A big thanks to our team...

As a community, we haven't beaten Covid yet, but one thing this experience has shown us is the importance of being thankful. Particularly for your family, and those close to you who support you during the tough times.

We feel immensely grateful to all of our staff, their families, and the people we support for their amazing team effort during these past few months.

One group of people we have to acknowledge are our amazing support staff. In order to meet the restrictions of ‘bubble’ living during lockdown earlier this year, they willingly sacrificed weeks without their families in order to keep the people we support safe.

And they are just one of the many groups of people who went above and beyond during the lockdown period.

This year has been an unprecedented time for us all, but we didn’t want the lessons learnt from it to be lost. It was important to us to make sure that we grow from the experience and recognise the way that many stepped up during this period to keep others safe.

ABOVE: Axel and his ConneXu supporter, Chrissy, enjoy the sunshine at the beach during lockdown.

With this in mind, we recently completed a survey to all our people about our efforts during lockdown and had some excellent feedback which couldn’t have been achieved without everyone working together.

As an organisation supporting many individuals with disabilities to live their best lives, the logistical challenges of lockdown restrictions were certainly huge. As already mentioned, with the requirement to stay in small household bubbles, it meant a major re-think about how to provide the same level of support for people in their homes, when staff would normally go to their separate homes and families after a shift.

As soon as the lockdown was announced, the team launched into planning mode. The solution of a 7-day-on, 7-day-off roster system for support staff was introduced. In order to achieve this however, it meant that staff had to leave their families for a week at a time, and families, in turn, would be without their loved ones. It was a big sacrifice for the good of all the people we support and hugely appreciated. There is no doubt that our staff went above and beyond and we are extremely thankful for their efforts.

When the sun shone, the ladies at Kiteroa St. enjoyed a picnic.

ABOVE: Who needs a bakery when you can cook like this!? The guys at Chadwick Street enjoy home-made sausage rolls, and bacon and egg pie, during lockdown.

Other measures were also introduced to strengthen the system, including doubling staff to ensure extra support for everyone in the homes. Safe houses were set up, which were places for support people to have break times to ensure they were well-rested and fresh.

As part of the initial organisation process, we contacted individuals and their families to find out who would stay with ConneXu, and who would move to their family bubbles.

In cases where individuals were unable to stay with their families for the whole lockdown period, quarantine houses were also established. These provided a place for people to go for an interim period to ensure everyone was safe and healthy before they moved back into supported homes.

On the ground, staff who normally only worked within the office also pitched in, delivering essential resources like PPE and food into our homes to ensure that everyone had what they needed.

Community Facilitators shared ideas for activities, like games, drawing and puzzles, which was a big help to keep life interesting for all over such a sustained period within homes.

Technology - like Facebook, Zoom, Team and Survey Monkey - was key in ensuring effective communication channels and that individuals were able to stay in touch with their friends and families.

All up, it was a group effort and we are very proud and thankful to our amazing team, which even continued to grow during lockdown with more enquiries coming in.

To support individuals with disabilities to lead great lives, their way, is our goal and passion. However, if we can support great people with a great team, it makes it even more rewarding.

Take care and stay safe,

Fern and the ConneXu Team

ABOVE: As well as some relaxing time, Ben also enjoyed keeping busy during lockdown.