Network 6: Neath Port Talbot

Network 6 – Our Year in 2015

In October 2014 the people we support in Network 6 all attended a What Matters to Me Event in the Four Winds. Everyone had produced posters of ‘What Mattered to Them’ and discussed the types of things that they could do together to make their lives and support better.

Ideas we came up with varied from how we could more easily share lifts to whether we could organise our own X factor event. Rick the Chief Executive of the Consortium told everyone that he would come along and sing if they organised that …this went down very well with everyone!! (We haven’t forgotten Rick).

From this we formed a committee of the people we support supported by staff to plan events they want to arrange. This committee has been successful and trips have been organised to a range of places.

People who receive support have been central to organising these, including taking responsibility for collecting and managing the money collected to make them happen.

Discussions about lift sharing have also taken place. One person spoke to their social worker in Social Services about using their transport to offer lifts to others that haven’t got transport. This has meant that no one is excluded from getting to things they want to be involved in.

One group of people sharing a home have had a bar built in their activity room which they decorated themselves, this has become one of the most important rooms in their house.

Sarah who had lived for many years in a shared house with 24 hour support spent much of this year planning her wedding, and making arrangements to move into her own home with her husband. Her team worked intensively with her to prepare for living with just drop in support and how to respond to the changes that a much more independent life creates.

Also in the early part of the year we will be completing the restructuring of our network team which we all feel will be positive. We are going back to teams of staff focused on small groups of tenants who live together. This means the people we support have the same faces coming in to support them and they will know them well.