As we come to the end of Mental Health Awareness Week, now is a good time to reflect on the year we’ve had and the challenges we’ve faced not only due to the pandemic but also the effects that lockdown has had on our health and happiness.
It is particularly timely because, from today, we officially have been given the green light to finally hug our loved ones once more. It is hard to imagine that for virtually 12 months we have not been able to have physical contact with those outside our ‘bubbles’. But that is the world we have found ourselves in, both at work and at home.
There is no doubt this has had a huge knock-on effect on the mental health of everyone. At HRM Homecare that includes staff and also our service users and their families. In particular, the lack of face-to-face contact for loved ones means loneliness and isolation is an ever-present issue for those who are most vulnerable and rely on the warmth of human contact to maintain their sense of wellbeing.
Luckily, my talented, dedicated staff have stood up to this challenge. I have always taken great pride in our compassion, support, and ability at HRM Homecare to build close relationships with the people we care for. Key to this is my fantastic Wellness Team. I set up the Wellness Team around 10 years ago in order to help deepen the bond of trust with service users and their families.
When the lockdowns arrived, the Wellness Team have proved pivotal in helping families stay connected with the loved ones needing care who they are unable to visit, keeping loneliness and isolation at bay. They have done so thanks to wonderful new pieces of technology like an app called Near Me.
Through Near Me, the Wellness Team can act as a link between our clients and their families by speaking with them remotely. They can conduct a review or simply use it as a means of communication so families are able to keep up to date with their loved ones’ care.
This has been a substitute for face-to-face contact, allowing family members to remain in the loop when it comes to ongoing day-to-day care issues. It stops the anxiety of not knowing, and acts as a vital peace of mind.
All this has been vital to our mental health. Going forwards, we will continue to combine this technology with the tremendous hard work and empathy of our staff so our clients live well in their own homes and their families remain fully on board.
In the meantime, I look forward to hugging my family this week – including my wonderful grandchildren – and I wish you all good mental health.