Understand what life is like for people in your target community and how important they perceive their own health and wellbeing to be
Understand that all of this will take some time in order to build strong foundations
Newark and Sherwood CVS – Butterfly Project
The team at Newark & Sherwood CVS took the time to understand what matters to those with a terminal diagnosis and their families so support is tailored to their needs.
Understand what activity they want to do and why they want to do it
Understand who they want to lead and be involved with from a workforce point of view (who they will feel comfortable with and who they would trust)
Our Gang, Glossop – a neuro divergent youth group
Before setting up the group, the young people were asked what they wanted, what would the name be, how it would be advertised and what activities they wanted. By having a true understanding of the young people and their needs, the club was set up specifically with separate rooms for quiet time, sensory rooms and active areas.
The group lead is neuro divergent herself so understands what is needed by the young people, she is also trusted by the young people and their families.
Understand where, when and how they think it will work best
Derbyshire Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Support group
The leader (who incidentally has BPD herself) asked the group what they wanted. Because of the feelings they can experience, they find it difficult to interact with people who don’t have BPD. So they want to be in a closed group with people who will understand what they’re going through and won’t judge them. Activities need to be structured and they need to know who’s in charge should they have a problem.
Understand what’s happened in the past, why they haven’t taken part before, or, if they did, why did they stop?
Deaf-initely Women
Many women had wanted to be active before but weren’t able to access other walking groups because they weren’t aware of their communication needs and they therefore lacked confidence to attend them. They had felt isolated due to the lack of access and therefore very rarely went out. Deaf-initely Women understood those barriers and addressed them.
Have they seen or experienced anything before that they’d like the opportunity to do?
She Will
This group for teenage girls is all about empowering them and giving them different opportunities which they then decide which to take forward.
They had had a run one off taster session for aerial dance which the girls hadn’t forgotten so they decided to do a longer set of sessions – over six weeks. After this, over half of the girls continued to attend.
Reach out to people using the appropriate channels e.. social/paper/digital media; word of mouth
Ashfield Spartans
The leader worked with local schools to help draw people in as well as using social media including TikTok and word of mouth. Many of the young people know each other and have got to know the leader and coaches through their work in the local schools.
