Meet Helen Fisher, your vice-chair of the Leadership Committee
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I’ve worked in Hampshire & Isle of Wight for 25 years in a variety of roles, all focused on creating opportunities for our local communities. Some of the clubs for young people I established early on in my career are still going today, being run by amazing, committed volunteers providing active, social spaces for our young people to thrive in. Currently, I am Head of Health & Strategy at Energise Me, a charity that’s working hard to make it easier for everyone to move more. This role brings me into contact with so many brilliant people, all doing their bit to create happier, healthier communities. I’m also a mum to 2 children, love exploring the outdoors and trying new experiences and have recently developed a new love for Clubbercise – dancing in the dark with glow sticks to 90s music! No-one can see when you go wrong!
What are you passionate about?
Our systems work well for some but often not for the ones that need it most. If collectively, our mission is to create happier, healthier communities by providing support and opportunities in our local communities, I am passionate that the starting point to achieving this is to speak to our local communities to find out what needs to change. In the past few months, I’ve spent time with a variety of community groups across Hampshire & IOW including the Nepalese community in Aldershot, a Parkinsons group in East Hampshire and a group of young people in Millbrook, committed to making changes in their local community. They told me what needs to change in their local system to help them live healthier lives. We need to find ways to take these voices into local policy and decision making.
Why did you want to be on the HIVCA leadership committee?
Through my work with the health system in my role at Energise Me, I can see first hand the value the VCSE sector can have to the health and wellbeing of our communities. I can see the willingness from people working in both sectors to find ways to do things better together but that we don’t yet have some of the systems in place to enable this meaningful engagement to take place. I believe that’s the opportunity that HIVCA brings and what I am most committed to as a leadership committee member.
