St Andrews’s church in Mevagissey is helping its community come to terms with the impact of Covid by hosting The Big Covid Debrief Project every week throughout October.

Covid-19 has been a mixed and complex experience.

Initially for many, it was a hidden gift – a slower pace, rediscovering hobbies and interests, time to take stock of life, a flexible work and family life and the potential of choosing a new direction.

But as lockdowns have continued, there have been hugely negative impacts. We have seen mental health struggles, domestic violence, and loneliness rise sharply. We have been separated from loved ones, we have been unable to celebrate, unable to grieve and unable to plan. Our faces have been covered, our lives have been restricted and connection points have been cut off. We have had to adjust everything that we have previously known due to an unprecedented, once in a lifetime event.

With the hope of legal restrictions being lifted, vaccines working and life opening up again, it is a key time to process and reflect on all that we have experienced before going back to normal patterns of life.

The Big Covid Debrief project is designed to create spaces where all are welcome to take time to debrief on their experience of Covid – through art, music, being listened to, symbolic acts of letting go, prayer, writing, reflecting and looking to the future.

St Andrew’s will be hosting their sessions on a Friday evening between 5pm and 7pm and on Saturday mornings between 10am and 12 noon throughout October. In these spaces there will be time to talk, create and reflect; time to pause, process, and maybe even encounter a measure of healing, before entering back into post-Covid life.

The project is looking for other churches to join in. You can find out more and sign up at www.thebigcoviddebrief.org