It has been a difficult time. No doubt about it.
The human need to connect has been challenged on all levels throughout the COVID-19 crisis.
And – while our social media feeds have been flooded with powerful stories of community connection and engagement – it can be hard to link what we see online with personal experiences of social isolation and disconnection.
At Gather My Crew, we have seen a steep downturn in the creation of new ‘personal support crews’ during this time.
People who would normally ask for and receive practical help from their own networks have been left to cope alone as fear of COVID-19 radically altered how we relate to each other in the ‘real world’.
And we totally get this.
In this strange new world, it is hard to know what help to ask for, hard to know who to ask, and even harder to know who has the capacity to help out within their own altered situation…
But as we take our first tentative steps towards opening our lives back up, we would really like to encourage people to think creatively about the many ways that practical help can still be provided to those who are doing COVID-19 a lot harder than the rest of us…
There are many people out there who are living with the greatest personal challenge of their life while living through the greatest global challenge of our times. Illness, accidents, death, bushfire recovery, divorce or premature babies… It is hard to imagine the additional challenges placed on people dealing with these situations as a result of COVID-19.
It is a time for us all to get creative about how we can provide the ongoing support that is needed.
Gather My Crew does not have all the answers… but we would love to be a place where these creative ways to connect and support can be shared. We are launching a new page on our website to collect as many creative support ideas as we can.
Please share your ideas with us on social media or via the ‘contact us’ form on our website. We will be collating all of these ideas so they can be used as inspiration by others in a similar position.
It has been a difficult time. No doubt about it. But let’s all put our heads together and get creative about the ways we can still make a practical and positive impact on the lives of those doing it REALLY tough.