Dom lives in West Sussex with his partner and young child. He was an early member of the Grace Eyre Friendship group on Facebook, joining during the first lockdown in 2020. Dom doesn’t work and was feeling isolated. He said: “Friendship means having people to talk to because it gets lonely without friends”.
He is a regular attendee of the Zoom sessions and particularly likes the art sessions. As a new member, he told us: “I’m so grateful for this group, it’s not judgmental, everyone can be trusted. I’ve used a lot of disability groups, this one is the best one, [my partner] likes doing the art too.”
Dom loves music and is excellent with computers and technology. He and another Friendship member were keen to host their own Zoom session to listen to music and chat as a social group. With support from Friendship staff, Dom co-hosts the weekly Friday Night Social on Zoom. This has been running since September 2020 and attendance has increased from 2 to 20 members routinely attending!
During the second lockdown of 2020, Dom started providing digital support to friends he has in his local area. He said the confidence he has gained from hosting the Friendship Zoom sessions was what prompted him to offer this digital support to friends.
Dom plans on attending face-to-face Friendship activities when the lockdown has ended. He is keen to meet other members in person, especially his co-host whom he has yet to meet in person!
Both Dom and his co-host now have a staff mentor who they are working with to develop their planning skills and confidence in running their session. Dom is also being inducted formally as a Grace Eyre Volunteer along with several others.