Above: Hormoz and Jane with workshop participants at Manchester Sickle Cell Centre  

We often talk about how busy we are at Result CIC. It's the variety of projects and the people we work with that makes life so interesting.

This month saw the start of some great delivery with new and existing clients.

It started with a day's training with our partners Breakthrough UK (BTUK) going through a change of Board members and requiring for all to talk fully about the BTUK message, with the strong focus that the organisation puts on The Social Model of Disability.

Jane delivered a session in the morning getting all members to think about how they would each present BTUK to others outside the organisation. This was followed by Andy in the afternoon who concentrated on Governance and duties of trustees.

The feedback was positive. One of the delegates commented 'Good balance achieved between information, discussion and comments/space for reflection and thoughts.'

For something completely different, Jane and Hormoz attended a consultation session provisionally called 'Action Stations'. This is a potential project led by Transport for Greater Manchester (Tfgm), to bring together Network Rail, various train operators and social enterprises to help transform up to 96 stations in Greater Manchester into multi-purpose community hubs. The discussion was around what needs to happen so that they can be utilised by social enterprises to provide services to the public.

A pilot at Stalybridge and Irlam train stations were showcased as examples. Kilmarnock train station has been a leading example of good practice in what can be achieved. Watch this space for further information on this project.

Our relationship with the University of Manchester (UoM) goes from strength to strength. This is the 5th year of the delivery of our Achieving your Potential project to disabled staff which started this month. The group as ever showed their commitment to increase self-awareness and their path will continue with coaching and training to develop themselves further. This programme finishes in September and if previous years are anything to go by, we should see some significant positive changes within the group.

We reported in March about winning a bid with Manchester Health Care Commissioning (MHCC) to deliver training/coaching sessions with Managers of Disabled Staff within the NHS in Greater Manchester. Our first pilot session started with positive feedback from the first group who attended the first day. This is being delivered in partnership with BTUK, mentioned above.

Finally, our work funded by Awards for All (Big Lottery) with people living with sickle cell continued with further coaching and a 3 hour workshop session at the Manchester Sickle Cell Centre. As written about previously, sickle cell largely affects people from Afro-Caribbean heritage.

Elizabeth N Caulley who lives with sickle cell herself and was an inspiration for this project (she attended the UoM development programme mentioned above, 2 years ago) talked about the importance of healthy eating, focused on the types of food that the group like. This created much discussion. Hormoz then asked the group to think about the importance of mental health as well as physical well-being. The group considered the advantages of a positive mindset. Several recounted stories about how changes in midset, linked to their coaching sessions, had produced good outcomes. Jane brought the session to a close by asking all to start developing a personal plan which helps them achieve a stronger physical/mental balance.