From the Frontline - Interviews with Key Workers: Alex

This week's Front-line interview is with Alex, our Wellbeing Co-ordinator. Alex runs our Music and Men's groups which are communal, safe-spaces where people experiencing homelessness can learn essential coping skills, and share and reflect on their experiences.

During COVID-19, he is supporting 600 people with wellbeing packs and providing 50 people with 1:1, remote support, per week, to help them manage isolation and continue their personal development.

Life during COVID-19 is unsettling, and I wonder how that leaves our clients. I ask them, and they can’t explain it sometimes.

What I miss most about my work is being face-to-face with our clients and my colleagues.

Like everything, my role has changed. Currently, I am making lots of calls to our clients. Many go straight to voicemail because they go through phones quite quickly. If I get through to them, we talk about physical and mental wellbeing as health anxiety is a big deal, and, right now, fear is high. Many feel isolated and cut off from us as a service, and they are also unsettled. They ask questions like, "when we will open again?" and "how long will this last?" Questions I can’t answer. But I try to reassure, and they appreciate my honesty when I speak about my frustration and unsettledness. It helps validate their fear and confusion. There is a sense of togetherness during the pandemic, despite our different social standings.

For many of my clients, we are their only source of information about COVID-19. I talk with them about safety and identifying and managing the virus' symptoms. I find myself sounding like a government spokesperson at times, reiterating the lockdown and social distancing policy! 

Though we have to socially distance to overcome the pandemic, I have to stay connected with my clients. Many of them would never have felt or been more disconnected. So I also make and send them wellbeing packs to help keep them occupied, and continuing to working on their Learning & Wellbeing. I don't want them to lose all the progress they have made. I want them to see this time as a period of growth, for everyone, because I firmly believe, one day, we will look back at this time and see how much our resilience has grown.

Working from home with a 4-month-old baby has its challenges. It is nice to be here with my family, but I can’t settle because it feels like there is so much to do. I'd rather be at work running a group or with our clients. I fluctuate between feeling quite helpless and then feeling like, at least, we are doing something important. But it doesn’t feel enough at times. 

Most of all, I think about the clients a lot. Those that are housed are the lucky ones, but I wonder about those walking the streets alone. Homelessness and loneliness are an awful mix. 

Right now, I am grateful to have a home, food, a job, and for my friends and family.

Learn more about our Learning and Wellbeing Programme

Donate to our Emergency Appeal to support Alex's work and our Learning and Wellbeing clients