Lester City Council Shared Lives Services enables a wide range of people who need support
to live independent lives and have their health and well-being promoted with the support
of a Shared Lives Carer. It is an alternative to residential care and a highly flexible
form of support using the Shared Lives Carers Home as a resource. Shared Lives Arrangements
are provided by ordinary individuals, couples or families in the local community. People
using the service and their Shared Lives Carer enjoy shared activities and life experiences.
The Shared Lives Scheme is responsible for recruiting, assessing, training and supporting
carers, for taking referrals, for matching and placing people, and for supporting and
monitoring all placements. The Shared Lives Scheme provides training to ensure carers
are knowledgeable and skilled. The Scheme also provides regular carer meetings where carers
can meet together and share ideas and discuss concerns.
Shared Lives is really good for services because it gives them a chance to live within a family
environment rather than within an institution. It gives them the opportunity to learn in
domestic routines, family domestic routines, cooking and cleaning. And for some people
it's a really good stepping stone into a more independent living.
We were having lunch one day in a pub and there was this great big picture of a horse
on the wall and Tony kept looking at the horse on the wall so I asked him why and he said
I like horses and I said oh have you ever been horse riding and he said no. I said would
you like to try horse riding and he said yes. I feel that Tony gets quite a lot out of horse
riding. He's mixing in with the community, he's meeting different people. I think it's
built his confidence up a lot and trust and things from being out and about.
Shared Lives gives Tony a more individual and personalised day service because there
is only like three people maximum so that he gets more attention and can actually enjoy
the activities that he does. I've looked after Tony now for over five years and since we've
had him we've done a tremendous amount of work on his health. He's actually now his
goal weight, his health is a hundred times better than it was, he's more confident, he
has like actually active life. So actually now seeing him now after five years I'm really
happy and proud. It's been a great achievement to feel that we've actually changed somebody's
life for the better.
I started fostering thirty years ago and when Elaine became about twenty-one then I went
on to being a carer and I've been working for Shared Lives ever since they began and
Elaine not only shares my life but she also shares my family and I've got a big family
and she's very welcome, they all love her and she loves them. Yes and she's a very happy
person.
I feel that Elaine's living with me this almost thirty years has been a great benefactor. I
think that we together moulded her into a young lady who can go out and about and is
acceptable wherever she goes, who can get on public transport, who can conduct herself,
can go shopping and use a bank card and she's very self-sufficient.
I like living here and I like my bedroom and I've got a nice dog and I take her out and
also I've got a nice bike and I like cycling.
I enjoy being a Shared Life carer, I've got a companionship for one thing which is great
and I've got a friend, I've got someone who lives with me and it's lovely to share my
life with her.
I would certainly recommend anyone becoming a Shared Life carer. I have recommended two
of my daughters and one who used to foster and one who does my respite care now. Yes
I think it would be great. If you're in for a challenge it's wonderful.
I've left the day that Dennis came to live with me. He didn't have a lot of confidence
when he came, he'd lived elsewhere for twenty years and he'd sort of really just been used
to going out to do his voluntary job and then going home again and when he came to live
with us he suddenly found that he had to be a little bit more independent than he had
been previously but he loved it. He learned to use the buses to get to work in the morning
and then come home. He suddenly was going out to groups and different social clubs of
an evening time. Where he lived before, because of the circumstances they didn't get much
of a personal allowance whereas in Shared Lives they get quite a good personal allowance
so he suddenly found that he'd got money that he could do with what he wanted and so now
that money has enabled him to go out to different social clubs, he goes out on a Sunday for
a drink at the pub, he just really is enjoying life. His sister actually said to me, you've
given my brother his life back. We're all individuals and we are all just as important
as each other within the household. We all have opinions and we all respect each other's
opinions. I love the fact that now Dennis has come to live with us, he's suddenly exploring
his independence, his confidence has built immeasurably since he's been to live with
us. When he first came he used to say, would it be alright too Carol? And I'd say, what
are you asking me for Den? You're 59 years old. Some of the things that he'll ask to
do I would have to think about and look at the risks involved but it's about positive
risk taking, it's about looking at all of the avenues, the back up, he's got a mobile
phone, any problems give us a ring and off he'll go. Often in different care settings
they won't have free movement around the home whereas here with guidance they've learnt
through help to make their own cups of tea if they want a sandwich or they want a biscuit
they can help themselves. So they have more freedom of movement around the home as well.
