Location: United Kingdom
Profession: Community Worker
Social Profiles
About
I am a youth and community worker, charity consultant, fundraiser, and social entrepreneur. I love all things community and work with a wide range of groups including youth organisations, refugee groups, families bereaved through homicide and Deaf groups among many others.
I am the person to call on if you have a project idea to be brought to life, need funding, or want to consult the community or communicate your message. At the heart of any good community event is shared food – lots of it – from many different cultures!
I have been baking for many years as a hobby but recently decided to make big lifestyle changes and give up shop-bought bread and improve my nutrition. I mainly bake for myself and my daughter but find I am being increasingly asked to bake for others and for ‘bring and share’ community events. At the moment, I am discovering the delights of Einkorn bread and cultured butter, but it’s always better shared.
How I use BALM Protocol
I am not 100% sure how I will use the knowledge once I have graduated – you cannot teach what you do not live first. However, I am quite sure that I will use it with some of my groups and can see lots of applications and many people who could potentially benefit from the knowledge.
For example, I am considering running a baking group with some of the people I work with who struggle with mental health and trauma, or with ex-offenders who are looking to find a new skill once they have left prison.
However, top of my list is supporting a community cafe close to where I live which is run by Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users for BSL users. I have been their fundraiser and adviser for a few years now. As a meeting place for Deaf people, it is a thriving community hub, but it has struggled to find its way as a cafe with a unique selling point in the hearing world. I think a bit of healthy baking could be transformative, especially as there is an allotment project two minutes’ walk away where Deaf people are growing their own vegetables (another community project I support). I can see Soup & Sourdough being on the menu very soon.
