May Lee, Certitude’s Person-Centred Development Manager, facilitated the session which was designed to enable everyone to share their views and to think creatively and positively about how the people being supported could have more choice and control over their lives. Everyone was encouraged to talk about their dreams and aspirations and to feel unrestricted in planning what their lives could be like in the future.

Mercy and David discuss the findings of the Planning Live session

The session started with an introduction from May and the chance for everyone attending to share something about themselves with the group. Next they moved onto break-out tables with the person being supported and everyone involved in their circles of support on each table. Each group was given a series of headings to assist the discussions. These included: What is working; What isn’t working; What is important to me now? and What is important to me in the future.

As well as considering ways in which overall support could be more personalised, the session also looked at how people would like to spend their “In My Control Hours”. These “In My Control Hours” had been identified as part the Individual Service Fund pilot using a Care Fund Calculator.

On average each person at Uneeda has 4-5 hours per week within their individual control so this Planning Live Session provided a great opportunity for some blue-sky thinking about how people would like to spend their free time.

The hopes and aspirations of the participants ranged from specific objectives such as “finding a girl to have a relationship with” and “learning to drive”, to more on going requests such as “getting out and about more”, “making new friends” and “keeping in good contact with my family”.

For Mercy and her team of Support Workers the next step is to implement more personalised rotas and to find new and creative ways to fulfil these aims. We’ll keep you up to date with how everyone at Uneeda is getting on in a few months.

- Alerts about new content on our website (www.certitude.org.uk) and/or different digital channels.

- Up-to-date information from our Teams about what they are doing.

- Featured fundraising appeals.

- Occasional live coverage of events.

If you follow us on Twitter we aim to follow all our supporters back. Being followed does not imply endorsement of any kind.

We strongly encourage all our followers to re-tweet our posts and communicate via @replies. However, we do not reply to individual messages on Twitter. If you wish to communicate with us, please contact us on info@certitude.org.uk or 020 8772 6222.

We monitor our Twitter accounts during office hours, Monday to Sunday. We accept no responsibility for lack of service due to technical failure of the service provider.

Think Local, Act Personal

So what does this mean for Certitude?

Our Chief Executive, Aisling Duffy,  is a member of the TLAP Partnership, representing VODG (Voluntary Organisations Disability Group) and therefore representing voluntary organisations.  Certitude has signed up to Making it Real. We have developed an action plan for the Making it Real markers – view here. Our action plan highlights our continuing work being carried out through our ISF pilot as well as within the wider organisation. Certitude’s customer satisfaction survey for this year also included questions in line with the Making it Real markers to help us establish a base line for personalised support and to chart our progress over the next few years.

Certitude is delighted to launch its 2013/16 Strategy. Working Together for Change events together with PATH planning days ensures our strategy is based on what people we support, families and 　colleagues have told us is important for the future. Building on 22 years of experience Certitude’s golden threads for the next period are Co –production, Relationships and Creative Communication. If you have ideas on how you can help us deliver our plans or would like to find out more about our work please contact us.

Ann Skinner, Chief Executive of Resolving Chaos, speaks with her new partners

Great news for Nicholas Campbell-Watts, Director of Mental Health Services and his team, the Big Lottery Fund has given £10 million to Resolving Chaos, which will team up with Certitude and other charities for outreach projects designed to help people who do not receive help for their problems, including drug addicts and funtionaing alcoholics. Read full article here.

Philomena just loves gadgets so finding out about assistive technology is right up her street!

“I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to gadgets so when I heard the management team were looking for someone to take on responsibility for assistive technology I was quick to put up my hand.

Assistive technology is defined as any item of equipment or system that is used to maintain or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities and it covers everything from a simple alarm to the latest in biometrics. I like solving puzzles and problems so researching the latest technology and finding the best ways to apply it to the people we support is right up my street.

I am in the process of assessing how assistive technology can help all the people we support and I am starting with everyone involved with the Individual Service Fund pilot. Establishing ISFs and identifying “in control hours” is about giving more choice and control to the people we support and helping them achieve as much as possible within their own budget. The application of new technologies can often help us achieve both objectives.

It requires a different mindset to resolve traditional problems with assistive technology so I am meeting with everyone involved in the ISF Pilot to talk to people about what it is and how it works. We are already beginning to find some new solutions to old problems.

Accessible technology such as tablets and iPads are proving a great help for many people – especially in the area of communication. One lady we support who uses Makaton now has an iPad with a Makaton App. She takes it with her when she goes out and uses it to communicate in shops and cafes. It means can choose to do things for herself and can go out on her own. Not surprisingly, it’s transformed her life.

We are also realising how technology can help in shared services where people have different support needs. For example, we currently have a house where two people live with one support worker; one person likes to stay in a lot and the other one likes to get out and about. It has been hard to leave the individual in on her own as she likes to answer the phone and front door – which can be unsafe. If we apply up to date call barring technology, install a new front door security system and equip her with a mobile phone it may be that we can minimise the risk and give both people more of the kind of lives they want to lead.

I’m working closely with our creative communication specialist, Lucy Harrison, to see how additional equipment can support her Intensive Interaction programme. We are looking into speech generating devices like those produced by DynaVox and an incredible gadget called the V-Pen which actually ‘reads’ sound codes off printed paper.

It may all sound a bit MI6 but applications like biometric finger-print recognition, GPS location bracelets and eye-movement operated computers are all on the market and readily available. Technology is evolving all the time and we need to keep abreast of the changes. Assistive technology is opening up new opportunities for the people we support and I am excited to be part of an innovative team which is making the most of everything that’s available.”

Philomena Strollo, Service Manager

We are proud to launch a monthly spotlight of online appeals that will improve the lives of people we support. Check out the March edition.

