WISH Midlands Winter Newsletter 2020

WISH Midlands Winter Newsletter 2020

As we look back over the year here at WISH Midlands, we could never have imagined the year we have just had. We had a full schedule of face to face events planned for the year, which for obvious reasons we quickly had to adapt and take online. Our aim has been to bring you webinars that are relevant to the current situation we find ourselves in and being sensitive to the fact these times have been more testing to some more than others,  

In June, we brought you the amazing Hayley Gillard who specialises in 'Super Charged Leadership'. Hayley reminded us that empathy, compassion and kindness are essential leadership traits, especially in such challenging times.  She gave us her tips for how to be powerful, assertive and credible as a leader, which in turn improves self-confidence. 

Watch the recording here.

In a year where the importance of carers has really come to the fore, in September Hayley Charlesworth of the Helping Harry Trust, introduced WISH members to Harry’s Pledge - a commitment to carers, which many housing organisations have signed up to. The pledge focuses on four key areas:

As employers - we will be carer friendly, doing all we can to support people with caring responsibilities to work for us by making our policies carer friendly.

In our workspaces - we will make offices and community spaces as accessible as possible and install ‘Changing Place’ toilets wherever practicable. 

In the homes we build - we will build more fully accessible homes and routinely consider accessibility in the homes we own.

Training and career progression - we will work with partners to professionalise care further with clear qualifications/career paths, working to promote it as a valued career choice and lobbying for changes in pay and rewards.  

For more detail please visit:  www.harrys-pledge.org.uk     

Watch the recording here.

In October, Jeannette Jackson joined us for an information packed webinar on “Epic ways to improve resilience and performance’ which covered coping mechanisms for personal and professional stress and the importance of diet and nutrition to improving our mental health. 

Watch the recording here.

Our final pre-Christmas event event saw us bring four amazing women together for a “Word with the Wise'. 

Our panellists, Eileen Schofield, Rachael Orr, Jo Cowlin and Alysha Burrell gave us their top tips and gave us their personal and authentic experiences from their leadership journeys, whilst we enjoyed our Christmas Treat boxes, courtesy of our sponsors Penningtons Manches Cooper. 

As we reflect back on the year, we realise its has been a tough one for all and we hope our events have gone someway to supporting you  our members through the turbulence and stresses of working and living in the pandemic.  Too often we hear people say, “We’re all in the same boat”, but we at WISH realise that some people’s boats are stronger than others, therefore in bringing together our events we have been mindful of this. 

Finally, from all of the board members at WISH Midlands we would like to wish all our members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank you for your support. 

Lynn Clayton & Rose Klemperer - Co-Chairs of WISH Midlands