Live Well Education Update
By Ben Elliott
If you’d told me 18 years ago that one of my future roles would be the Education Lead for a charity founded by my mam, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Back then, I was studying English Literature & Creative Writing at Northumbria University, with hopes of making a living as an author and expectations of working in a call centre.
After graduating, I got that job in a call centre, before getting my first taste of writing for education with TryLife, an online interactive drama aimed at showing young people the consequences of different decisions.
My first full time writing job brought me to the maritime industry, where I worked for years as a Scriptwriter and Learning Designer, creating scripts for training videos, eLearning modules and interactive education.
Live Well with Cancer
In 2019, my mam founded Live Well with Cancer to help people impacted by cancer to improve their health and wellbeing. I’ve been involved since before the start, doing everything from writing funding applications to starring in the Geordie Striptease at our Catwalk Cabaret.
During the pandemic, I co-hosted online Creative Writing workshops for people affected by cancer, helping our group of budding writers get their story onto the page.
We also ran an online Wellbeing Book Club for members of our community, getting together once a month to discuss our latest health and wellness book until restrictions lifted.
As our charity has grown, I’ve been involved in all our educational projects, starting with our regional Sleep Masterclasses. Funded by Northern Cancer Alliance, we hosted eight sessions for patients and professionals in Newcastle, Hexham, Middlesbrough and Durham.
We ensured the legacy of the project by creating The Sleep Better Resources, including a
6-module eLearning series, to help people improve their quantity and quality of sleep.
Transformational Learning
It was around this time that I co-founded Transformational Learning, a company specialising in health and wellness education. In partnership with Live Well with Cancer and Northern Cancer Alliance, we’ve created digital resources that help people understand the biggest issues facing people impacted cancer and identify practical ways to overcome them.
After The Sleep Better Series, we developed The Prehab Hub to empower healthcare professionals to help their patients to prepare for treatment with effective prehabilitation.
We’ve recently launched Menopause, Cancer & Me, a resource that helps people understand the impacts of menopause and cancer and what they can to do improve their wellbeing.
After the success of our Sleep Masterclasses, we received further funding from Northern Cancer Alliance to host regional Fatigue Masterclasses to help people to manage the impact of cancer-related fatigue. We’re excited to share our Managing Fatigue resource once we have finalised the build, which is currently being reviewed by healthcare professionals.
Live Well with Healthy Habits
The project I’m most proud of is The Wellbeing 9-a-Day, a holistic approach to health and wellness I developed to empower people to build the nine habits of a healthy lifestyle.
Initially created to help me live better after the pandemic, I’ve spent the last five years developing and trialling our range of wellness journals. It's been my privilege to help users to set and track intentions that strengthen the Three Pillars of Wellness: your JOURNEY from the past, through the present and into the future; your mental HEALTH, physical fitness and emotional wellbeing; and your RELATIONSHIPS with others, your self and your diet.
We’ve been delighted to receive funding from Trusts, Foundations and community fundraising to develop our resources and host workshops and masterclasses across the North East.
Our For Beginners of All Ages journal introduces users to The Wellbeing 9-a-Day and has proven popular with businesses, including Sage, Greggs and North Tyneside VODA.
We’ve also been able to take The Prehab Edition on a regional tour using funding from Northern Cancer Alliance and Point North. Initially, the funding was for 12 sessions in the Live Well Hub, but we saw great value in making the sessions accessible to people across the region, hosting workshops in North Tyneside, Northumberland, North Tees, Gateshead and online.
We’re looking forward to bringing the project to a close when we host our second Live Well Masterclass at the Live Well Hub from 10-2pm on November 24th. To register for a place, please email transformation@livewellwithcancer.co.uk.
Live Well Writers
As well as helping our community to write their way to wellness with our journals, I’ve had the pleasure of hosting weekly writing workshops every Tuesday from 10-1pm at the Live Well Hub.
Our regulars have all submitted pieces to be included in our first anthology – Live Well Writers Vol. I – which was funded by Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust and will be released this year.
We’ve also been developing The Story of Transformation, a writing resource that helps users structure fiction and non-fiction stories. So far, we’ve trialled the resource with the Live Well Writers and during two sessions at the Butterwick Hospice in Stockton.
You can find out more about our sessions and read some of our work at https://www.livewellwithcancer.co.uk/wellbeing/livewellwriters
Live Well Lads
Over the past few months, we’ve been hosting weekly drop-ins on Tuesdays from 1.30-3.30pm at the Live Well Hub as part of our Live Well Lads campaign with Macmillan Cancer Support.
Alongside the weekly drop-ins, the funding includes monthly sessions aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of men who have received a cancer diagnosis, starting with a private session with TYDE Sea View Sauna on 24th September in Whitley Bay.
We’re also planning indoor bowls at The Parks, auricular acupuncture, a day trip to watch North Shields Football Club and a stadium tour of St James’ Park and much more.
The Live Well Lads will also be taking part in our Live Well Christmas Quiz, starting 7pm on 27th November in the Live Well Hub, and featuring in our upcoming birthday podcast.
Live Well with Banter
For the past year, I’ve had the privilege of hosting Live Well with Cancer’s podcasts. With the first six episodes produced for free by Stuff Productions, we’ve continued to produce episodes with experts on key health and wellness topics.
As well as showcasing the people of our community, we’ve hosted episodes on menopause, Live Well Runners, Life Kitchen, Trauma-informed Care, Grief and conscious breathing, with our latest episode on physical activity soon to go live.
You can watch all 15 episodes at https://www.livewellwithcancer.co.uk/livewellwithbanter
24-hour Podcast Birthday Fundraiser
If it took us just over a year to produce 15 hours of Live Well with Banter, it will only take us 24 hours to produce the next 24 hours.
On 7th November at 9am, I’ll be live streaming for a full 24 hours in the Live Well Hub, ably assisted by Heywood and the rest of the Live Well community, as we celebrate Live Well with Cancer’s 7th birthday.
During the podcast, we’ll be showcasing the services our charity offers and the people who make our community what it is, including special guest appearances, a 24-hour fitness challenge and the launch of Live Well Writers Vol. I.
We are fundraising to develop a Live Well with Healthy Habits app to empower more people to build the habits of a healthy lifestyle and improve their health and wellbeing.
You can support our campaign by donating and sharing our fundraiser.
As we move towards our charity’s 7th birthday, it’s amazing to think how far we’ve come in such a short period of time. Our charity started with a £40 donation from my cousin’s piggy bank. It’s now an essential part of cancer care in North Tyneside, the surrounding areas and beyond, as we continue to grow and meet the unmet needs of our community.
I might not have expected to become Education Lead, but I’m glad that I’ve played my part in helping us become the charity we are today and we’ll keep doing all we can to help our community to live well with cancer.
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