We recently had our first ever in-person team day for delivery and research partners at The Body Happy Organisation. Here’s a little behind-the-scenes of what we got up to…

Thanks to generous support from York St John University’s London campus we were able to come together for a day of connection and collaboration, marking an important milestone in The Body Happy Organisation’s current strategy phase, ahead of the launch of The Body Happy Schools Programme in September.

*Team Body Happy Org together in person!*

The day involved team workshopping, an opportunity for everyone to experience elements of The Body Happy Schools Programme themselves, and a space to connect over our organisation’s mission to help children and young people celebrate, respect and accept ALL bodies - especially their own.

We had an introduction to Reflective Practice with health psychologist Olivia Palmer, who’ll be leading this regular support for our delivery team once the programme launches. This gave us an opportunity to practice group contracting in action with our facilitators and research partners alike, which is an important element of both our peer advocacy programme, schemes of work and the new digital workshop for Years five and six.

The day also included an introduction to our research goals, led by Dr Kamila Irvine, with a workshopping activity for facilitators and researchers to share ideas on impactful research and co-design which will inform our research and policy impact strategy.

The purpose of this day, was to allow the everyone from the Body Happy Organisation to have the chance to connect, clarify and co-create. We work in a challenging space, so creating community and a supportive culture within our team is both an act of individual and organisational self-care.

As well as the collaborative workshopping activities, the day gave us an opportunity to ensure clarity of our mission, delving into our Theory of Change (this will be front and centre in our website redesign soon!) and how it aligns with the Waters of Systems Change framework.

We also heard from facilitator Laura Robbins who’s been leading delivery in one of our two pilot schools, and explored how youth-led advocacy is at the heart of The Body Happy Schools Programme.

And, of course, there was delicious food, kindly provided by the team at York St John University’s London campus!

*Lunch break, and another opportunity to connect!*

We’ve been, and continue to be, incredibly busy behind the scenes building this next phase of our mission. But this day was a brilliant opportunity to pause, connect and clarify our work.

Special thanks to York St John University’s London campus team and Dr Garcia Ashdown-Franks (who’s both in our delivery and research team) for organising this special day!

Behind the Scenes from our First Ever In-Person Team Day