination of months of hard work in the publication of our evaluation report. This explored the data behind the project and measured the impact of all we had done so far. It was an important part of the evaluation to involve and hear from various individuals and organisations that we work with, whether that be praising us for our work or making valuable suggestions for the project’s future.
“After working on the 360’ evaluation report for months, it was a very proud moment for me when it was published on our website and was shared with community groups and university staff and students” Says Lauren, Project Officer.
September started with us being able to offer a place for Breastfeeding Network Derbyshire at the University of Derby, St Helena Campus. This fortnightly group led by experienced breastfeeding volunteers and NHS support aimed to provide a warm, safe space for parents and caregivers, to offer advice and information to those expecting or further along their parenting journey.
October brought us another award win for the year as we received the ‘Partnership Award’ at the Volunteer Centre Awards for our ongoing work with the University of Derby. “It was fantastic to see all the hard work of our team being celebrated. Derbyshire has such a wealth of charity and community groups all making a real difference in people’s lives, and it’s fantastic to be acknowledged amongst such inspirational competition” says Daniel, Community Chesterfield’s Marketing and Communications Officer. The awards ceremony took place in Chesterfield’s Winding Wheel and saw groups from across the region gather to applaud the work being done in Chesterfield and Derbyshire. “I was thrilled to be able to collect two awards this year as part of our partnership with the University” says Kate, Community Chesterfield’s Skills and Learning Coordinator.
This month, we were pleased to be invited to attend training sessions ran by MHFA England to provide us with the knowledge and skills to support those around us, as part of Derbyshire Voluntary Action’s focus on mental health wellbeing as an organisation. "I appreciate DVA’s commitment to ensuring that all its staff are mental health first-aid trained. Mental health is so important in and out of the workplace, and this training enabled me to be better equipped to deal with any issues that may arise”. Lauren, Community Chesterfield.
November hit and we were back at the University of Derby running the Voluntary Sector Marketplace, as part of the Public Health module. Along with the help from community groups we work with, we organised a series of lectures to nursing students about the voluntary sector. Following this, we hosted a vibrant marketplace event whereby more than 300 students, lecturers and university staff came along to network with and explore the work that community groups were showcasing.
“When asked to pull together an event that brought over 20 voluntary sector organisations together in one place to support around 300 nursing students with their Public Health Module it made my tummy flip! Well we did it and although it was a challenge the result meant lots of conversation and lots of information sharing. Our groups want to be known, they want future healthcare professionals to recognise them for career options and for referrals. I think we did ok here and I enjoyed watching it all work out on the day!” Alison, Community Chesterfield
The event covered the vital importance and how big an impact that volunteers, charities, and community groups have on health and wellbeing. We invited lecturers to discuss how they can work more closely with us and the organisations that attended, to improve their curriculum and gain new insights and options to present to students at the university and offer them an increased understanding of the voluntary sector.
“It has opened my eyes to the possibilities for employment and to signpost people to. It has highlighted that there may be opportunities and options out there for me once I graduate…I think what the volunteer sector do is absolutely amazing and I would imagine that it could be very rewarding” Nursing student at University of Derby
We are so proud of what we’ve achieved in 2022, and we’re excited about going forward into the new year! We’re pleased to say we’ll be expanding our team in 2023, by welcoming a Business Relations Coordinator and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) student from the University of Derby, who will bring a whole new suite of skills to the team.
We also have some exciting things we are getting ready to share with you in 2023. Kicking off with a new series of Training & Tea presented by Calm in a Box (follow the link to find out more and book!), and much more coming throughout the year.
If you want to learn more about what we are doing as a project, or would like to work with us please get in touch.