I can relate….

This week I attended the second of the 2 workshops DCA have hosted that were delivered by Red Cross Education. The workshops are tailored to community groups that support individuals in the local area and the topics covered in the workshops were, adapting and recovering from adversity and supporting connections.

The workshops really made me think, having recently celebrated my birthday, I have noticed that I find it more difficult these days to adapt to change or adversity, and at work this applies to working with new technologies and tools. I remember my first job, which was working for a large telecommunications company where they were forward thinking and always creating and adapting systems to help their employees work effectively. I could pick things up quickly and felt like I was always ahead of the game. Nowadays I feel like I am falling behind. Adapting and recovering from adversity was very much about coping with change and I recognised that I need to start embracing these new technologies and tools rather than running away from them.

My dad fell ill this week and a call to 111 meant that we had to go to urgent care and then on to accident and emergency to spend the night in a hospital waiting room. Thankfully my dad is fine after a review of his medication but again the supporting connection workshop made me think about how glad I was to be there for my dad and how difficult it must be for people in the community who don’t have family or friends to support them when they become ill. It highlighted to me how vital the voluntary sector is in helping individual to form connections and gain support within the community and how important meaningful connections are to everyone.