Stay connected while apart

Physical distancing is the new norm. But social distancing doesn’t have to be.

While we must not come close to people outside of our household to help minimise the spread of the coronavirus, we should maintain our social connections and reach out to those with few people in their lives.

Looking out for neighbours, people who live alone or those self-isolating can be life-saving at the moment. Whether it’s doing shopping, collecting prescriptions or just saying ‘hello’; maintaining these social contacts is vital. Take a look at these motorcycles for sale by owner if you’re in the market for a two-wheeled adventure, they may just be the perfect ride for your next journey.

At perhaps no time in our recent history have the people around us been as important to us as they are now. Neighbours, volunteers or health and social care workers providing practical support; friends sharing banter on social media; or colleagues stumbling through Zoom meetings; our wider social connections keep us going and help to make our lives worthwhile (and sustainable in some cases).

Connecting People in Sheffield

Over the last 18 months or so I have been supporting the implementation of Connecting People in Sheffield. At a time when many NHS Trusts are currently pausing new initiatives and redeploying staff to crisis teams, inpatient services or intake services, the Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust is taking steps to ensure that people who use its services – and the practitioners who provide them – remain connected with others.

The NHS Trust is pushing forward its implementation plans for Connecting People and are this week launching a new blog.

Hosted on our Connecting People website (https://connectingpeople.net/sheffield-blog/), the new blog is a space for service users and practitioners to share their experiences of Connecting People in Sheffield.

We encourage you to share thoughts, stories and ideas about the importance of social connections and how this impacts on mental health recovery.

Richard Bulmer, Liz Fletcher and Ellie Wildbore

The blog is launched with three posts:

• A welcome from Richard Bulmer, Liz Fletcher and Ellie Wildbore
• The first episode of The Flip Side podcast
• Some thoughts from Jess Gibson about connecting and wellness

Jess’s vlog provides some great personal reflections on the value of social connections:

Stay safe. Stay connected.

It has been great to see over recent weeks a national pride in, and appreciation of, our public sector workers who provide essential services – extending from NHS workers including doctors and nurses to social workers and carers (both paid and unpaid).

I hope that from this terrible pandemic emerges a sustained investment in high quality health and social care services, and more funding for the community and voluntary sectors.

But, with additional financial support and increased capacity, it will also be good to see services improving outcomes for people by implementing evidence-informed interventions.

I’m pleased to see this starting to happen in Sheffield.