Hi, I’m Vanessa Powell-Hoyland and I am replacing Nick Germain as the new Project Manager for Well Doncaster and I am really excited to get going. The first thing I would like to do is thank Nick for all his fantastic work over the last 3 years. His passion, commitment and hard work have led to fantastic things for the people of Denaby and Conisbrough and he will be missed by the team and the community.

Now a little bit about me. I have worked in the field of public health for over ten years. Over this period I have developed specialist skills, earning a Master’s degree in Public Health and becoming a Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. My portfolio covers the wider determinants of health, community development and resilience; for the past 2 years I have lead on Health and Housing and commissioned a Healthy homes program. As part of my role as Research Fellow for the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and part of Collaboration of Leadership and Health Research Centre (CLAHRC) I have been leading on identifying health and wellbeing priorities for Local Authorises in Yorkshire and Humber. My professional interests include; fuel poverty, cold homes, community centred approaches and health inequalities. I am an extremely passionate person who believes health inequalities are unjust and that by working with our communities we can improve lives.

I have been in post since February and my role as Project Manager will include overseeing the community offer from Well Doncaster as we apply our learning from Denaby to support a number of different community led programs strands these include community engagement, building community resilience, linking community and universal services, responding to identified gaps and evaluating the success of what we’re doing.  Well Doncaster will also look to be the key enabler to ensure that the third sector has a seat at the table.

As you can see there is a lot to be getting on with so and so on the 21^st February, the Well Doncaster team had an away day at Cusworth Hall- a local stately home- to get to know each other better and to finalise an operation plan to drive the work forward. We got lot done and are eager to keep up momentum so we can support real change in our communities.

Beautiful view of Cusworth Hall

The team took a break and enjoyed a walk around the grounds at Cusworth Hall

Hard at work talking all things Well Doncaster

Watch this space for more updates and please get in touch with the team- we would love to hear your comments.

Vanessa