Sweet Home
Living independently had always been the aim for Jane* who is one of our service users. Born with Downs Syndrome, she lived at home with her Mum who had Dementia. The initial aim was to monitor the home situation and to work with Social Care to enable Jane to have some time to do the activities she wanted to outside of the home with the additional support she needed to achieve this.
When Jane’s Mum sadly passed away, Jane wanted to remain living in the family home. However, she had no real experience of household budgeting, planning and completing shopping errands or meal preparation so it was clear that she would need support to enable her to carry out these tasks safely and to develop her independence.
Teamwork and Collaboration
We worked with Jane and her Social worker to devise a support plan that enabled her to develop the skills she needed to live independently. The plan that we put in place enabled staff to spend time with Jane developing her shopping, budgeting and cooking skills whilst ensuring that her medication was in place as required.
Growing Confidence
Following the support plan that we were able to put in place coupled with Jane’s determination, our support staff have seen Jane’s confidence substantially increase. She now is able to budget for expected household bills and her shopping as well as keeping some time free for social activities.
Jane is also now an active member of the Charity’s Service User Forum which she attends regularly and she is a positive contributor and participant in discussions that have gone on to inform change in the way in which the Charity operates and delivers its services.
However, most importantly and as a result of receiving the right type of support at a time and pace that works best for her, Jane has been able to stay in her family home and live independently. Home now really is ‘Home Sweet Home’.
*Although this is a real life story, the name ‘Jane’ has been used to protect the identity of our service-user.
