The Strive Blog

  Guest Author: Ian Hill Facebook Blog Page:  A Dad's View of 15q Idic 15 Today is #YoungCarersActionDay and we give a nod to our amazing kids who go above and beyond each day. A post from my blog to acknowledge them......   The past twelve months or so have been anything but normal, families have been kept apart, routines and everyday activities have gone out of the window and those with a family member who is disabled or requires additional care have seen their support packages and interventions ripped apart. With those changes, the often hidden, but quite remarkable young carers have seen their lives impacted in ways that can be difficult to fathom. Without the ability to leave the home environment to go to school, to mix freely with friends and to de-stress, young carers have seen an increased burden both psychologically and physically through lack of support and through increased caring hours, a recent survey of young carers from the Carers Trust found that 40...

For those of us who have heard of  Maslow’s Hierarchy  of Needs, we will undoubtedly bracket it into a sociology theory irrelevant to our day-to-day lives. The events of 2020/21 have never taken this so much further away from the truth . . .   Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in 1943 through his “Theory of Human Motivation.” His theory was presented through a pyramid that suggested that people are motivated by fulfilling their basic needs before moving on to their other, more advanced needs. The idea that our higher, more complicated needs like  esteem  &  self-actualisation  can’t be met if our lower needs like  safety  &  physiological needs  haven’t been met. 2020/21 has been wreaking havoc with our lower, most critical needs, destroying so many of our needs to be  safe ; our  jobs , financial security, even our homes. Conditions many of us have taken for granted for much of our lives ...

  I can hear all of the shouts . . . Diversity indeed is a must!   I recognise and wholly accept the critical benefits to business performance a diverse workforce brings.   A diverse workforce offers so much experience, Diversity of thought, problem-solving, ambition and drive. Something that needs applauding and promoting . . . but is the strive to achieve the ultimate diverse workforce resulting in an adverse effect on the business?   In a world filled with Diversity, are we pushing people into corporate silos through individual focus groups, personal agendas and drives – Could the impact result in exclusion?   Quotas . . . really, are we now in a position where an organisation could or are turning the right person away from recruitment, progression and/or promotion opportunities as they do not meet quota requirements?   When I open my front door every morning and step into the world, each person I see, walk past and engage with all have the same rights i...

  Mental health is a talking point that has been prominent in the media of late, but is something that has been affecting the day to day lives of millions of people in the UK for many years. With people starting to talk more openly about their own mental health issues, how it has impacted them and the steps that they’re taking to improve their well-being, we’re finally seeing the stigma surrounding mental health begin to improve significantly. However, despite this, we’re still seeing many people struggle, both inside and out of the workplace. We understand that discovering the right path to take to improve your mental health situation can be a tough journey to go through, and harder still to stay on the right track and follow it through, but you’re not alone… From students to sports stars, retail workers to business owners, we’re all susceptible to mental health issues. Even social media influencers, such as Instagram phenomenon, Mrs Hinch, are starting to address the grip of ment...

  There is no question that COVID-19 has thrown us all into a spiral of uncertainty and fear, removing our core day to day activities, interactions and most importantly relationships. Even the most extrovert of us will admit to changes in our behaviours and notice forms of social anxiety reaching us. As time has begun to take its toll hitting a 12-month anniversary of our first lockdown experience, many of us will admit to not making that call to a family member, friend, colleague as “I have nothing to talk about” so frequently comes into our heads. Or the fear of only having something ‘negative’ to say, financial worries, health concerns, the list goes on. . . So, what do we do? Avoid interaction, become more insular. Whether you have struggled with social worries in the past or these feelings are a direct impact of the pandemic, worrying excessively and avoiding interactions will at its worst begin to shrink your life. As we all hope the end is in sight of this latest l...