Headway East London Q3 2009

For information on what Headway East London do, please click here: Headway (East London)

In September Anna and myself went to the Headway centre to spend a morning seeing how the centre works and to help out with some of the daily activities. We were lucky to spend most of the day making bread with some of the attendees.

We arrived in time for the daily volunteer briefing where Phillipa Paine, the volunteer coordinator, introduced us all and outlined the activities for the day. First up, several of the attendees went for one-on-one treatments such as music therapy, while most took part in small group discussions led by members of staff. Group discussions like these are a regular activity at Headway and allow attendees to talk openly about issues facing them and improve communication skills.

The bread making went down well, despite Peter, a very enthusiastic Christian, trying to fashion his bread first into a cross and then into the face of Jesus Christ, complete with Rosemary hair and olive eyes. I am always really impressed by the atmosphere at the centre and that day was no exception. The volunteers and staff, many of whom suffered head injuries in the past and originally attended the centre as ‘patients’ seem to blend in with the attendees to create a very relaxed atmosphere but always with lots of energy and activities going on.

This quarter OPS money also helped to subsidize Headway attendees to go on outings to the British Museum, the Transport Museum in Covent Garden and the Natural History Museum. As reported in the last newsletter, we continue to contribute towards transport to Surrey Quays for fortnightly sailing outings.

Over the next few months, some of your money will also be going toward a Christmas Party for the volunteers so I will be sure to have some more pics of that in time for the next newsletter.

John Arnold
November 2009