Evolve facilitates a number of social and recreational activities. These range from physical activities, such as gym, badminton and walking, to more gentle indoor pursuits, such as cinema visits, Sunday lunch (cooking and eating as a group) and Indian head massage. The “Evolve social club” offers a friendly environment where people can try creative activities, like art or cookery.
We believe that physical activity is beneficial to wellbeing. All groups encourage social behaviour and opportunities to build friendships and confidence which contribute to an increased sense of self-esteem and helps to build resilience. We know people often find it difficult to join in with groups, so we do all we can to support people to feel confident enough to give it a try.
These groups have been developing since Evolves inception. The membership is made up of current service users and people who have formally ended their support from Evolve. People seem to enjoy the social contact and we hope benefit from physical activity and mental stimulation.
As well as the benefits described above, we find that the groups are an excellent way to provide low level support and to keep in touch with service users who have left our service but remain vulnerable to future crises. The groups offer a chance to seek advice and support from workers in an informal way, at an early stage and in an environment where they are already accepted. This avoids the more formal processes often associated in accessing services. This also negates the potential for the service user to feel that they may be failing, when in reality they are doing well but just need a little bit of help and advice.