ONLINE COMMUNITIES
IN THE LOOP
B uild On Belief is a LERO offering out-of-hours social connection support across London, Sussex and Buckinghamshire. Of course, when COVID hit in March 2020 we were forced to offer distance support and, within weeks of lockdown, launched an online programme of groups imitating what we offered face-to-face.
As social distancing measures were relaxed, the majority of services – LERO and treatment providers – moved back to faceto-face support. Build On Belief did as well – but we also kept the online programme due to the obvious unmet need we’ d stumbled across.
To date we offer 40 activities a week, seven days a week,
Like everyone else, Build on Belief had to quickly switch away from in-person help during COVID. But they’ ve kept their thriving online communities to guard against isolation, says Ben Houghton
365 days a year – no days off, including Christmas Day, with the groups starting at 9:30am and finishing at 6pm. Our challenge was to ensure what we offered stayed within the Build On Belief ethos.
What is that ethos? Well, we’ re non-abstinence based. That doesn’ t mean we advocate for using substances, but we recognise that recovery is a journey of many steps and the path is rarely linear. We allow anybody at any stage of recovery to access our online services, but we take safety very seriously – at the beginning of every group the participants are asked to name the boundaries and why they are important.
This is vital to showing us they understand, accept and own the boundaries, and it also allows the boundaries be explored for clarification. One of them is our intoxication boundary – you’ re allowed to attend, but a behaviourbased decision will be made to ensure other people aren’ t triggered. Intoxicated people may be asked to turn their camera off and just listen, for example.
I’ ve hinted at this already, but as well as being non-abstinent based we don’ t advocate any single model of recovery. We have people who follow a 12-step model, some who follow more psychological styles, some who still use / drink – and are not judged for doing so – and some who are working towards their own targets.
Our groups don’ t set the facilitators up to be‘ the expert’.
‘ From the first meeting, it just clicked. Very few‘ war stories”, and instant support from people who knew my struggles. And after a share, instant considered feedback. Quite breathtaking for someone who’ d been cut off for so long. I felt I belonged – still do, in fact.
‘ After a while I realised that the amazing flow and enjoyment of the meetings are down to the boundaries, which are reiterated before every meeting, and the compassionate facilitators.’
Service user feedback melitas / iStock
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