sail autism suspended our Teen and Young Adult groups on 16th March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 virus.
In the last three months, we have developed a series of digital services to assist our young people.
On Facebook, a “challenges” page was created to post a range of activities, quizzes, chat and general silliness. This page has complimented groups already present on Facebook to encourage social contact between group members.
sail autism have also subscribed to Zoom Video Conferencing and have used this for several purposes.
Firstly, we have marked some of the young people’s birthdays by having video parties for them. These have proven to be quite successful.
We have had two family quizzes so far, with each family presenting 6 questions each for the other families to answer. Much fun was had by making up the questions and taking part in the quizz. It was very competitive.
A Zoom scavenger hunt had the young people diving all over the house to find items and undertake tasks.
Zoom has also been used to parent/carer catch-ups, offering much needed peer support.
Regular groups via Zoom has been difficult, as the young people don’t feel confident with the format/platform which doesn’t make up for the physical contact of our groups.
This being the case, around a third of our regular young people have felt able to access this type of service.
We will continue with these services while we await the return to providing groups at ARCH as the lockdown eases.
Telephone support is still available via the ARCH centre on 0344 225 1111