Shrewsbury Town in the Community have adapted to the current social distancing measures providing brand new services to allow them to continue engaging participants with support, resources, and new ways to connect with others from their own homes.
Almost all of the charity’s delivery has moved online in recent weeks, with sessions being streamed live into participants homes across Shropshire via Facebook and YouTube. Sessions have included virtual coffee mornings for over 55s, live PE sessions to keep kids at home active, and even French lessons led by Shrewsbury Town star and native speaker Romain Vincelot!
ShrewsAbility has continued to provide activities and resources for disabled participants, and every attempt has been made to make as many sessions as inclusive as possible by being tailored to meet the needs of a wide range of participants. The primary focus however has been around keeping the community within Shropshire engaged and entertained over the course of the current restrictions.
Meanwhile, other aspects of the charity have adapted with higher-education pupils now being mentored through online conference calls and virtual open day sessions to ensure that prospective students are still able to make the most informed choices about their future. NCS delivery will be moving online for Summer 2020 with a range of options for young people to get involved, and support is also being provided for the most vulnerable at this time, with participants who are at most risk receiving weekly phone-calls and check-ins from staff and the launch of a digital Head’s Up session with a fully trained mental health professional.
Jamie Edwards, CEO of Shrewsbury Town in the Community is proud of the way the team has adapted to the changes. “It has been a really difficult few weeks for all, but we are really proud of how the staff have adapted our programmes so quickly. Our primary focus when the lockdown was announced was to adapt quickly to ensure our most vulnerable participants continued to engage on a weekly basis. Over the coming weeks we plan to increase this engagement further as we find more innovative ways to deliver to our current participants and hopefully some new ones.
So far, the new ‘Shrews @ Home’ service has proved to be a great success, with over 250 subscribers receiving weekly updates with new resources, lessons and challenges.
Shrews @ Home is a completely free service which can be signed up for via this link – https://www.shrewsburytowninthecommunity.com/shrewsathome/
Shrewsbury Town in the Community is a charity organisation serving participants of all ages throughout Shropshire.
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