Aisha Peters is one of Hackney CVS’s Neighbourhoods Facilitators, covering Clissold Park and Hackney Downs.

Aisha, pictured above left, discusses her work and her role as a Neighbourhood Facilitator. 

Tell us about yourself

I am Aisha Peters. The work that I do is 100% community-based. I have a background as a coach for over twelve years, and I have studied Level two Counselling Skills and Level three Counselling Theory. 

I am the founder and CEO for Damali Beautiful Vision CIC. Damali Beautiful Vision CIC covers London – however, currently we are highly concentrated in Hackney and east London. I facilitate and lead the operations for the community interest company and I work as a Neighbourhood Facilitator for Hackney CVS, covering Neighbourhoods Clissold Park and Hackney Downs. 

What is your role as a Neighbourhood Facilitator?

As a Neighbourhood Facilitator, I do community engagement. I host local Neighbourhood Action Groups with residents, volunteer community services, statutory services and local councillors to come together to discuss health priorities. 

For example, looking at the type of services available for residents with diabetes and how the local neighbourhoods can connect and come together to support improvements, closing health inequality gaps. 

I also help to host Neighbourhood Forums where residents, Volunteer Community Services, local Councillors and Statutory Services can come together to learn new information about local health services, information services and or try a new activity if it is workshop-based.

Why is the Neighbourhoods Programme important?

I think that it is important to have the Neighbourhoods Programme because it helps to bring people together, it encourages collaboration, but more importantly, it helps to bridge the gap and hone in to discuss and support positive change to help decrease local disparity where health inequalities are concerned.

What do you like most about being a Neighbourhood Facilitator?

What I like most about being a Neighbourhood Facilitator is hearing when a local service was able to connect with someone new and being able to give the residents something of value when it comes to producing Action Groups and Forums. I like having discussions with residents about their health journeys and listening to the positive changes for them in their learning, finding new information and or by connecting with a new service.

I love seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces, from the residents, Volunteer Community Services, the local Councillors and Statutory Services when they are happy with the actions being taken and outcomes for Action Groups and Forum events.

What are some of the highlights from the Neighbourhood Programme thus far since starting in your role in 2024?

There are so many highlights! I will not be able to fit them all in, but; Meeting everyone at both Staff Meetings for Hackney Downs & Clissold Park in 2024. It was quite exciting to share who I am and what I do with everyone. Attending the Hackney CVS Awards ceremony and Damali Beautiful Vision CIC were nominated for two awards, attending The 32 Steps of Togetherness Conference, The Summer Wellbeing Summit at Mary Lloyd Centre, Hosting all of my Forums and getting such lovely feedback, being invited by Krista for Healthwatch and presenting at the Healthwatch Creative Wellbeing event, becoming a City & Hackney Community Health Champion, meeting and getting to know some really lovely people in Hackney. To be honest the list goes…

How does the ethos of Damali Beautiful Vision CIC align with Hackney CVS?

To simply put it, Damali Beautiful Vision CIC aligns with the Hackney CVS ethos of creating a Fairer Society.

Damali Beautiful Vision CIC are here to help close the gaps of mental and emotional health inequalities for black and global majority families and individuals who are navigating a sudden loss of a young child or young adult.

What Services do you provide from your community interest company and why?

The services that Damali Beautiful Vision CIC offer are Counselling, Cultural Therapy and Additional Support through our workshops; Reflect & Breathe, Reflect & Paint, Reflect & Move(Mondays) and Reflect & Move Qi-Gong.

We also provide online check-ins with Our Holding Space of Compassion, an online space, another online space called – What Does Cultural Appropriate Trauma Response Mean To You? funded by the Community Health Champions Network Fund. On occasion, we also have in-person Coffee/Tea meet-up sessions with opportunities to connect with like-minded people, we provide presentations and training for the local community, health and wellbeing professionals from the VCS and statutory service sector.

Last but not least, we also share valuable wellbeing information with our beneficiaries as part of our being Community Health Champions from the City and Hackney programme.

What is the backstory to Damali Beautiful Vision CIC’s creation and what do you hope to achieve?

Damali Beautiful Vision CIC has been created in honour of my youngest daughter Damali Peters who transitioned suddenly.

I didn’t receive any compassionate healthcare support that aligned with my cultural and or heritage needs. I was encouraged by a family friend to create a charity and years later I decided to do some training to start my journey as a counsellor and started to build what everyone now knows as Damali Beautiful Vision CIC.

We hope to give black and global majority families and individuals hope, our message is that we have a service here that will hold space for Families as a whole and individuals with compassion, unconditional positive regard and empathy. We want our beneficiaries to know and feel that their needs and wishes matter when it comes to their person-centred care and personal choice for navigating a sudden loss of a young child or young adult, whether they choose to go down the Counselling path, specific Cultural Therapy or using our additional services for their support. We are here to help close the gap when it comes to health inequalities.