Service changes in response to government guidelines.

As of Thursday 5th November 2020:

The Middlesbrough Group and Friday Youth Group will continue under the following guidelines: – 15 people per group, you must book a space – You must wear a mask unless you are exempt – You must adhere to social distancing – Temperature will be taken on arrival – Screening questions will be asked – Track and trace systems must be adhered to – There will be hand sanitiser available

Fabulous Fun Friday’s will resume. – Zoom support session – Starts from Friday 13th November, 5pm

One to one support will continue virtually. – Face to face support is only available on a Monday, if it is a crisis

All staff will be working from home. – Calls will be diverted to a member of staff – Each staff member will have a work phone you can contact – Staff members will be meeting every Monday

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The Middlesbrough group session held on Wednesday’s at the St Mary’s Centre in Middlesbrough will continue to run as normal. (Sarah and Andy will be facilitating)

This is based on the governments advice that some venues can remain open for specific exempt activities, involving people who are facing issues relating to sexuality or gender, this also includes victims of crime and those who need mental health support.

Similarly, the youth group session held on Friday’s at the Rosemere Centre in Hartlepool will also continue to run. (Jack and Kay will be facilitating)

Fabulous Fun Friday’s virtual support group will resume, starting on Friday the 13th of November at 5pm.

The face to face one to one service will now be limited to crisis support only and will operate on a Monday afternoon from the Newtown Community Resource Centre. If you are however in crisis, we will look at making another day available to you. Virtual sessions will be offered to anyone who requires non-crisis support, this helps reduce the amount of time staff need to leave their homes.

To further reduce the amount of time staff need to leave their homes, the team will be required to work from home, with the exception of a Monday and any unforeseen emergency meetings/interventions (starting from Thursday the 5th).

The team will be meeting face to face every Monday to ensure staff motivation, direction and morale is continued. It’s very important that the team are also given the best support possible, allowing them to continue their work throughout these challenging times.

The rule of 15 people per group still applies to all groups continuing to run and all people accessing the sessions will have to confirm their attendance prior to the group running. All staff and service users must wear a mask, unless exempt and temperatures will be taken on arrival. Track and trace systems must be adhered to and hand sanitiser will be made available to you.

As you can imagine, we are extremely thankful that our support groups can continue to run as normal, however we are aware that this could change depending on any amendments made to government restrictions in the future.

That said, we will strive to ensure service users are provided with clear guidance when accessing our service and we will always aim to create complete transparency with our plans moving forward.

As from Thursday our landline will be re directed to an admin phone and all staff will be provided with mobile numbers so they can be contacted directly, this information will be posted over the next week.

For any more information or clarity, please contact me directly on 01642 675509, alternatively you can email me at sarah.lewis@hartgables.org.uk.

Please take care through these difficult times.

Sarah – Service Lead

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All staff are now working from home, please see below for contact details. All work mobiles will be switched on in working hours only and staff will be available on WhatsApp for audio calls and messages.

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