Weekly Round up

Hello and well, here we are, a little over , 2 weeks late.

Service Verification

Firstly, I have a system to verify and validate the services I signpost to. Its a simple system, it will email to the service provider, tell them what is held in this site, and ask them to click a link to validate the information. Click a link. thats all. What I want to know is, if people click the validation link, does it work? or is the link not clear enough?

Should i reduce the information sent via email so they have to click the link to see what is being held... I get several emails saying thanks, thats right, or amendments to the information. This can all be changed if the link is used, and the service can be removed if the provider doesnt want it to be hosted on this site, all they have to do is click the link in the email.

Activities

So, the past two weeks, I have again, attended several meetings, related to services presented to service users, and support systems presented to carers. The initial outcome, always seems positive, I can see the benifit in what they are trying to do. However, some of the meetings describe a different project, which, if implemented in the way it was ment, then there would be no need for, it feels, half of the projects, focus groups, meetings, because the intention in "this meeting" has already been explored and implemented. make sense?

Website Update.

I have new plans for the website. currently if a business has a service they offer, then thats good. one entry. but if that same business has 2, 3 or 5 services they offer, then there is duplication of informaiton, the only difference currently is the event title and posibly email address, so Im changing that. There will be a directory of businesses, and if you click on that, it will expand and show exactly what they offer. The initial home screen will remain the same, with easy and quick access to services, but if you want to know more, it will be there ... soon ...

Service providers update I have several, i guess, hundreds of services waiting to be put on the website, but currently the two people I care for are unwell, with a bug which is making the rounds locally, so my carers time is being made use of 100%, leaving not much after. this is resulting in the website not being updated as often and with as many entries as I would like. Watch this space, its happening, but slowly, and with the changes I intend to do, which ultimately will make the process quicker, is slowing things down while i complete it.This will also have an impact on the event calendar, which will be linked in to the services offered. this means any service which has restricted opening times and dates, will be able to define these on the website. Im still in two minds whether to hide them if they are not open, disable the button or just leave as is. What do you think?

Right, im going to get some coding in before it gets too late.

Have a good rest of the week, but if you need support, I trust you find the support you need at the time you need it.

Hello and welcome to Saturday.

Location Services

Thanks to Gemini, Googles AI service, I have been able to create a new method to locate the area you are in. This means its more accurate and does not depend on how you connect to the internet. Again, I only extract the district / area you are located, I dont record any other information about your location but more to the point, I dont know who uses the website. I know how many times the page is accessed but by whom, i have no idea.

So. location. When you visit the website, it uses the inbult function of your device browser to provide your rough location, if you dont want to use that, then you have the option to give your post code. Again, the only information I get from that is the area you are in. If you dont want to use your post code, then just press the submit button and pick an area where you are located from the list.

Carers resources

Im still adding further resources for carers. it takes around 5 minutes to verify each as I check different information and ensure its all current. Its happening, just slowly.

Support Groups

Last week we attended chatterbox, a support group held every thursday between 1 and 3pm in Tooting. This week it was suggested that we look in to an arts and crafts project as part of the business, so if you are locall, this may be comming your way soon. We will be looking at funding for this venture to try and keep it a free event for you to attend. I have also been asked if I would like to co-host a carers recognition group I attend every wednesday, so thats exciting. well, thats it for this week so far.

Have a great rest of the week, but if you find you are suffering, please make use of the website and see if there is a service resource or venue you can use to help you through the day.

Its been something i have wanted to do for a while, create a calendar to list free local events such as fetes, festivals, webinars, courses, conferences, anything which is free and either hosted by or is attended by a Mental Health or Wellbeing service. And now its here. You have the facility to add services based on area, and, if the event is being hosted by a known service, which covers several areas, then you have the option to include all or some of those areas.

Because of how it works, anybody can add an event, for any service provider, but I will have to verify and publish the event before its seen publicly. In the future, i plan to change that so the host of the event, or the service provider attending the event will have to confirm the contact details are correct by validating their contact details. this will also give the option to remove or edit the event details, but the fact its there, ready to run, im so excited about it.

The potential is huge... so, if you are aware of any free events being held locally or even nationally, feel free to add it. If there are important details you need to add but there is nowhere to add those details, let me know and ill see if i can add that in to the add and edit page.