Staying positive and motivated in lockdown
Petra McCauley, our Head of Volunteering and Support Groups, explains how we’ve had to adapt to run our groups during the pandemic and how in doing so, we’ve been able to connect with our groups in a really positive way.
Our support groups are a lifeline for many of our beneficiaries. Run by our network of volunteers, the groups provide information and support to promote physical and mental wellbeing for people with long-term lung conditions. They give people the opportunity to meet socially, as well as offer vital support to their families and carers.
For many, they’re a really important part of being able to manage their lung condition.
Adapting to the challenges of lockdown
As for many organisations, the pandemic completely changed everything. Without the ability to run face-to-face meetings, we knew this was going to potentially be very isolating for our members, and their families and carers. We had to adapt to make sure we could support our volunteers through this really challenging time.
It was a huge learning curve adapting to online events. We’ve held both national and regional events, celebrating our volunteers, providing lots of information and resources, and offering the opportunity to connect with each other.
Keeping motivated and positive
The events also addressed wellbeing and gave people the opportunity to tell us how they were feeling. Despite doing so well to keep motivated and stay positive, it was clear that many of us were feeling isolated and starting to struggle.
We knew we needed to do more to help our volunteers and members feel motivated and boost their wellbeing, so Motivational Mondays and Feel Good Fridays were born! Offering sessions that was accessible to all of our members, such as chair Zumba, we saw a remarkable difference in mood and energy.
A silver lining
The benefits of Covid are few and far between but for us it’s been an amazing opportunity to get to know all of our volunteers and really connect with our groups. It’s been really inspiring to hear their ideas and the ways they’ve been supporting each other. As everything slowly opens up and groups begin to plan face-to-face meetings, we will continue with our online support for volunteers. The digital community that has come together through this pandemic has given us all hope, helped us through a difficult time, and developed trust and friendship.
Find out more about our support groups on our sister charity, British Lung Foundation’s website here.
Donate today and help do 3 amazing things
for people with asthma
Asthma UK’s mission is to stop asthma attacks and cure asthma. We do this by funding world leading research, campaigning for improved care and supporting people to reduce their risk of a potentially life-threatening asthma attack. Will you help us do all this and more