Publish date: 25 July 2019
Families affected by Grenfell say they were surprised to find that therapy was more useful than they expected.
We held a number of focus groups, where a mum and group of young people told us how their experience at the Grenfell Health and Wellbeing Service supported them to manage difficult feelings.
The audio story features the first focus group for children and young people who completed a course of therapy.
Dr Jai Shree Adhyaru, Service Manager, for the children and young people’s arm of the Grenfell Health and Wellbeing Service said: “As Service Manager, I will be holding regular focus groups (twice a year) for both young people and parents so we can continue to seek feedback and implement changes based on what we learn. I think it's important to hear first hand from people using our service, and this will be a regular feature in the many listening events we hold at GHWS.”
‘I thought it would be like alcoholics anonymous’
In the four-minute audio story, one mother told of the changes she noticed in her children following the fire. She said they had stopped sleeping, eating and speaking but there were improvements after a therapist from the Grenfell NHS Service visited her family at home.
Young people featured in the story share openly, about pre conceived ideas they had about therapy.
“I thought it would be like a circle like alcoholics anonymous and you’d go round and they’d be like, ‘oh what’s your story’ and you’d stand up and say something.”
Later in the clip they describe helpful techniques learnt during therapy that now help them to cope with difficult feelings.
The young people show great resilience, and admit they were initially reluctant to therapy, but since completing it, they’ve had a change of heart.
“Because of Grenfell more and more people are going to counselling. It’s a normal thing,” said one girl.
Upcoming focus groups
The next focus group will happen later in the year and the dates will be advertised on the Grenfell Health and Wellbeing website.
Besides the focus groups, Jai says they routinely collect feedback from anyone who uses the service. Anyone who uses the service and wishes to share their views can speak to Jai directly or by emailing grenfell.wellbeingservice@nhs.net
Listen to the audio story below or to share or download it click on the following link: https://vimeo.com/342734070
