Make healthy choices with Hope Housing Project

When residents move into Hope Housing, we complete a Health & Wellbeing Questionnaire to assess and identify their health needs and leisure interests to enable us to deliver the appropriate support. Our initial priority is to motivate and support them to register with a GP and Dentist and to ascertain if there are any concerns around Addiction, Mental Health, Depression, Anxiety, or Suicidal thoughts and any other health issues. We work closely with a variety of external services to ensure that our residents receive the appropriate treatment and support based on their individual needs. Hope Housing were awarded funding from the Community Fund Lottery to enable us to execute this project and this has now successfully been running since February 2023.

Following are just a few of the activities and workshops we provide to improve  physical and mental wellbeing:

In house Gym: We encourage all our residents to attend an induction and take advantage of our Gym to improve their fitness, self-confidence, and help to control addiction and to stop reoffending.

Yoga: We have weekly Yoga classes at our premises, teaching relaxation techniques, meditation, body awareness, stress relief and flexibility.

Tennis & Table Tennis:  We have an outdoor Table Tennis at our premises and annual membership to three Tennis Clubs in Bournemouth to help our residents to improve reflexes and coordination, develop mental alertness, and to socialise .

Cooking Class: We have weekly informal cooking classes to teach residents how to cook a simple healthy meal without breaking the bank. We shop, prep, cook, eat, and clear up together. These classes also enable them to socialise, exchange ideas, and work as team. 

In addition to the above we monitor and provide health checks involving blood pressure, BMI, Cholesterol, Diabetes test and advice on healthy living and healthy diet. 

Our aim is to provide an effective and efficient support to improve our resident’s health & wellbeing and to empower them to regain control of their lives and successfully move on to independent living and employment.

Homeless people struggle to access the food and nutritional support they need, and this has serious consequences for their health. We currently house and support 103 vulnerable homeless adults.

Through this project we will deliver:

Weekly cooking activities:

Each house allocated a small budget and a challenge to cook as a household collective, with each session lasting approximately 2 hours. Residents will learn how to plan and prepare inexpensive, nutritious meals from scratch as well as: learning how to shop on a budget; understand food label information (calorie provision, salt and sugar values, etc); meal planning; easy ‘one-pot’ and healthy recipes. We will provide participants with recipe cards which will be posted to them before the start of the course.

Physical Fitness  Sessions:

10-20 members per week with weekly, hourly sessions taking place over the course of a year. There will be no time constraint on how long they remain in the physical activity of the programme as intake differs for each individual accordingly.

Ongoing support throughout the programme as part of Hope’s wider support provision for all residents. We will measure and assess the progress of each participant, working closely with them in one-to-one sessions, monitoring success and making alterations where necessary in order for them to reach their full potential.

Personal Development:

Weekly face-to-face group sessions with a fully trained Counsellor/Support Manager, working on topics including, but not limited to setting goals; communications skills; developing and managing relationships; anger management skills; loss & bereavement; dealing with complex emotions; promoting independence; social behaviour; personal care; developing confidence; motivational skills and developing a sense of purpose.

The total number of hours for delivering all sessions:

Cooking Activities – weekly two-hour sessions x 12 weeks = 96 hours

Physical Fitness Sessions – weekly one-hour sessions x 12 weeks = 48 hours.