Talking Tuesdays

This year has been especially hard on young people and adults with Down’s syndrome, with so many regular activities that they are involved in canceled many felt more isolated than ever.  

In June we were lucky enough to receive funding from the Scottish Government’s Wellbeing Fund, which formed part of their commitment to support vulnerable people through the Coronavirus crisis. We used this funding to set up ‘Talking Tuesdays’, weekly social calls with some of our adult members.  

Each Tuesday in July we held ‘Talking Tuesday’ group video calls via Zoom, each group was made up of 5 -6 young people and adults from across Scotland. Those that took part were grouped by their shared interests. Each week focused on a different topic to start conversations and allow the group to get to know each other better.  

By the end of the four weeks, new friendships had been created and old friendships had been rekindled. Everyone who took part had the chance to share ideas and resources which they found beneficial to their mental health and enjoyed discovering and discussing mutual interests. 

We received lots of great feedback from those that took part as well as their parents and carers, everyone really enjoyed the sessions and looking forward to them each week.  

“Thank you so much for the first Talking Tuesday. My daughter really enjoyed it! A bit of distraction in a very lonely period.” 

“Thank you for giving Susan the opportunity to participate she really looked forward to her catch ups.” 

We knew that these types of sessions were something we wanted to continue and expand upon, using the feedback we received and our own learning were developed FriendZ Space – our new online programme for adults with Down’s syndrome. You can find out more about FriendZ Space and how you can get involved here.