Sound and Vision: Reflections on running a community‐based group for men with learning disabilities online, during the pandemic

Abstract

Accessible summary To feel safe and to keep well, all of us need to stay in touch with our friends—most of all in the pandemic, and even more if we have a disability. In these times of COVID‐19, we have kept a community group for men with learning disabilities going online. In the gaps between lockdowns, we have met in a mixed online and face‐to‐face group—with the face‐to‐face part happening in a library. The men say that they have been helped by both kinds of meeting, but that they liked the mixed or “hybrid” one the best. This article shows what we have learned from running the group in these ways, and it gives advice for anyone who might want to have a go themselves. AbstractBackgroundSocial contact and belonging are among the most important keys to health and wellbeing, especially for the most vulnerable during the current global pandemic.MethodThis reflective paper describes the authors' efforts to sustain an online version of a well‐established community psychology‐oriented group for men with learning disabilities, in challenging times. Drawing upon the learning disability literature and upon theories from community and embodied‐dialogical psychology, it explores the most salient shared issues, our joint efforts to address them and possible implications for future clinical practice.FindingsTo take advantage of the discovered benefits of online working, we envisage that, post‐lockdown, the group will continue to meet in a “hybrid” (combined face‐to‐face and online form) as described herein: and with some pointers for anyone who might wish to create a similar group.