We hope you are all keeping well and are in good spirits.
We appreciate that many of you may be experiencing various personal challenges during this difficult period. So we wanted to ensure we keep in touch and take some time to update you on what we are doing to battle against Covid-19.
Enhanced Rapha Listening Service
As you many of you are aware, it isn’t just the direct impact of the virus that we must fight against. Many can be experiencing extreme isolation, anxiousness, loss of loved ones and more. As a result, our mental health is being severely tested.
In response to this, we have enhanced our Rapha Listening service to ensure we remain available to those who need us most. We have advertised spaces for more volunteers who will receive online training from Acorns this month and we have become fully equipped to provide this service via telephone.
If you know anyone who would benefit from the service (including yourself), you can request a listener via the ‘our services’ tab or just click here.
Keeping Connected
We are doing our utmost to stay connected with current guidelines, the news and, most importantly, each other. Here’s just a few of the things we have been doing to stay connected:
- Our staff are keeping up with current affairs to ensure we can advocate for the vulnerable and keep everyone informed with the latest information. Earlier this month, our Senior Doula, Jennie, joined an online meeting with guest speaker, Dame Sara Thornton – UK’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. Important discussions were had and questions were raised regarding closed registry offices resulting in the inability to register recent births and the impact this is having on access to child benefits.
- Our Senior Doula, Julia, hosted our first coffee morning via Zoom for our volunteers. It was a great success and we will continue the virtual coffee mornings throughout the lockdown period. Plans are also being made for a virtual edition of ‘Tea, Cake and Me’. We’ll keep you posted on when this will take place.
- Our Doulas have continued to deliver baby baskets to our service users whilst maintaining a safe distance. This is especially vital for some of our expectant mothers who do not currently have the means to collect items themselves.
Thanks to our Funders
We have been incredibly fortunate to have been granted emergency funding from Tesco, the Heart of England Community Foundation and NHS Birmingham and Solihull CCG . The funding has allowed us to provide vital training from Acorns for our volunteers. We have also purchased mobile phones for our service users who would otherwise have little means to contact us and credit top ups for our volunteers and staff who would also struggle to continue the excellent work they do.
