We’re truly sorry to share that we have had to make the difficult decision to close the Monday Online Evening Group. The last date for this group will be the 12th of May 2025.
This was not a decision we made lightly, but unfortunately, due to a shortage of volunteers, it has become increasingly challenging to ensure consistency and avoid last-minute cancellations. This is something many organisations are facing, and we deeply appreciate your understanding.
Additionally, our online groups rely entirely on fundraising and donations, meaning we do not have the staff capacity to cover multiple online groups when volunteers are not available. With the ongoing cost-of-living challenges, fundraising has been more difficult this year, making it harder to sustain all of our unfunded groups as we have in the past. We have been running the monday evening online group without dedicated funding since 2022, we now need to focus our capacity and attention to groups that do receive funding.
We know how much these online groups mean to our members, and we want to reassure you that we remain committed to providing as many opportunities for connection and support as possible, and hope you maintain those connections you have made via the group. While currently we say goodbye to this group, we are still able to offer our 12 weekly in person sessions and 7 weekly online peer support groups.
You can find the full list of groups here: https://changesbristol.org.uk/support/support-groups/find-a-group/
We wanted to say a massive thank you to Becca W who has been volunteering to facilitate this group for over a year, and to our other volunteers who have stepped in to cover any gaps and keep the group going as consistently as possible. Thank you also to the members of this group, for coming together each week, making connections, uplifting and supporting each other.
We understand that this change may be disappointing, and we truly appreciate your support and understanding, and we will continue to recruit volunteers and look for funding to enable us to reopen these online spaces. If you have any questions or would like to discuss alternative options, please don’t hesitate to email us at service@changesbristol.org.uk.
Liam, Summer, and The Changes Team