Social Care Awards 2017

ghp Social Care Awards 2017 | 23 Best Respite Care Service - South Coast UK SO170035 Shared Lives South West is a very unique type of social care, offering vulnerable adults a place to stay with in-built care and support. Unlike in traditional care settings, people who use our service have a ‘home from home’ experience, living or staying with one of our carers as part of their family. Jane discusses how the organisation seeks to provide the very highest standards of support to its users at all times. “Here at Shared Lives South West, we are committed to growing our proven model of social care and by people moving on from our service to independent living we know we have done our job well. Our carers are skilled, trained and committed individuals who have chosen to share their homes and their lives with others. We currently help around 500 vulnerable adults throughout Devon and Cornwall by providing long-term support, short breaks and day services.” Among its service offering, Shared Lives South West supports people with learning disabilities, mental health issues and people with dementia and illnesses relating to age. This support has now been extended to help vulnerable parents and their children, an approach which has been pioneered by the charity. Jane comments on how the firm works to achieve its overall mission: to deliver high quality Shared Lives and other related support services that focus on the sharing of home and family life and being an active member of the local community. “Ultimately, we believe Shared Lives South West is a hidden gem in the South West and want to spread the word further. We want to get to 2020 and I want to be able to talk to someone I have never met and say ‘Have you heard of Shared Lives?’ and get a ‘yes’ as a reply. “In addition, we want people who use our services to live their lives to the full and with the right support they can achieve their goals and dreams. “Some of these goals are being achieved already as many of the people who have used our service have gone on to live independently or reached huge milestones such as learning to read and swim. This proves our model is a real success and we have done what we set out to achieve.” Operating in such a vital field Shared Lives South West means that staff have to be working to the very best of their abilities at all times. Jane outlines the firm’s supportive internal culture and how this helps the organisation and its staff to constantly provide the very best of support to its users. “Morale and enthusiasm in both of our offices is high as we all believe in the work the charity does. The team have regular one to one meetings with their line managers to discuss how they feel in their current job, chat about any queries they may have and how they can excel further. We make sure all our carers go through a complete training package and are continually given the support they need from their designated Shared Lives Coordinator. If additional training courses come to light, which can help my colleagues excel we encourage them to enrol, as the charity will in turn benefit.” Looking ahead, Jane is optimistic that the firm will continue to build upon its current success and offer users an even greater array of services to meet their ever evolving needs. “Fundamentally, a quality service plus a programme of growth needs robust organisational foundations and we have that, having been established for more than ten years. As such, we need to keep innovating and reshaping what we do and our work on vulnerable adults and their children is a good example of innovation and has created an exciting but demanding new opportunity.” Shared Lives South West is an independent regional charity which runs Shared Lives and closely related services throughout Devon and Cornwall. We invited CEO Jane Bell to talk us through the vital range of services her organisation offers. Company: Shared Lives South West Name: Jane Bell, CEO Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.sharedlivessw.org.uk Address: Suite 3, Greenhill Way, Zealley House, Kingsteignton, TQ12 3SB Telephone: 01626 360170