Blog: What's been happening with our Stronger Families Inside Out programme?
As for all organisations nationwide, from 18th March 2020 we had to adapt to changing restrictions. With suspension of face to face prison visits and the country going into national lockdown, our Stronger Families Inside Out delivery had to quickly change. As a population, families affected by imprisonment can regularly find themselves subject to stigma and feeling isolated – which has only been magnified by this pandemic with the suspension of many services.
Thanks to Children in Need, we’ve been in the fortunate position where we’ve had funding available for a continuation of support services. We began to create new methods of delivery to bring families together and help maintain relationships (even if not able to be in person).
This started with the creation of ‘Home Activity Booklets’ containing a range of activities to try out using household materials and including free to access educational materials (to mix up the home schooling!) and wellbeing tips.
The activity booklets were then adapted to be suitable for families and imprisoned parents all over Scotland, containing activities that could be completed/discussed with their children over telephone/virtual visit whilst unable to see them in person.
In partnership with Families Outside, a variety of online classes were offered to participants of our Club 10 peer support group, including: yoga, reading activities with author Mike Nicholson, fun fitness classes and music workshops.
Whilst being unable to meet in person has been a challenge and presented new barriers, the provision of an online platform has meant families from all over Scotland are now able to come together, meet and have a safe open space.
Food Vouchers
With everyone being home more, bills rising and remaining support services under strain – the Denis Law Legacy Trust also raised funds during lockdown for dedicated food vouchers to ensure the families in Aberdeen city who required them still had access to food. These vouchers helped 66 people from May to August 2020.
‘A family bereavement has meant funeral costs left us unable to buy food, these have allowed us to’
‘That would be great, our gas and electric has been much more with being home so that will help.’
‘We really appreciate them, they’ve been a big help’
Club 10
With suspension of face to face group work, our Club 10 peer support group have been unable to see one another in person since March. However, during lockdown and with restrictions still in place, we wanted to make sure families knew that help was still available. After some discussion to make sure we chose the right platform, in April 2020 we held our 1st Virtual Club 10. This has been a monthly occurrence since and is still running at present. Numbers have steadily increased and we’ve been able to chat, share news and have fun together.
From August, we sent out ‘Activity Packs’ for Club 10. These contained materials for new activities and our first to try were baking and ‘animal bingo’. The group baked ‘Unicorn Crispy Slices’ which looked brilliant! We all did this together on Zoom, helping one another as we went along. Since then, we have designed t-shirts, made origami and decorated/carved pumpkins.
o “R really enjoyed it and is looking forward to next time”
o “A enjoys getting to see the group”
o “Even though we’re not able to meet in person, the couple hours at the end of the month are fun and a distraction’”
