Shared Lives offers the chance to make new friends, invite new people into your family, and experience a whole new perspective on life!
Bedford Borough Council’s Emma Bradley and her husband Phil first became Shared Lives carers five years ago, sharing their home and family life with adults who have learning disabilities
She explained why she loves being a Shared Lives carer.
“I had never heard of Shared Lives, until I came across it when working for the Council,” she said.
“Then a role came up as a Shared Lives Officer, which I applied for, and was appointed to. As part of that I was going out on placements, monitoring them, and seeing these lovely people who welcomed others into their families and homes.
“They made these adults part of their own families, and it made me realise – I could do it too.”
The Shared Lives Bedford service offers three main types of support.
Short breaks offer a supportive and enjoyable stay within a safe home. This works best when the person stays with a Shared Lives carer on a regular basis, getting to know them and their family. Short breaks can provide service-users with the chance to make new friends, try new experiences, learn new skills, and become more independent. Short breaks can be anything from an overnight stay through to a few weeks away like a holiday.
Long-term placements offer the chance to live with Shared Lives carers and/or their families on long-term basis. This offers an alternative to supported living or residential home.
And short session can include doing something different to a service-user’s usual day care, such as going to the cinema, pub, or a local sporting event. They can learn a new skill, get help with appointments, go swimming or to the gym. It can be almost anything, as long as they and the carer are safe.
Emma currently has six people who join the family, some on a monthly basis and others with a more ad-hoc arrangement organised by Emma, Phil, and the service-users’ parents and carers.
But what do their stays look like?
“A lot of it is just normal day-to-day life, being at home, playing games like cards or Uno or chess, watching films, or going out on the river.
“It’s not about planning big activities it’s about making them part of our lives. It’s a break for them, and it’s a break for their families too.”
To find out more about Shared Lives, go here.