The Moorside Communities have shown and built their resilience over recent months, but extra support was needed to help, isolated and excluded individuals and communities, those that were already disadvantaged found it challenging to maintain resilience and participate in social networks in the face of the outbreak. Many of the people within the communities highlighted they are feeling lonely and feel their mental health has been impacted due to covid19. The impact on the community’s ability to be resilient and thrive has been affected.
Ladies were bought together through the Stitching Together project to learn new skills, how to sew and create a piece to use within their homes (cushion covers, table covers, garments etc). This enabled them to create/sew something whilst being in their own homes showcasing their work with others via social media. When restrictions eased, we delivered this project face to face in a covid compliant venue. Furthermore, this project gave them the opportunity to socialise and build on new friendships bringing together people who share the same interests.
We purchased portable sewing machines and created sewing packs for 20 ladies, we delivered these to the diverse women and encouraged them to come online once a week, Tuesdays 10-11am to learn to sew together. Their items were then showcased on our social media platforms. The main aim was to build on resilience; provide women with the support to overcome daily struggles being at home during the pandemic, enable women to become independent and building on community cohesion and friendships with other women that were feeling lonely, depressed and isolated and especially overwhelmed with having to do daily chores and home school young children. There were many cultures within the community that were heavily influenced by stigmas and taboos or even superstition regarding mental health, whilst delivering the project we raised awareness on mental health and understanding mental health within different faiths to combat these and offer education and support.
