Adapting to a new way of working hasn’t been easy for any of us, and it’s something that couldn’t have been made possible without the dedication of our amazing staff and volunteers. Initially, we redeployed some staff to other areas of the charity; others continue to do their job from home while many have continued to come in everyday doing the hard work they always do. We’ve made mistakes along the way but have learned to manage a 'new normal’ in how we’re operating.

We’ve increased our counselling resources to respond to an increase in demand with these sessions now being delivered by phone or video calls. Our groups are now meeting over Zoom and there have been new groups set up as a reaction to the crisis. We’ve assisted with the national wellbeing helpline and set up our own 'Hear for You’ line to help those struggling during the pandemic in Renfrewshire. Our crisis line, FIRST, is still fully operational and our work on social media is engaging our service users and the wider public. We are due to launch an updated web site shortly. We are working with colleagues in the HSCP's and local authorities to coordinate our activities. Look out for information details in Arabic, Urdu, Polish and French shortly.

Ironically, even though our staff haven’t been seeing much of each other in person, we’ve been working closely together more than ever.

We want to take the positives out of this difficult time we’re all going through, and one of these is a sense of people pulling together to help each other through the crisis. We’ve therefore incorporated ‘Kindness’ into all areas of our work over the last year and you’ll see evidence of this by visiting our social media pages below.

Take Care

Stephen McLellan,
Chief Executive