At the start of the pandemic, our staff were under lots of pressure to bring our programmes and services online. We usually have weekly drop-ins with around 25 women and 30 girls, and we had to navigate the technology to keep up that work through Zoom. Our staff had to do this while supporting and being present for the women and girls we work with. The grant made a huge difference as it funded a Social Media and Communications Officer to oversee this new digital offering.
Moving online means we can now reach women who contact us from all over Northern Ireland. Before, we’d have to put them on a waiting list to join one of our programmes. We’re now able to record Zoom sessions for our personal development, mental health and wellbeing programmes, and put them online so they reach more women. With the help of our new IT worker, we’ve also started gathering stories from the women we’ve supported and sharing them on social media to inspire others to get in touch.
During lockdown, our support worker Maxine would take a flask of tea and have a chat with women at their front doors. For the first two months of the pandemic, we also delivered meals and care packages to some of the older or more vulnerable women and girls we support.
One older lady who lives alone and was shielding had been feeling fearful of the pandemic but also very isolated. Maxine would call each week and have a chat at the end of the garden while delivering a craft pack and cooked meals. This lady said the weekly visits were a lifeline and she felt connected to someone during this very scary time.
Some women just need our help to get through the day, rather than an online personal development programme. Other women needed encouragement to assess their lives during lockdown and are now starting to take opportunities where they can.
But mental health is a big issue and it’s affecting people who it might not have affected before. Most of the women we work with are anxious about their kids, fearful about how they’re going to get on at school and how the pandemic will affect their overall education. We’re going to have to look at different ways we can support women with their mental health. It’s going to be significant coming out of the pandemic.
Emergency funding has helped a lot, but it’s going to run out soon. We really need further funding for mental health support for the staff, and for bespoke training around mental health for our organisation as we anticipate this longer-term need. It’s also incredibly difficult to get funding for salaries that aren’t attached to specific programmes. We can run programmes, but if we don’t have staff to oversee their delivery, then we can’t operate. We do have six members of staff now, and parts of their salaries come from different funders. We’re always trying to juggle it all.
Giving Life Opportunities to Women (GLOW) is a cross-community organisation delivering personal development, mental health and wellbeing programmes to disadvantaged women and girls in Belfast.
Visit GLOW’s website. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.