Continuing to provide meaningful activity during the pandemic

Tony Crowther of activity-led provider City Care Partnership talks to us about how the organisation adapted to continue to provide meaningful activities for people who draw on care and support during the pandemic, and reflects on their achievements.

Can you tell us about the type of activity provision which City Care Partnership offers the people they support?

City Care is an activities-led organisation which believes in people having a wide and interesting choice of activities. We create a number of activities in-house and use active support models to support people in enjoying the vast range of activities available in Manchester and the surrounding areas. We find that a wide selection of individual and group activities help to build social, physical and mental benefits for everyone. We have a passion for the outdoors and enjoy hiking twice a week, we also enjoy creating music, dancing and performing arts, and we create a fantastic festival every year. The people we support have diverse and wide ranging interests, passions, and hobbies which we proactively support.

What were the key ways in which COVID-19 impacted your activity provision?

It was incredibly difficult, especially in those early lockdown stages for us all to handle the extent of the situation. Activities are a major factor in the social lives of those we support and in the active support roles of the staff. As an organisation we’re extremely active and enjoy being together in groups, whether that’s on our twice-weekly hikes or at our music and performance sessions, or any activity where we can get together and share the experience.

Remaining indoors, avoiding group situations, and not meeting anyone outside of one house or service created major challenges for everyone. It was the total antithesis of what City Care Parternship stood for and we were extremely concerned how everyone would cope, especially with the aspects of isolation.

How did you adapt during the pandemic to continue to provide activities to the people you support?

We realised quickly that we would have to adapt rapidly to the new situation, be inventive and try everything imaginable to combat the isolating nature of the situation. We created a WhatsApp group for everyone to access, to share their thoughts and feelings and as a means of remaining connected.

This meant, for example, when we sent out weekly craft packs for everyone to complete in-house, they could share the results with images and video and still celebrate and enjoy each other’s achievements. We used Zoom and other technology to reinforce the group with regular drop-in sessions where people could just meet and chat, and to host regular themed quizzes and game shows.

We quickly realised that there was a huge reassurance for us all in being able to meet and do a game show. Laughing together in this difficult time was such a relief, I think it helped us all realise that our friendships and community would endure.

After the first year we even managed to hold our ComicCon festival whilst meeting all the regulations and requirements of the time. It was an incredibly complex arrangement, with everyone masked, social distancing and one-way routes on place. It felt very limiting for this normally joyous event and we were concerned that it would heighten people’s frustrations, but looking back, the relief to be active and together again enjoying creating an event and being part of it was palpable.

Is there anything that was introduced during this time that you’ll keep in place?

The use of voice messages, video and Zoom meant that our group was inclusive and accessible for all, we even found that this helped create a real sense of community and created opportunities for some who had previously struggled with activities like arts and crafts in a ‘live’ setting, so we have retained some of these methods today to be more accessible. We’ve also maintained the sharing of photos and messages as an enjoyable way of sharing day-to-day lives and experiences.

What’s your plan for managing activity provision over the next year?

We have major plans for the next year, starting with creating a ComicCon Jubille festival in June. This will be our first full festival post COVID-19, and we intend to enjoy creating a fantastic event with games, stall, live music and performances. Maintaining covid protocols and having limited access to families and friends was one of the hardest aspects of the situation, and we’re all looking forward to creating and sharing a festival with friends, families and the local community once again. We are also looking to restart rehearsals for a multimedia dramatic performance we’ve created called ‘Our Alice’.

The enjoyment of arts and crafts during lockdown has led us to expand our team and we recently recruited a person we support to work as Activities Lead in this area following her dedication and creativity during lockdown. The people we support have many individual plans for new activities and interests and it should be a year of renewed hope and energy.

Do staff feel proud of how they’ve innovated during this time and what would managers like to say to them?

The staff are justifiably proud of how they adapted and innovated during this unprecedented situation. I personally don’t think they still realise what an absolutely incredible response it was. At a time when other similarly paid workers were furloughed or working from home, they not only came to work, but thrived under intense pressure. I think our managers would stand and applaud the sheer spirit, dedication and camaraderie they displayed for each other and those we support, which was genuinely staggering. I remember at the start of this thinking, ‘what if they don’t come to work? What if the justifiable fear of this pandemic keeps them away?’

But, if anything we had the opposite, with staff required to isolate begging to come back on shift, to provide the outstanding support and be part of the team.

We introduced a pay rise to thank the staff after year one and have just done the same again, taking pay rates above the real living wage foundation recommendations, which goes a small way to demonstrate how much we value their contribution. Basically, nobody knew what providing support during a pandemic looked like, or if it was possible, but our staff, and I’m sure all support staff, should look back on this situation with immense pride and satisfaction. They were incredible!

It was the positive response from the people we support, their resilience, humour and strength that was such a powerful force in difficult times and made the situation workable. Parity is a big part of our organisation and during this crisis we had a truly unified response, to support each other and to share the experience and grow together. There have been many amazing moments and a lot of positives to come out of this situation, which has only served to make us stronger and even more creative.

Find out more about achievements and innovations from the sector during the pandemic on our #CelebratingSocialCare spotlight.

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