The value of peer support to a young person living with a liver condition cannot be over- estimated, which is why we love to welcome new members to our Hive Zoom sessions.
“It’s wonderful to know that, wherever they live in the UK, young people have a safe space to chat to us and to each other, where there is real understanding of the issues they may be facing,” says CLDF Head of Services, Michelle. “We have recently expanded our sessions to include younger age groups and it’s been great to see them connecting and making friends.”
We’re constantly reviewing our activities for young people to improve accessibility and ensure that young people get the most out of the sessions. Our new timetable is therefore as follows:
- Last Tuesday of the month | 4:15pm – 5:15pm | Ages 9 – 10
- Last Thursday of the month | 7:00pm – 8:30pm | Ages 11 – 13 (group 1)
- Last Thursday of the month | 7:00pm – 8:30pm | Ages 14 – 17 (group 2)
We want to ensure young people are comfortable when joining the sessions and in a group that feels appropriate to the milestones they are facing together. We feel these new smaller age ranges will support the young people to make closer connections with young people they have things in common with.
We’re also providing a new opportunity for young people aged 18-24 who previously had the opportunity to attend on the last Thursday of the month.
We’re aware that young people in early adulthood have many more commitments and we are therefore going to run our 18 – 24 Zoom sessions quarterly throughout the year as an opportunity for these young people to reunite and attend a themed meet up. We’ll be announcing these dates in due course. Additionally, our Support team will continue to be available for 1-2-1 sessions with young people in this age group.
We’re confident that these adjustments will enable us to better meet the needs of all our young people. To attend any of the sessions or arrange a 121 appointment please email youngpeople@childliverdisease.org.
