As another lockdown looms and is highly likely to be agreed in parliament today, our Home-Start is reflecting on what this means for our families and for us as a charity.
Following the government briefing on Saturday, we have made the difficult decision to pull our group work back into the virtual space and maintain only remote contact with outdoor support where it is most needed. After an upturn in the figures locally and a recent outbreak in our office, we have moved quickly to implement these changes from Monday, not waiting for Thursday’s deadline.
The impact of a further period of isolation has already sent shockwaves throughout our families. Our Postnatal Depression Peer Support Group has been particularly hard hit. Many of these mothers have had babies in lockdown and their experiences still affect them and their families to this day. The prospect of another lockdown has brought all those experiences back to the surface. The virtual groups are a substitute for contact with others but when mental health is concerned, face-to-face contact is what these mothers really want and need. In our Family Groups, we see the stresses and strains of financial hardship affecting the well-being of families, many of whom depend on part-time retail work to keep their families afloat. Reassurance from our team of staff and volunteers will be vital over the coming weeks, possibly months. A gentle reminder that schools are still open, parks are still available and you can still have support bubble if you are a single adult household. You got through it before and you will get through it again and we’ll be here right alongside you just 2m apart.
As a charity, one challenge is to keep up our own morale and take care of each other so we can take care of families. Regular contact and the odd humorous meme to break up the days are, we know, what works. We laugh and cry sometimes and we are not afraid to face the emotions we help families to share with us. When we meet we always ask “how are you feeling?” or “how are you coping?”. This week has been tough but as one of the team said “I’m taking one day at a time which is all I can do right now”. What better way to show families how to get through it, don’t despair at the whole lockdown but just take one day and be proud that you’ve made it.
The pandemic has also created some funding issues to our Home-Start with a big grant application on hold. Our usual fundraising Charity Ball has been pushed back indefinitely and has brought some creative challenges to our fundraising team. They have risen to this challenge with an online auction. The auction catalogue is being developed right now and will shortly be live before the auction starts between Thursday 19th November and Sunday 22nd November. You can find out more here: https://home-startwestberks.org.uk/home-start-west-berkshires-first-online-auction/ and sign up to find out more.