Book of You Coronavirus Message of Support
Posted on 18 Mar 2020
During this very difficult time where the one thing at the forefront of everybody’s mind is coronavirus, here at Book of You we’d like to reassure you that we are still working because we are in a position as digital providers to still support our clients remotely.
Earlier this week we made the decision not to do any more of our face to face work, be that sessions, training, presentations or events. This was made in order to ensure the safety of our clients, staff and volunteers as much as possible. We are continuing to work as a business and part of our strategy is to help you all in whatever way we can.
Over the coming weeks, Kathy Barham (Director and founder of Book of You) will be sharing some films on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter with advice and tips of things you can do with loved ones during this time of isolation. Book of You was designed to help with loneliness and isolation – bringing families together wherever they are in the world – and what better time to share this aspect of work with the wider community.
From a personal perspective, my mother is living with dementia and currently lives 40 miles from me. I visit her every weekend when we go out for walks, to visit family or for tea and cake. As from this week, as in many care homes, visitors will no longer be allowed to call in and I have to face the fact that I won’t be able to see her face to face for for quite some time, which is devastating. With the support of care home staff, I will be able to send spoken messages to her within Book of You, which can be replayed to reassure her at any time she needs it; films of myself and our family and I can also send her things she will enjoy and that will hopefully help with her wellbeing, like music and favourite tv clips.
Whether you already have a Book of You account or are new to our work, I will be sharing some ideas with you over the coming weeks of things you can do and some of the proven benefits of each type of activity and hopefully give you some new ideas. If there is anything you’d specifically like me to cover, please ask. This is a great opportunity to try things out.
Alongside this, we would like to offer our services free to anyone who has not used Book of You before and who would benefit from being able to keep in touch with loved ones remotely during this period. As mentioned before, the account can be accessed by family wherever they live so they can share in the creation of the ‘book’ using photographs, typed words, spoken word, music, film and YouTube video. Access to a digital device and wi fi will be necessary, but after that, it’s quite simple.
To get in touch with me to find out more, please email kathy@bookofyou.co.uk or phone us on 01492 555381. For a filmed version of this bog post, watch here
Further Blogs - Book of You – COVID-19 and Looking Forward to the Rest of 2020 »