The COVID-19 shutdown means far fewer people inside than usual, and clients working in a one-on-one setting they usually wouldn't have in the past.
While it's not how most of Vivid’s clients want to spend their time at the facility, some are more than comfortable.
Victor Leris is sitting on his own, building with a Lego set, while the other clients are in the main hall watching a video.
And he is perfectly content with the situation.
“He prefers to be alone,” Tanya Stewart-Ross said.
“He quite likes the one-on-one experience, and while he definitely misses some of the staff who are regularly around, I think he’s more than happy to just spend the time on his own.”
Lockdown has presented its share of challenges for Victor though, who is currently unable to do his favourite thing — go swimming.
Victor is one of the more active clients at Vivid, with swimming his go-to form of exercise.
“He’s currently doing a lot more walking to make up for it,” Tanya said.
“He really likes his swimming, he goes quite a few nights a week after work so he’s really missing that.
“He loves going to adventure and rec, getting to be out and doing active things, so walking is the main thing we have been doing instead.
“He also likes being outside in the garden, so long as he doesn’t have to do any of the gardening himself.”
But while Victor is missing a lot of his regular activities, he is finding new things to do.
“He’s been helping us with the cleaning a lot,” Tanya says.
“They’ve loaded the skip and taken out all the heavy boxes, which was a lot of help to us.”
But when the opportunity presents, Victor would rather just be sitting quietly, playing with the Lego.
Though a few more pieces and sets wouldn't go astray.
“We like the heads, but we need more bodies,” Tanya laughs.
“We have a small kit, but we would love some more. There are only two people in this set.”
But for now, Victor is more than happy to use what he has, and to enjoy the one-on-one time at Vivid living.
Soon, some more of the people he knows will be back around the building, and while he enjoys his time by himself, there is no doubt he is looking forward to having those faces around him again.
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