In March 2013 you can make a contribution towards improving well-being through digital technology. At Certitude, we believe that digital technology offers new opportunities to plug a gap in current service provision and give a more cost-effective service. This month we are raising funds to ensure people with a learning disability using our accommodation services are provided with a 24-hour monitoring service.

Raising £1,000 for Careline

In our learning disability accommodation services we want to ensure that there is always someone to help, if any of our clients need it. That is why we want to improve our work by installing a personal emergency alarm system, called Careline. This will provide 50 people with a learning disability with 24-hour telecare alarm monitoring services.

Shop online and raise money for free!

You can also support this cause by shopping online. While making purchases with Amazon, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Argos, Debenhams, or any other 200 retailers, they will donate a small proportion of money to Certitude. It doesn’t cost you anything – just a one-minute registration here:

1. Join EasyFundraising online and register  to support Certitude.
2. Bookmark EasyFundraising and follow links to your favourite online retailers via EasyFundraising.
3. Your online purchases earn an automatic donation to Certitude.

If you sell on eBay you can donate between 10% and 100% of each item’s sale price to Certitude. All you have to do is click here.
Online giving has never been easier – and it won’t cost you a penny more!

“Manjoula has been living at Van Gogh house for several years and more recently it seems as though her life has contracted. She no longer wants to go out on her own – something she was happy to do when we first knew her – and she isn’t really interested in any of the activities we offer her,” explains Ben.

Manjoula’s reluctance to communicate or join in with activities was starting to leave her isolated. Ben applied his person-centred training and spent time with her to try and discover new ways to support her.

“Person-centred tools such as Perfect Week and Circle of Support helped us confirm that Manjoula’s Mum is very important to her, that she enjoys shopping and that she doesn’t like classroom based activities,” says Ben. “But I soon realised that person-centred thinking required a complete change in the way I think and work – aside from these processes. It made it essential for me to take a step back and to stop making assumptions. I think I learned most about Manjoula by taking the time to get to know her better, by observing her and by giving her time to make her own choices.

“For example, it became obvious from our shopping trips that Manjoula loves make up and nails– so now we are in the process of setting up a nail painting group. Similarly, Manjoula has stuck to a rigid and restrictive diet, but by taking the time to let her show us what she likes by letting her sort through the food cupboards we have been able to expand her menus. Breakfast was always tricky but now we have found out she loves Weetabix – quite a discovery!”

It also became clear that Manjoula’s circle of support – both paid and unpaid – could be expanded. Her apparent reluctance to “join in” had left her with a limited number of acquaintances and Ben was keen to find some more activities which Manjoula would enjoy and where she could make new friends.

“We were all surprised to find out that Manjoula enjoyed drama. She was given the opportunity to visit a local drama group with someone else from the house and she hasn’t looked back since. She goes once a week from 10 – 4pm and seems to particularly enjoy the improvisation.”

Manjoula has also found a local weekly church group which she likes to visit and is planning to try her hand at bird watching in the Spring. Manjoulas’s enjoyment of a night out at the pub has inspired the Van Gogh support team to set up a Monthly Pub Group with people from other Certitude houses locally. The group plan to try out a number of local pubs and will be reviewing the service, accessibility and welcome of each hostelry after every visit!

With Ben’s support Manjoula’s life is expanding, her weekly routine is taking on a new shape and her circle of support is growing. And according to Ben the change in Manjoula has inspired the entire Van Gogh team to work more closely together.

“I’ve really enjoyed this last six months, learning more about person-centred practices and getting to know Manjoula,” says Ben. “I’m looking forward to sharing more of what I’ve learned with everyone else at Van Gogh. If I had a top tip it would be to stay determined, encouraging the person you are supporting to take centre stage in their own lives can be challenging, but the results are definitely worth the effort.”

For further information please contact communitychoir@certitude.org.uk or JUST TURN UP!

Looking at David’s Perfect Week and the results of his Planning Live session it was clear that David was frustrated by the unchanging routine of his life which involved weekdays spent at a day centre and every weekend with his parents. He wanted to get out and about more, meet people, and get a job. David is fun and sociable and wanted to live more like any other young man in his thirties.

David enjoys his job in the Ealing Hospital cafe

Once David was in control of his own diabetes – and he now takes his own blood sugar readings as well as managing his injections – we could explore so many more options together. In a matter of six months his life has completely changed. He cut down his day centre visits and they will probably go completely in September when he hopes to start a college course. He has a job at a cafe at Ealing Hospital which is supported at the moment but we expect him to go alone in the next few months. He travels there on the bus but only needs “shadowing support” so he’ll soon be doing that on his own too.

During the day David works out at a general keep fit class at a local church, enjoys urban tours with the Ealing Mencap Bike Hub and goes on lots of trips with Out and About. He hits the dance floor in search of a girlfriend on the last Friday of every month at The Bass. He’s met a few nice girls, there’s no one serious so far – he has made a lot of new friends though.

We’re planning a holiday to Tenerife in September where David might slow down a bit. He loves the sun and enjoys lazing the days away on the sun loungers. I might need the rest too! David’s new life is pretty hectic and demanding but the positive nature of the change has brought all the Support Workers at Uneeda together as a team. It’s invigorating to watch his transformation and his progress is so fast-moving we’ve started writing a blog to exchange news about how he’s getting on. It’s more fun and informative than writing notes and it means we’re all up to date with what’s changing.

Before it was like David was living the life others wanted for him – now he is living his own life. He’s getting to know himself and is happy to tell us what he wants. He is making friends and contacts wherever he goes and it feels like there are so many opportunities for him to explore; I’m looking forward to what comes next.”

Steve Penfold, Support Worker, Uneeda Drive