In Portsmouth, the local Headway has had a difficult time in recent months. Two service users have died from Covid-19, and another has been sectioned and taken to a secure facility after their mental health took a downturn.
There’s been a huge spike in mental health problems, and a few service users, who wouldn’t have done so under normal circumstances, have got in trouble with the police.
Most service users are gradually building their contact with the outside world again, with Headway’s help.
When lockdown began in March, service manager Deborah Robinson decided the best course of action was to identify the most vulnerable users and make sure she and her team maintained regular contact with them. The next challenge was gradually exposing them to more contact as restrictions began to ease.
“We regard it as a graduation – first is phone contact, then sitting in the garden with them, then inviting them on a walk once they’ve got confident enough to come out of their homes with us, then eventually we’ll suggest they come to a session with the group,” she says.
“Some people are too frail or anxious, so they won’t come out,” she says, “So we’ll have to carry on popping in to see them.”
This approach has proven particularly helpful in some ways, Robinson says. Before the virus, staff members hoped service users would speak up in sessions when they had a problem, but visiting people at home has allowed staff and volunteers to pick up on issues faster and get to know them better.
“One staff member met a service user in his garden, and noticed that the recycling bin was overflowing with alcohol. We knew he’d been a drinker in the past, so the staff member talked to him about his drinking, teasing information out,” Robinson says.
“He said he was drinking a lot, so we’ve been able to put in place goals to help him cut down on his drinking and put him in touch with AA, as well as various other things to help with a problem that reared its head in lockdown.”
Employees and volunteers, she adds, are also getting better at texting group members and touching base.
“It’s a mix of phoning people regularly and picking up the ones where there are issues. We’re getting more adept at that because it wasn’t something we did, and we’ve also picked up almost everyone’s carers because we’ve been talking to them to hear their concerns, too.”
Forty miles west in Salisbury, Headway arranged Zoom groups every week, but recognised that this option wasn’t suited to everyone.
“We were conscious to get actual face-to-face contact again, so as the guidelines have changed, we’ve thought about how we can work with that,” says Sarah Allen, service manager.
In recent weeks, online groups have continued, but staff members have started arranging small group meet-ups in various locations, including the outdoor café at Salisbury Museum, which Allen says provided a good learning opportunity.
One of Robinson’s major concerns in Portsmouth is how service users will react when they see other people not wearing masks or standing too close, and are told they have to adhere to guidelines themselves.
Allen, however, hopes meeting up in public places will help service users slowly accustom to these new ways of life.
“Some people coming to the groups haven’t been outside during the pandemic because all their activities have stopped, so it’s really important to model social distancing and hygiene behaviours,” Allen says.
“Somewhere like an outdoor café has been really useful because it’s about giving group members social contact in a setting where they can see people all around them modelling social distancing, staff wearing face masks and putting on hand sanitiser,” she says. “Then, when group members do go out and about more, it’ll be more familiar for them.”
In recent weeks, groups in Salisbury have also met up in a park, where they were able to socially distance.
Allen says coming out of lockdown and resuming services has been a learning curve for her, and she is realising that it’s sometimes more beneficial to have smaller groups than the maximum allowed by government guidelines.
She knows she will have to continue to adapt in unknown ways as government guidelines change.
But the future remains uncertain. Headway Salisbury doesn’t have its own centre, so rents community rooms to host sessions instead – and none have reopened yet. Allen plans on continuing outdoor activities for as long as possible, but is uncertain of what will happen as temperatures cool.
“Going into autumn and winter poses a new challenge,” she says. “I’m not sure how we’re going to meet if the government guidelines if the maximum number of people who can meet indoors stays the same,” she says.
Meanwhile in Portsmouth, premises have been locked up for the duration of lockdown. Robinson has seen an increase in demand for services, so as things resume back to pre-Covid 19, she says here’s a lot of thinking to be done about how the service is going to expand to accommodate increased need. She anticipates the service will need to expand by a third.
Both Portsmouth and Salisbury Headway services adapted quickly when the lockdown came in March. Adapting back to how things were before looks like it will be a longer, more difficult path – but while Allen and Robinson have faced slightly different challenges over the last few months, there’s no doubt they’ve both found silver linings in the challenges thrown at them so far.
