Lyn Romeo: I’m so happy to welcome Ewan King, previously of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and now Chief Government of Shared Lives Plus, as our visitor blogger this week. I’m an ideal fan of this mannequin of care and assist and the various methods it helps folks benefit from neighborhood based mostly choices, serving to them lead wholesome, joyful and inclusive lives. Such approaches can solely be of monumental profit to these working by psychological well being points too, as Ewan and David Massey, a person who discovered Shared Lives to be a massively optimistic expertise, clarify…
The necessity for psychological well being assist
Of the various challenges we face as a society, there isn’t any doubt psychological well being has grow to be one of the vital urgent. Between 2016 to 2021, statistics present there was a 44% enhance in referrals to NHS psychological well being companies. The nationwide charity, Rethink Mental Illness, reported a 175% enhance in demand for recommendation and data on their web site within the 12 months following the lockdown.
In some methods, I don’t discover these figures stunning. As somebody who has at occasions struggled with psychological well being points, I do know first hand how the final two years have made issues tougher. I additionally know, from speaking to family and friends, I’m not alone.
Unsurprisingly, the NHS and different types of assist are discovering responding to this rising demand difficult. An enormous drawback is the dearth of community-based options to bed-based care, the place folks can go in the event that they want assist.
Within the worst instances, folks get “trapped” in hospital or enter completely unsuitable lodging. That is the place Shared Lives can play a task. Greatest identified for the assist it offers to adults with studying disabilities, it’s a mannequin of care which entails a Shared Lives carer sharing their dwelling with an individual who wants assist. It’s a mannequin proving more and more efficient in supporting folks with psychological well being situations.
Why? As a result of Shared Lives affords an individual a loving dwelling to dwell in, companionship and a wider community of assist, which may help them recuperate and regain their wellbeing. That is, sadly, not at all times the expertise of people that spend a very long time in hospital, or dwell in impersonal supported housing.
Shared Lives: a private view
Andy, who has just lately drawn on Shared Lives, informed me that, earlier than he joined Shared Lives, his life was bleak:
“It was terrible, I used to be in a residential dwelling and by no means felt secure. There have been some actually scary folks residing with me – some had been intercourse offenders. I used to lock myself away in my room many of the day and smoke.”
However this all modified when he met with a Shared Lives carer and determined he wished to dwell with him:
“I wrote a letter to my social employee asking to maneuver. She launched me to a scheme in Wales. [People from the scheme] met me a number of occasions. They requested me what day for me can be and the way would I really feel secure.
“They then stated I may meet a number of of their carers, who they thought I’d match with and share comparable pursuits. I went to a number of carers and [had] tea with them. Afterwards, the scheme girl requested me how I felt. I had feeling about one carer, so I requested if I may spend a day, then possibly a few in a single day stays to see if I preferred it. And I did!”
Andy has seen his life reworked. Importantly, Shared Lives, which may be very a lot a strengths-based strategy to assist (which means it seeks to construct on what you’re good at relatively than merely focusing in your issues), addresses your complete life and what you wish to obtain.
He informed me:
“On account of being [with] Shared Lives, I felt secure and my psychological well being stabilised, I now go to varsity and research music manufacturing, which is all the pieces to me.”
Sharing the profit
There are a small however rising variety of areas providing Shared Lives as an possibility for folks experiencing psychological ill-health.
In South Wales, as an example, there’s an award-winning psychological well being disaster group, which helps folks into Shared Lives schemes. In South London, the South London and Maudsley NHS Basis Belief, is establishing a brand new Shared Lives service in Southwark.
However given we all know it really works – it delivers excellent assist and is way less expensive than bed-based options – it isn’t broadly obtainable. This wants to vary.
It’s going to require dedication from senior leaders in each the NHS and native authorities, a dedication to speculate, and a concerted effort to recruit Shared Lives carers, which additionally means ensuring they’re nicely compensated.
Andy needs extra folks to learn in the way in which he did:
“I’d say do it, as its saved my life… It [could] actually change [yours]. Mine was chaotic and wanted a house surroundings to make me really feel secure.”
