Meet Mai-Wel’s ‘Lockdown Legends’

In late 2021 when Mai-Wel’s supports transitioned to online due to the COVID-19 lockdown, participants of the Maitland Step Up program kept in touch socially via Zoom.

Mai-Wel’s Step Up program is a capacity-building program which assists people with disability to build necessary skills, confidence and other preparations for work.

The group of Michael, Sandra, Alex, Maddie and Kaitlyn, named themselves ‘Lockdown Legends’, catching up twice a week via Zoom. Often their regular Support Worker Cath and other Step Up staff would pop in to say hello and catch up. The group loved the opportunity to keep in touch with some of their favourite staff members like Tracey (pictured with the group below).

Each week the group did a different activity that was not only fun, but kept the line of communication open between the participants and their Mai-Wel supports, and helped to build skills like team work, problem solving and using technology.

Some of the fun things they got up to included:

Trivia – from Harry Potter, to how many bones do sharks have? (FYI, they quickly found the answer is surprisingly none!)
Discussing places they would like to travel after lockdown and researching information around these locations to share with the group. Some places discussed included Melbourne, Sydney, New Zealand and even the Home and Away set!
Learning hints and tips on how to cope during lockdown.
Learning what type of dog matches each participant’s personality.
Playing Mahjong.

Here’s what each of the ‘Lockdown Legends’ had to say about what they were getting up to during lockdown:

Michael: “I miss Mai-Wel and I can’t wait to get back and see everyone.”

Sandra: “I have been busy doing beading and looking after my dog, Molly.”

Alex: “I have been busy painting and doing research for my next masterpiece.”

Maddie: “I like talking to my friends through Snapchat.”

Kaitlyn: “I’m growing confidence in online supports.”

The group have now been able to return to face-to-face supports, but all agree that when it wasn’t safe to do so, being a “Lockdown Legend” was a great way to keep social!

Pictured top to bottom, left to right: Kaitlyn, Tracey, Cath, Madeline, Alex, Michael and Sandra catching up during lockdown over Zoom.