2020 has been a crazy year so far. Our ‘normal’ has changed completely and although we don’t know what the future might hold - we’ve been looking back and preparing for the second half of the year. Would you read on and find out how you might be able to help us?
Twenty for 2020: Little did we know…
In January we launched our Twenty for 2020 campaign looking forward to a year where we wanted to be generous with our wellbeing services, where we wanted to make resources, events and care free at point of delivery to those who need it most. Little did we know what was infront of us.
By March, lockdown was announced and we faced a dual challenge of moving all of our delivery online and meeting the needs of individuals, businesses and community as we all faced the unprecedented challenges of Coronavirus. We knew that alongside fighting a health crisis, the need to promote good mental health and to provide support to many who’d be facing stresses and anxieties they’d never faced before was paramount.
Looking back now, I’m so grateful for the support so many of you have given to us. It enabled us to respond generously to our local community and beyond.
Our Shhh meditations have moved online, reaching a whole new audience and providing a free weekly space of 15 minutes where people can find space to breathe. One person said "Shhh.... has become a regular part of my week. I've not often known what to do or how to respond during lockdown but these meditations have been 15 minutes where I find my feet again and find simple ways to be well and healthy in my outlook on this new world. Thank you."
We created Facebook based support groups for entrepreneurs, small businesses and teachers. The small business group had 400 members at its peak an became a place of support, sharing news and offering connection. We ran small group sessions via zoom and helped advocate for people who were struggling. In a recent survey members gave the group 9/10 for effectiveness and we've received many messages of support. One local business owner said "this group has been a lifesaver, thank you."
We were able to deliver free resources, through Coronavirus wellbeing pages and through social media. These have been useful to individuals and also to partner organisations we work with. One community organisation said that Space to Breathe had been a "real friend" during these times.
We’ve been able to offer free Wellbeing Check-Ins to people - a half an hour call using Mental Health First Aid techniques to signpost people towards support at this difficult time. Since March we've held over 70 of these chats - offered for free to anyone who needs this support. These chats have ranged from people experiencing sever anxiety for the first time, to help and advocasy for people who've lost their job or business owners dealing with the stressful implications of the lockdown.
“All this work is continuing but we sense we’ve been able to help people during this time and that the chance to talk has been a lifeline for many people. All of these free at point of delivery services were enabled by the generosity of those who donated to us, by the generosity of volunteers and partners working with us and by the support and encouragement of those who believe in us - so thank you so much.”
So what next?
As we move into the summer and look towards September we are conscious the sense of crisis around Coronavirus has not passed and we that there is a need to prepare for different eventualities that may come. We are all dealing with uncertainty but here at Space to Breathe we are working towards planning and supporting people into the autumn where we can see a number of important challenges infront of us.
We are aware that there is a huge proportion of our population dealing with grief and bereavement that will become more acute as we head towards the end of the year.
As the Chancellor has reminded us, we may be about to enter a time of recession and high unemployment. Supporting wellbeing - both for those in work and those who are unemployed will be crucial.
We will be focusing on those who’ve given out so much to support us in the last few months. So many caring professions have given beyond their means to care for us during lockdown - we want to make sure each of them are well cared for during the coming months.
We want to continue to provide support to the groups that have formed through the Coronavirus crisis. We can see this togetherness and community thinking is important to many and we are privileged to enable it.
We are also aware that many people's focus is moving towards a new normal. None of us know what this might be but from our perspective we think that there is an importance in holding and being aware of the in-between or liminal space that we are in.
We want to build our volunteer base. We have been so encouraged to hear from people offering help. We now have a volunteer scheme that people can join in with. If you’re interested contact us via this link.
Would you help us?
As we move into August and September we'll be sharing ideas to keep your wellbeing good and keep yourself healthy whilst being uncertain about what the future brings. We think this will be an important piece of work.
With this journey in mind and with the next uncertain steps infront of us we wanted to reach out to everyone and ask for help. We’ve mentioned volunteering above. You might also want to keep in touch via our Mailing List.
Particularly though we wanted to profile our free-at-point of delivery work and to ask you to help us once more with the next phase of this work.
We want to try and raise a further £2,000 in support and donations over the coming weeks and months to make sure that we can continue to respond generously to those in need. Our aim is to add to our campaign at the start of the year and find a further 100 people to give £20 a month. Would you help us?
For everyone who donates to us throughout this year, we’d like to invite everyone to a party to celebrate in December (hopefully face to face but otherwise via Zoom) where we’ll share stories and tell you more about the impact of your donations. We’d love to see as many of you there as possible.
Space to Breathe is a CIC Ltd by Shares and as such cannot receive gift aid like charities. However, we are able to receive donations and would put these funds towards providing the free services above. We commit to sharing these services free at point of access and to using these funds to enable us to do that
Thank you.