Good evening,

So after carefully reading the latest government guidance and after much discussion today, our intention is to continue delivering 121 community support as stated in our Tier 4 email last week. The only change is that we will not be providing car transport (aside for those who we deem car transport as essential) and we will not be combining 121s for the time being.

This 3rd Lockdown appears to be more in line with the restrictions we faced in November but with the addition of School closures. As a support provider we are legally allowed to continue supporting in groups of up to 15, however this does not seem sensible with this new, more transmittable strain and, after discussing with you all today, it seems clear that continuing 121 sessions is what the vast majority of you all feel most comfortable with.

As always, we will of course try to remain as creative as possible whilst keeping clients and staff safe out in the community. I think it's important to make clear at this point however, it's not going to be easy at this time of year and under these sort of restrictions, so we need everyone to have realistic expectations of what aebal support will involve for the next month or two.

Unfortunately our support outcomes will no longer be community integration, social skills, friendships and building confidence and independence through fun and meaningful activities.

The focus for our support will instead be:

# A means by which to stay connected with staff.

# An opportunity for clients to talk and improve their mental health.

# Help to prevent loneliness and isolation.

We will also do our best to throw in some humour and laughter whenever possible and we're working on 121 outdoor activity ideas but we need everyone to be prepared for us parking outside your homes and wandering off into bracing conditions for between 1 - 2hrs! This is what to expect from aebal support in Tier 5.

This situation is obviously not ideal for any of us but we will persevere and when Spring weather kicks in it will be absolutely incredible and we can all feel proud of getting ourselves through this adversity.

We have also made local authority aware of our current support levels and at this point we have no intention of returning to remote support as we did in the March Lockdown, however we will be reviewing things week by week and we may receive more guidance on this.

So in summary, we will continue to be available for 121 community support and we will remain in our Alternative Community Support Model as in Tier 4. For those who have decided not to recommence 121 support, we are available whenever you feel ready.

Thank you to those who were very understanding about missing out on 121 support today and we hope our adapted community support will still be beneficial to everyone. Just to clarify, 121s going ahead for the rest of the week as planned and Jack working on next weeks rota at the moment.

Thanks everyone,

Jason