Belonging and Connection

At first it was impossible to get flour. When I got some I felt like applying to Bake Off. People were uploading their bread photos to Instagram and it helped me feel connected

“I worked as an Approved Mental Health Professional enabling in-person skilled Mental Health Act intervention. I wore personal protective equipment to protect others - and myself. I really felt part of a team of professionals helping people with mental health difficulties (and their relatives) keep safely connected with what mattered to them.”

“The photo is of the much-loved Coade stone statue of Neptune, dating from 1776, and sometimes referred to as a druid or as Moses, showing support during the 2020 lockdown in Chichester”

Belonging and Connection

Overnight everything went online. Prior to the first lockdown, I had never heard of Teams but Zoom, Teams and Skype became the new kids on the block! I had to learn fast and I did but I was always confused! Every individual seemed to have their own preference for means of communication and I did my best to respond but constantly felt a bit concerned that I was never a smooth operator! The unthinkable happened and Form F fostering assessments took place entirely online in order that assessments could continue to take place. At points it wasn’t easy – sensing a personal issue that needed to be explored but not feeling as sure as if I was in the room – but at the same time it was all possible. I live in West Sussex and assessed two new carers in Cornwall!

Hi - I have put these images in for all the categories as they show how we quickly managed to adapt to the changes. At work and at home I was aware of things like discarded masks and all the signs - my grandchildren and the little ones I work with growing up in this strange new world of social distance and hand cleaning!

At the beginning of the pandemic when there was a big bulk buying of toilet rolls I took some round for people I was working with. I honestly felt like a proper social worker - that is what direct intervention looks like 0:

During lockdown I had the time to catch up on series that I had always heard about and not watched. Although it was hard being away from people at times watching Killing Eve and Peaky Blinders made me feel part of something and connected to friends and family

There was so little excitement in lockdown that packages arriving started to become the most exciting thing to break up work all week. However we started to quarantine the packages for a few days when they arrived due to fear of catching covid.

Chats with the delivery man. I was able to get a slot because I have physical needs which put me in the shielding category and to some extent I am still shielding now. I dont think there has been enough about us shielders in the press and also about how frightening the deaths still feel now nobody is wearing masks anymore but chats with the delivery man helped me to feel connected and we have built up a real connection

I think this photo speaks for itself without any words added

The vaccine programme made me feel proud. It has become popular to have a sense of national shame and to be embarrassed about our country but the development of the vaccine was a proud national moment and we were giving back to the rest of the world. I could not understand why people would not have the vaccine. I could not wait to have mine. I had no real ill effects and I felt the connection very much in all the people who were volunteering their time to get the vaccine programme going and to keep it going. I wish that social workers could benefit from some of the goodwill that was given to the NHS.

Early into lockdown my wonderful Mother-in-Law (Pamela) and I availed of online meditation meetings to stay connected, and to contribute to sending a collective sense of belonging out into the world for others at a time when we needed to be more physically apart. I would see her pop up in the message box to wish everyone good morning. I would smile to know she was there with me, that we couldn’t be, in those moments, kept apart. We particularly enjoyed and benefitted from the Tea Meditations on a Friday morning hosted by the Tara Centre in Lancaster (https://www.taracentrelancaster.org.uk/ ) and the most wonderful Buddhist Monk Jitei. We both loved tea, time to think, calm and peace. Those 33 weeks of connecting experiences continue to ground my sense of belonging and my connection to her now that she has had to leave this physical world behind. Whilst people often describe the offline as real and the online as somehow not so real – each one of those experiences and interactions were completely real, close and in no way did we feel apart.