How much can you cover in a week?

23/08/2015

What a full-on week!

 

The holistic week is designed to cover all the essential skills to ensure Growing Talent Associates are better equipped to deal with everything life may throw at them!

 

The core ingredient to making this work is the contribution and interaction between the Associates as well as visiting managers.

MHFA opening

On Monday & Tuesday I delivered the global Mental Health First Aid course. This two day course covers amongst other things understanding the subject, stigma/discrimination, depression/suicide, anxiety, psychosis and eating disorders. This enables the Growing Talent Associates to be more aware of those around them and their own well-being.

 

Wednesday saw workshops and quizzes on practical kitchen, moving home and declutter – do you need to keep hard copies of anything?  Well yes!  Especially documents which are hard to get replacements for.   In the afternoon the guys went to the National Portrait Gallery to do something they wouldn’t normally do. This trip examining which painting was their favourite and least favourite, what techniques they liked and what moved them set the scene for Friday’s art class!

 

Thursday was a full-on day of workshops delivered by senior managers. First was Jon Barnes of PwC delivering ‘It’s Your Money’ a look at personal finance from Standing Orders and Direct Debits to credit cards, loans and savings.

 

Jon

 

Lesley Davies from PwC shared her knowledge and top tips in Refuel, Renewal & Rejuvinate. An insightful look at human development, eating right and exercising without the gym.

 

Opps –  looks like Lesley’s clocked the camera!

 

Lesley

 

Anthony and Dan from Suez rounded off the afternoon with an interactive, informative look at waste management and the circular economy. Facts, figures, quiz and prizes along with a lot of learning!

Anthony and Dan

 

So much interest on this subject, the guys were taking questions almost as soon as they had started!!!

Although some technical issues arose when Anthony tried to play a YouTube video from Ellen McArthur Foundation.  James and Mehmet did their best to get the video to play………

 

Tech gurus

So Anthony improvised:

Anthony improv

 

 

Friday – Joshua & Mehmet were bright and early despite meeting the Mitie TDM team at Millwall for a game of football. Of course Mitie won – not difficult when both sides are Mitie!

The Art class is usually delivered by Chris Byham who couldn’t make it this time due to illness.  So following her instructions we  kicked off with  an introduction to basic drawing.

Giggles resounded round the room through the blind drawing exercise. This is where focus is on the subject  – no peeking at the paper. It’s amazing the Picasso esq work produced. Even more amazing is there was some good detail when the guys drew each other!

 

We then moved on to drawing objects………

 

 

Joshua's Apple

Joshua’s apple……

Marta's sppon

Marta’s spoon

 

 

Lastly Sofia & Kate from Health Nutrition Bites delivered an interactive session on healthy eating.

Kate and Sophie

 

Good swaps, cheap and nutritional ideas along with myth busters ending with making their top tips in making your own pot noodle – cheaper and more nutritional than the commercial version.

 

Pot Noodle prep

 

Pot Noodle preparation………

 

Jury's out on taste test

Leah & James doing the taste test!!!

 

So ended a full on week ready for a hot and sunny weekend in London.  What were the guys’ overall thoughts?

 

‘Everyday I learnt something new.  It helped us with independent living and good habits”

 

‘Really enjoyed the whole week.  I will always come back to the manuals and read them over again.  I will always remember every workshop”

 

“Every workshop presents fundamental information as various areas that affect our way of life.  If implemented, the education provided is a means to delivering productivity in our work and normal lives’.

 

“A thoroughly enjoyable and informative week.  I learnt a lot.  Mental Health was the most interesting part of the week for me…..”

 

“Very good.  Lots of subjects presented by people who know their areas well and provided indepth information”

 

“A fun challenging way to learn about the whole picture of the working world”.

 

“I feel like the holistic week provided an all round foundation to support my career on the growing talent programme”.