I can't recommend being a shared lives carer highly enough. It has changed my life enormously.
I love working with the people that I work with. Yes it can be challenging but the rewards
but you couldn't put a price on the rewards. David's been with us 11 years, when he first
came here he didn't do an awful lot for himself but since being here he's integrated into
my family, he's got his own family, he mixes with everybody, he does jobs around the house
helping the others and just being a very kind person. David's got his own life here
which he really enjoys when we go to the theatre. He makes his choice that he wants to go to
the theatre, the cinema, uptown, he's choices every day of his life and he just loves that.
He's such a happy person these days, he used to have a lot of seizures daily, he hasn't
had a seizure now for over two years and he just feels as if he's got two families.
When I first started doing this job I'd just done it for people's short stays, they used
to come for either a long weekend or a couple of weeks. I met a lot of people, over 90 people
and then I just felt as if this was my vocation and I've just loved it from day one. I've
met an awful lot of people with all different challenges in life and since then I've come
to have in three people live with me and I love it.
Since I've been doing this job which is 16 years it's changed so much. We get a lot of
support from our support workers, we have carers meetings where we meet other people
who do exactly the same job as us but no two days are the same and no two problems are
the same so to discuss them with other people is lovely.
Jagdish came here for respite only a couple of three times then after that he'd want to
stay here for a long time. So Friday morning I take him either to the temple or to the shopping
centre or to the library. Here we treat him just like a family member. Even when some
guests come or some visitors come in he enjoys to sit with us and talk everything and have
meal with them together whenever any visitors or family members come here.
In May we used to go for a charity walk with my wife and this time we took Jagdish as well
with us and have a charity walk for one mile. He got a certificate for that as well.
Before joining Shared Lives I had been looking after my mother and my father for eight years
that encouraged me to join Shared Lives and I enjoyed it since for the last three years.
So I would recommend that if anybody else wants to join Shared Lives it's a very precious
job to do.
I'm Lydia and I'm a social worker in the Shared Lives scheme. My role is to recruit, assess,
train, monitor and support our carers. People who use the scheme may be people with learning
disabilities, sensory disabilities, mental ill health, older people or people living
with dementia and physical disabilities. Shared Lives enables individuals with high support
needs to live within the community. So we provide training to our carers so that they
feel enabled to provide the support to these individuals.
The Leicester City Council is expanding the Shared Lives scheme so that we can offer more
placements and recruit more carers.
The good things about being a Shared Lives carer is the happiness you can bring to people.
People tend to look at people with disabilities as a problem, as a difficulty, as cramping
your lifestyles, which is totally wrong and totally the opposite. My young lady is a very
valued member of our family. We wouldn't know what to do without that beautiful big smile
she gives us.
She has her own room, it's an adapted property so she's got her own wet room. All the things
in her room are her own personal pictures as she grew up from school through to college.
I get lots of support through Shared Lives, through training to work with somebody with
severe disabilities. Chanel's needs are classed as high. All the training is provided and
support through Shared Lives.
Shared Lives provides long term accommodation and support as well as short term accommodation
and support and community opportunities, where service users use the carers home as a resource
but do not stay overnight. Shared Lives carers are recruited following an extensive selection
process which takes between three and six months to complete.
The recruitment process includes criminal records and DBS checks, social care checks,
accommodation, health and safety checks, references, medical checks and an assessment completed
by a social worker to ensure that the carer has the necessary skills and knowledge to
support and enable people.
Shared Lives carers can work with up to three individuals at any one time which enables
Shared Lives to provide a truly person centred approach.
Service users benefit from a consistency in care which may not be achieved in any other
care setting. If you would like to find out more about the Shared Lives scheme and talk
to one of the team, please use the contact details at the end of this film.
