Hi all,

So it's been great to be back out there and doing more typical aebal support. Although there's still been a lot of adapting and various challenges, the first few weeks being open again I think have been a relative success!

We are still being thoughtful and pragmatic with our support at this stage of the pandemic and keeping ourselves updated with the various Covid concerns simmering away in the news. We're obviously still operating with an element of caution but we're also allowing ourselves to feel more optimistic and take a few more forward steps.

One of these steps is from week commencing 7th June we have decided to return to transporting up to 3 clients in staff vehicles.

To reassure you, this doesn't mean we will be cramming extra clients in the car for every session, it just means, for practical and logistical reasons, some days it makes more sense for 1 staff member to drop 3 clients off if they live in a totally different area to another client. It will basically make the transport element of our support more efficient and support time will be better used on the activities as opposed to driving to and from them.

We will also be able to offer a few more spaces on the Saturday Road trips when the demand is there and have decided to continue always having 3 staff delivering Saturday support. Again, this doesn't mean we will be taking 9 clients every weekend but we will now have the option to take an additional few people on some of the trips.

We've given this a lot of thought and feel this is a sensible time to reintroduce this. All the staff are now fully vaccinated and the vast majority of clients are too or will be by the 7th June. We will obviously continue with face masks, hand sanitiser and ensuring fresh air is circulating around the car as we have been doing during for the entirety of these lockdown restrictions.

Another exciting bit of news, which is related to this transport decision, is that we will be welcoming a brand new part-time staff member in June! His name is Charlie and he will also need a good few weeks of being driven around by other staff whilst he learns the ropes and realises how far he's going to be driving each week! He's a lovely lad and is currently studying Psychology at Nottingham Uni. We were really impressed at his interview with how well he grasped the aebal ethos and his reasons for wanting to get involved with service.

As always, we welcome your feedback so please feel free to get in touch with any questions or concerns.

Jason