Our day opportunities service will be opening its doors on 21st June and welcoming back customers who have been unable to attend since March 2020. Over the past months there have been three bubbles of people accessing the building and using the facilities such as art, computers, Makaton sessions and music. We are delighted that we will soon be able to provide a full timetable of activities with restrictions lifted and bring back popular interests that keep people engaged, entertained and educated. We will obviously take the lead from Warwickshire County Council and the Government as to how we provide safety within our service and adapt to these new developments. Our staff continue to wear masks at this time and the service operates with social distancing in place.
At present there are two bubbles of five people attending our service from Monday to Thursday who access half the building at a time. Our largest room the Clover Room gives people space and a community to get involved in activities with. The rest of the building is used by the second group and includes the computer and art rooms and the kitchen. They then swap. On Fridays after a deep clean the building is then used by people from Kings and Queens Court who need a communal area. Having this opportunity to spend time together this way has helped them to build strong bonds with each other and cope with the uncertainty together. These activities included preparing and delivering donations from Asda, Tesco, Lidl and Aldi to our other services and group activities such as batch cooking.
Our services where people have a home with us have been adapted to use the skills of our staff from Community Choices Network. Gateway Court, Poppy Place, Vicarage Road and Richmond Court have all provided people with much needed activities. People who live in family homes and in the community who needed to attend our day opportunities service the most to help them cope with their mental health and wellbeing were invited to take part in our bubbles. When those people returned after many months they were cautious and inquisitive and therefore we adapted our approach to meet their needs. Times of arrival and leaving were staggered to help with social distancing and the groups were reassessed.
“It was heartbreaking when we closed our doors in March 2020. We reopened again in September and it has been a privilege to support people’s wellbeing during this incredibly difficult year. It has been challenging, however we have been able to offer people who need us the most a place where they can be themselves, be with others and continue to learn and grow. I am so pleased that we can now extend that support to all our customers going forward provided restrictions continue to lift.”