Mothers Union members become digital companions

At the start of the pandemic, we began introducing phone circle classes, Facebook sermon posts and virtual zoom services for our members. I realised most of our members could not access these services either because they had no access to devices, lived alone, or hadn’t been trained to embrace technology.

I made the decision to contact Digital Communities Wales about the possibility of receiving support for our members. We were able to receive 11 iPad devices and help for members to be trained as digital companions to support other members particularly in using Zoom.

Our biggest challenge was building people’s confidence but enlisting the help of family members has worked wonders. It’s always family who are best placed to help provide support to build confidence. The Zoom service calls have brought joy to our members who hadn’t seen each other for ages and allowed people to hear each other’s stories providing a sense of contact. One lady who didn’t have the confidence to put her camera on when they started using Zoom built up the confidence to do so after just three sessions.