Returning to in person session
We are very happy to share that Xenia is running regular in-person workshops again!
Xenia sessions now alternate meet in-person every other week at the Newington Green Meeting House, 10:30am - 12:30pm, to have conversations in English, and learn and share together.
On the other Saturdays, Xenia continues to meet virtually on Zoom, 10am - 11:30am.
Although we are excited to return to in-person sessions, we are still prioritising the needs and safety of Xenia participants:
Social Distancing and Covid-19 Safety
Xenia moved from Hackney Museum to Newington Green Meeting House so that we would have lots of space to run socially distanced workshops. All Xenia participants are required to wear a mask to in-person workshops unless they are exempt; Xenia participants are asked to stay at home if they have any Covid-like symptoms or test positive.
An Easily Adaptable and Accessible Model
Although we now have a permanent home, we are still continuing to run workshops online every other week. This is for multiple reasons. Xenia has been exclusively online since March 2020 and we have welcomed lots of new women since then, many of whom cannot attend our in-person sessions. Xenia wants to remain as accessible as possible and offering both in-person and virtual workshops keeps Xenia open to all women. Maintaining our online workshops also allows Xenia to easily adapt to changes in Covid-19 case rates, government guidelines and the desires of Xenia participants.
Signposting
Since Xenia moved online, we increased our outreach work. This included: making individual calls to regular Xenia participants each week, checking in and signposting them to services as needed. Although Xenia has returned to in-person sessions, this does not mean outreach work will be scaled back. Xenia continues to recognise the needs of its participants in these turbulent times and will continue to provide signposting and outreach outside of sessions.
If you work for a vital service that is still open and we can signpost participants to, please get in touch here.
Community and Connection
Virtual Xenia has been far more successful than any of us here at Xenia could have foreseen. However, one of the most exciting things about returning to in-person sessions is the ability to be and do together again. Xenia workshops are about building connections and learning together. Online we continued to practice English through conversations but we are excited to (literally) get our hands dirty again! Crafting, cooking, eating, making, doing together - these are invaluable ways of building community and confidence in ourselves and each other. We cannot wait to incorporate this work into Xenia workshops once again.
A big part of Xenia is partnerships and projects with other organisations, community groups and artists. We collaborated with so many exciting people over the last year and we want to continue this work in person. If you would like to work with us, please contact us.
Support Us
One of our key challenges at the moment is having the capacity to run both in-person and virtual workshops, as well as continuing to deliver high quality and informed outreach.
If you are able to make even a small monthly donation, this would really help to continue delivering accessible sessions and supporting participants. You can do that here on our Localgiving page.
Interested in following what we are doing?
As always, we are learning as much as our participants with every week that goes by. We’ll be posting regular updates on how we’re adapting to connect participants during this time of crisis, so make sure to follow us Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
You can also sign up to our newsletter if you want to join us in finding the best ways to connect people across differences in this crisis of isolation. Please do get in touch if you have any ideas about new things we could be trying!
If you have any questions about any of the above, please email welcome@xenia.org.uk