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Writer's pictureStephen Harrison MBE

SHA in the Age of COVID

Updated: Feb 23, 2021

In March 2020 our services and the world was disrupted by the news that for the first time in our lifetimes, a global pandemic had struck and we must change the way we live to protect those at risk.


At SHA we provide care and support for disadvantaged groups including children with special needs. This work is vital in creating and maintaining a strong and stable support network, and a community of friends for these young people. So when the news hit that the nation was now going into lockdown we were very concerned for the welfare of our much valued service users.

Unlike many others, SHA staff were not content to sit idle in lockdown and wait until those terrible times had passed. SHA rapidly adapted to the new times we live in and launched a virtual outreach program designed to maintain contact with and continue support for our service users, as well as entertain them in a boring lockdown.

SHA staff worked diligently to run games, quizzes, chats, exercise and dance sessions, and lip sync competitions to ensure that all of our service users could find some fun and entertainment during lockdown as well as keeping in contact with their friends from snooker. This proved to be invaluable to providing some emotional support and a much needed respite from the stresses of a pandemic.


Thanks to the efforts of the SHA staff we managed to maintain our contact with our service users and support them through these difficult times.

SHA's ability to provide much needed support was tested again when it transpired that one of our service users had no access to WIFI or a internet-connected device in order to take part in our virtual group sessions and it seemed that he was resigned to being left out and isolated during lockdown. Fortunately, due to the massive efforts of our staff and the generosity of our supporters we managed to purchase a device for him and our friends at Plusnet very kindly offered to supply his home with WIFI for free. As a result of these efforts, he was able to join in with SHA's virtual session and access the fun, entertainment and support that our staff tirelessly provided.


I would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful staff team for the amazing work they did during lockdown to ensure that no child was left alone or forgotten in difficult times and to thank the great generosity of our supporters and friends at Plusnet.




Read the Sheffield Star's coverage of this story:








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