Summary
Can Do offer opportunities for fun, friendship and adventures for young people (10-18 years) with disabilities living in East Lothian. Our Youth Clubs meet twice weekly during school term time at our bases in North Berwick and Haddington, offering a varied programme of local activities.
What Can Do Youth Club did
Our Youth Clubs reopened their doors in May 2021 after a long 14 months online. The clubs operated from North Berwick Community Centre (where we were classed as a priority group and given access one night per week) and Meadowpark school in Haddington.
Thirty five young people accessed Can Do Youth Club on a regular basis. The members all live within East Lothian and face social isolation as a result of their disability. They were supported by a team of five Youth Workers and eight youth volunteers. Thanks to funding from the Short Breaks Fund we were able to offer 24 weeks of youth club provision in 2021/22 from September 21 to March 22.
The Youth Club members enjoyed a variety of activities including park visits, team games, pizza making, arts & crafts, music and games, riverside walk, movie evening, board games, Lego building, Remembrance Day art, sparklers, hot chocolate evening, Halloween party, trip to the Fraser Centre cinema, Christmas makes and games and a summer festival.
What Can Do has learned
There are a number of challenges the charity has had to overcome to deliver face-to face services again. We are only now realising, that the impact of COVID-19 is having a longer lasting impact on the charity’s capacity to provide support than we had imagined:
Safety / Risk Assessment –Can Do are well adept at conducting Risk Assessments due to the complex needs of the young people we support. This year however our Risk Assessments took on a higher priority as our team had to work closely with our Trustees to navigate the restrictions and decide whether or not delivery could be offered without compromising the safety of the children, volunteers and staff in our care. At a time where, any kind of social mixing could have a direct impact on individuals, their health, well being and that of their close families as well, there were times the decision on safe operations
was overwhelming. Our staff team had to make plans, back up plans, last minute plans and cancel plans all at short notice as the restrictions changed and evolved.
Access to support – We have faced many hurdles in securing the resources required to allow us to operate our services safety within COVID safe guidelines. Our staff and volunteers were deemed ineligible at the start of the year for vaccination despite meeting
the criteria for health and social care workers, providing hand on, 1-1 support with mediation, personal care and feeding. This meant we were asking people to provide support without being able to offer protection to themselves or the young people they were working with. Coupled with this, we came into difficulty obtaining Lateral Flow Testing kits, using the system set up through the Care Inspectorate to support registered services. Thankfully with a lot of hard work from our Trustees and staff, these issues were resolved before the summer Playschemes, and we were able to offer additional protection for those providing support.
Loss of experienced staff/volunteers – During the pandemic, staff working in vulnerable settings such as schools, care homes, children’s centres, and respite bases, were discouraged from taking on additional work, due to concerns of cross contamination between mixed settings, therefore increasing likely exposure to the virus. This meant that many of our sessional staff team, were not available to provide support leading to a huge skills shortage. Sadly, coupled with a lack of opportunities to promote our volunteering opportunities, we have found ourselves with a skeleton pool of experienced workers, which hinders our opportunities for recovery moving forward.
Despite the challenges we are extremely proud to have been able to provide support to children and families during the most difficult of times. The need for the support and opportunities Can Do provides has never been more apparent, and we are thankful to our supporters for standing by us as we developed new ways of working. The impact of the Pandemic will be present for some time yet, but we look forward to a more ‘normal’ year ahead, rebuilding our services to provide a high level of support to East Lothian children and families.
How Can Do has benefitted from the funding
Our Better Breaks Funding has allowed us to provide vital support at a time where it was desperately needed by vulnerable children and families. We have been able to reaffirm links with our local community and begin to rebuild our charity with the support of the fund, following the pandemic. The support and flexibility of the Better Breaks Fund has allowed us to meet the needs of individual children and families, and to really focus on the best outcomes for those we support.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
Our Can Do youth clubs will be running twice weekly at full capacity. Offering 50 children and young people the chance to socially interact with peers, try out new activities, have their voices heard on what activities they want to take part in. They will be included and part of a club.
