Virtual Meet-up Blog
U17’s
We started providing zoom support sessions for under 17 year olds, at the start of lockdown to help young people stay connected and to offer support and understanding around all the new information coming out about COVID and how to keep well and stay safe. Here you can read about what we have been doing in these sessions.
Some of the group already know each other from either Chiva Camp or from a South West group we have supported for the last few years.
Each group meeting starts with a check-in where young people say how their week has been. We also end each group with a pledge of what we are going to do to look after ourselves before the next meeting.
6th April 2020
The first meeting focused on disseminating information about COVID and what it all means. Young people had questions about some of the terms like ‘shielding’ and ‘social distancing,’ and were also confused about whether having HIV makes them less likely or more likely to become unwell if they get COVID. We spent time looking at different information slides, and also discussed and broke down some myths. One of the young people ended the session by leading us in a breathing and relaxation exercise.
20th April 2020
The second group started with a quiz which combined questions about entertainment, trivia, COVID and HIV. The young people worked as a team and had to agree their answers together. They did very well and got quite a high score! Then we spent 20 minutes doing ‘chair yoga’ together watching Liz from camp and one of the short videos she has made for us. The young people said they felt really relaxed afterwards and they were pleased as some of them hadn’t managed to get out and do some exercise that day.
In terms of the pledge for looking after themselves in the next week, young people talked about trying to improve their sleeping patterns/routines, and also about trying to do more exercise and going outdoors.
