Supporting children and families during the pandemic and beyond

Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to ensure our Family Support services remain running to ensure families have everything they need for their child. Our family enquiries have shown more than ever the need for our services and to be creative and innovative in how we support. In our 28 years of service, we have never felt the need for our help and services so acutely.

Evie’s Mum Rachel told us about how they have had to adapt to life in lockdown:

“For us as a family, trying to replace all of Evie’s support methods is virtually impossible. Evie gets a lot from all the activities she does, so it really has been significant for Evie which is what prompted the hot tub.”

Teddy’s family have been able to access PR opportunities to help keep the momentum of his fundraising going for his next Innowalk. The need for this is fast approaching as he is almost outgrowing his current one:

“When Teddy is in his Innowalk, he’s happy and he gets the sensations and confidence that he is doing what other people can do and he’s also aware he’s doing something that really helps him, which gives him a real sense of achievement and confidence boost.”

Ryan was in hospital receiving rehabilitation, not long after his SDR procedure when COVID-19 struck so had to check out of hospital sooner than planned, which added a lot of extra stress on to an already stressful situation. Rehabilitation is a vital part of the procedure so Belinda and Ryan have had to get creative and find different ways of making therapy engaging during lockdown:

“We turn as many things as possible into a game so a lot of the time he doesn’t really realise that he’s doing his physio, a game of cards or snap, which involves Ryan reaching to pick cards up from afar is an exercise he has to do, so we think of ways to make things more fun.”

These are just a few examples out of the hundreds we have supported in many other ways and we are beyond grateful for all the support our emergency appeal has received since the end of March, to allow us to continue what we do for families.

As the world resumes to it’s new normal, our help is still vital as our families come out of shielding and are also making the necessary preparations for the possibility of a second spike in the winter months. Therefore, keeping up our support services to aid their fundraising campaigns, to help pay for interventions and vital equipment pieces, has never been more crucial.

The need for families to keep their campaigns going has been and will continue to be challenging with the restrictions; but we have to be thankful for the opportunities that the digital world provides. We have been able to continue our marketing through social media and CRM, to let families know we are still providing our support, in a digital dynamic, as whilst fundraising events in communities have seen such a huge fall, there are still opportunities out there for families to make use of and the campaigns we have been running, have provided some positive opportunities and have helped connect isolated families to their loved ones, friends and communities.

PR support is a valuable tool we continue to offer to our families as well to get help get their campaigns exposure both in their local areas and also in national publications which also helps to spread stories of positivity which has been welcomed, especially at the moment.

Our latest newsletter provides further detail and insightful case studies and positive partnerships about our work during the pandemic and how we continue to assist and support our families and the difference that we make to their lives and well being.

Click to read our latest newsletter