Results
This outcome was partially achieved.
We have been able to reopen our Youth Clubs to run twice weekly during school term time, offering a vast array of social activities for our members.
Due to the COVID regulations, are clubs operated with lower attendance levels (maximum of 30 people in the setting at one time) to accommodate social distancing, and meet the COVID-19 Youth Work Regulations. We hope to rebuild our service to operate at maximum capacity, one it is safe to do so.
Case study
When our clubs first re-opened in May 2021, many of members had been shielding for over 14 months. They were home schooled, or attending provisions in a reduced capacity, regularly identified as close contacts and extremely vulnerable as a result of their complex additional needs. The Scottish Government Statistics and media reporting made members and families increasingly anxious about attending settings where group socialising took place. The social isolation they already experienced as a result of their disability, was even more apparent. While the rest of the county was enjoying socialising again, this brought a new level of worry and anxiety to many of our families. Through our existing relationships, we were able to work with families, to build up their confidence in accessing resources again. This involved having extensive COVID risk assessments and procedures in place to limit potential exposure, enhancing our cleaning regimes, limiting attendance numbers to accommodate social distancing, and increasing our transport provision to allow safe spacing and appropriate ventilation. Our staff and volunteers undertook regular testing and vaccination. At the end of the funded period, all our existing members were regularly attending their weekly provision again. The transparency of our procedures, compliance with government guidance and relationships build up with parents and members throughout the lockdown periods, allowed us to support members to increase their social circles once again. This has been a huge boost to the wellbeing and outlook of the entire family unit.
Outcome
Carers will benefit with having time out with their caring role. Carers will have time to interact and engage with family, friends etc. Carers will have time to reset and take part in a hobby they enjoy or just enjoy the respite youth club is offering.
Results
This outcome was achieved.
Thirty Five families (56 carers) received 4 hours per week of regular planned respite for 24 weeks during the school term time. Granting them time away from their caring role on a regular basis.
Case study
Parents/Carers have reported the positive impact attending Youth Club has had on the siblings of our members following the easing of lockdown restrictions. Whilst shielding, the opportunities for non-disabled siblings to socialise or participate in extra-curricular activities were severely limited. Families were not able to take any chances of the virus entering their homes, therefore the social isolation of families as a unit increased enormously. The regular respite offered by our Youth Club provision, has allowed families to spend some quality time with siblings out of the family home, and support them to rebuild their confidence and connections within their own peer groups again. It allows a weekly period where the needs of siblings can come first, which helps to refresh family dynamics and improve relationships and wellbeing of the unit as a whole.
Outcome
Parents and families will have improved wellbeing knowing that they have a regular short break from their caring routine. This should help to improve their own health and wellbeing which in turn helps to sustain their caring routine.
Results
This outcome was achieved.
Thirty Five families (56 carers) received 4 hours per week of regular planned respite for 24 weeks during the school term time. Granting them time away from their caring role on a regular basis.
Case study
Parents/Carers have been able to re-engage in their own hobbies following the easing of the restrictions. They have 4 hours each week, where they can undertake recreational activities for their own health & well-being, allowing them to take a break from their caring role, extend their support network, and enjoy something different boosting their self-worth and fulfilment.
Outcome
The child or young person will be enjoying their weekly youth club and the parent/carer will have reduced stress or worries.
Results
This outcome was achieved.
The weekly attendance of our members, indicated that the mitigations put in place were sufficient to ease parents/carers worries about mixed settings and ease their anxieties about re-engaging with their communities following the pandemic.
Case study
Parents reported seeing a marked improvement in their child's sleeping patterns, reduced levels of anxiety and a vast improvement in their general level of happiness as a result of being attending our Youth Club provisions. The impact of social interactions is vividly apparent, and reaches further than the initial face-to-face interactions on offer. These benefits have a knock-on impact on all family members, reducing stress and worries.