A very warm welcome to the first of our weekly blogs. In these difficult times, from all at GMA we hope you are managing to safe and well both physically and mentally
Covid-19
The outbreak of Corona virus has brought about changes to all of our lifestyles that are unprecedented in our lifetime. The challenge for our organisation as with many in our sector has been immense. The response of the team here at GMA has been absolutely amazing going over and above every day to ensure the safety and welfare of our service users. Our Dudley service remains open with a skeleton staff to ensure social distancing is possible and plans are in place for any of our residents who need to self-isolate. Our team have been out at all hours sourcing the cleaning materials, PPE and essential food supplies needed to continue to run a safe service, it is this passion and commitment that makes GMA so special. We would also like to acknowledge the incredible efforts of key workers everywhere going the extra mile to support the health and wellbeing of others at this difficult time, Thank you.
Conferences & Cornflakes
Like many organisations many of our colleagues have moved to working at home, we have provided additional laptops, tablets and phones to move as much of our operation as we can. Working from home can prove to be a challenge especially with other family members around as they are off work or working from home too, many have children schooling at home and how can we forget our pets who insist on contributing to that important 2pm meeting! How do you prepare for your day? Do you have a designated space? Is there fresh air and natural light or are you happy dealing with those first few emails from under your duvet? Do you get up, washed and dressed as if you were attending the office or like many of us are you happy to wear something a bit more casual, are you one of those (come on own up) who works away all day in your PJ’s or just dresses from the waist up if you have a video call? Do you plan your start and finish time as well as your breaks or do you only look up from your screen when the urge to put on the kettle or raid the biscuit tin becomes too much? Whatever your style we have found from many of our colleagues and service users some form of structure to the day is helpful and as the picture shows “staying left” can help homeworking be really productive.
Gordon Moody Online
Our international, online, problem gambling support service Gambling Therapy is operating as usual, providing multilingual advice for anyone affected by problem gambling worldwide. Our website attracted over 5 million users in 2019 and has been recommended by the World Health Organisation as International gambling support. For more information about Gambling Therapy or to download our free phone App visit www.gamblingtherapy.org
Our outreach therapists have also extended our support to provide online groups over video chat, our initial meeting was met with such a positive response that these groups are now held daily and we will be providing online support for people on our waiting list as well as family and friends, we are also holding online mindfulness sessions for colleagues to help with stress an anxiety at this difficult time.
We are still accepting applications for residential treatment at GMA you can complete the application form online or contact us at help@gordonmoody.org.uk we will be taking in new residents as soon as government advice deems it safe to do so
Dudley Purchase
Finally, some fantastic news for GMA, the purchase of our Dudley facility has been completed. This is a hugely positive step for us as we will be able to commence with improvements to the site, a huge thank you to everyone who made this possible. We are also planning some improvements to our Beckenham site and have secured some additional office space for our core team so look out for some progress update in future blogs.;
Stay Safe Everyone