Lauren’s Better Days

Lauren is one of our members that loves a good night out. If you have been to our big nights out, then you might have met her. She is also running a group called Better Days and you might want to go check it out sometimes!

What is Better Days and how did it start?

“Best days” was a charity that I used to be involved with, unfortunately, it shut down. But I knew people were left who were not knowing what to do and we – people who used to go to this charity, local Craigmillar social group – to rename it into Better days.

I made good friendships and saw the way forward for the group and had an idea of how it should be run. The group should be open to everyone and make it free of charge, it is open to what they want and that people get help and able to part, inclusive and supportive.

It has been going on now for about a couple of years, almost 3!

Who can get involved and how?
Anyone can come along, isolated, lovely, recovering alcoholic, want to make friends, anybody is welcome.

It is fun, it is not serious stuff, its nice to just come and some people might just listen, some people will just decide when they want, people are so free, I make sure that people mix, and try to meet new people for everyone to get to know each other and get to know each other and having a laugh.

I do come up with my own ideas and my daughter helps me sometimes, I create my own quizzes, we do games like friendly fortune and things like that.

Everybody needs to be comfortable and treated carefully, everybody gets on.
They can just come along and take part in the fun, play games, do the quiz, see if you can get the name on the leaderboard or win a trophy.

Have a cuppa, biscuit, chat, making sure people get along and that we bring best out of people that are quiet and shy.

People want to come to this group, people who never been keen to socialize now cant wait to come back.

Coming up at better days:
Christmas cards
Calendars,
More quizzes,
Games

I also feel like Better days help get2geterh but get2getehr also helps better days!

What else do you do outside Better Days?
I’m a full mom to Chloe, I love my pets, I have a tortoise, two budgies, a dog and a cat! It’s never boring at my house. I also get2 24h support and we are always planning ahead and I enjoy making quizzes.

At the moment I have 14 disabilities and 32 tablets a day. I get to get my own carers as I get self-directed support – agencies will not take me. I have to advertise my self for staff and sometimes it gets difficult. The pressure for carers is really hard, I would like to with decent people, with genuine and will stay. Decent people, please apply!

I really like clubbing! Being able to come to the club night is such a huge thing. I love every bit of it, from it is photos that people take as well as the photos from the photographer and they end on get2gether’s facebook so then we can see how the good night was. I also enjoy watching people, I enjoyed meeting people, like Paralympian Liam Malone and he was amazing to meet, as his condition was completely different to mine but I just spoke with him that night. Letting him know about my condition could help spread awareness.