Kathryn Morgan Development Officer Shared Lives Plus, Wales.

What Shared Lives means to me

Safer, better, lower cost Where I live now is the best place I have ever lived. I have my freedom but I know people care about me and I feel safe. Achieves great outcomes like (lots of!) new friends. Government inspectors say Shared Lives is consistently better and safer. £26,000 a year lower cost per person. I love everything about my life: now I feel like I belong to a family.

I love everything about my life: now I feel like I belong to a family. What Shared Lives means to me Shared Lives is when you live with a family or one carer in their home and they help and support you with what you need. Where I live now is the best place I have ever lived. I have my freedom but I know people care about me and I feel safe. A chance to have a life with their family. I love everything about my life: now I feel like I belong to a family. When I moved into shared lives my carers saved my life, I was depressed and being bullied before I went to live with them. Now I feel so much better.   From a report by Your Voice Counts 2015.

Safer, better, lower cost Achieves great outcomes like (lots of!) new friends. Government inspectors say Shared Lives is consistently better and safer. £26,000 a year lower cost per person.

Disability support in the UK (big) care homes are still the norm for older people. Group homes and a few (smaller) institutions Supported living in your own home Living with your own family (often with little support) and increasingly Shared Lives…. Disability support in the UK

Older people’s support The most difficult times for a generation: Unprecedented cuts to services and more to come. NHS (illness treatment) protected, but not social care And even well funded & run services can’t create good lives A good life comes from friends, family and a purpose

Care and support in the UK The UK has tried to ‘personalise’ support We’ve learned some powerful lessons we want to share A good life is about friends, family, purpose, love. Personalisation: lessons from social care, RSA: http://goo.gl/QSlDg

Sharing home and family life. Long Term/Live-in arrangments Short Term Day Support “You see people grow - they blossom.”

The Shared Lives carer role Sharing home & family life Family & friends help out Build community networks Love Personal Unpaid Professional Paid Self-employed Trained & paid Four weeks of breaks Professional personal care

Assessment, approval and matching Rigorous 3-6 month assessment and approval process. Looks for skills, values, attitudes and knowledge. Considers housing and rest of household. Shared Lives Haringey Initial meeting Application & interview ID & DBS, references Training pre & post approval Approval process Approval panel

Shared Lives carer family Shared Lives matching Shared Lives carer family Me Matching takes time, but pays huge dividends. Short breaks can be part of matching. “It’s like extending your own family.” “The whole village is helping but in a natural way.” Shared Lives carer My family Paper matching Involve family Meeting Activities Overnight, Weekend Trial period

Alison and Chris The three words that I believe sum up Chris’ move here are probably the same as in many other Shared Lives homes – freedom, normality and belonging. Chris asks us things, tells us things, seeks advice, ignores advice, makes us laugh, infuriates us, socialises with us, spends time alone, cooks the dinner, refuses to cook the dinner and has good days, bad days and days in between. Normal family life. And from this stems greater freedom underpinned by a greater sense of belonging. If and when he moves on for whatever reason then he will go with our blessing, but for the time being he is one of our family, this is his home and this is where he belongs. Shared Lives Carer

Peter and Allan ‘Peter’, who I support several days a week, is a similar age to me and he has learning, physical and communication difficulties. I really enjoy being in his company and I think he feels the same. I encourage Peter to decide what he wants to do and get great satisfaction seeing him making good sound decisions. Peter visits my home and has got to know Moira, my boys and my sister and Mum. I was impressed at how Peter engaged my youngest son Aaron, bringing Aaron out of his shell. Allan, retired police officer and Shared Lives carer.

Going the extra mile Shared Lives carers regard the individual as ‘family’, which can mean helping them achieve more. Shared Lives carer Marie says: Matthew is a lovely young man who loves to socialise. Matthew has always wanted to go out to work and with help and a lot of applications for different jobs he got a job at the Hilton. It was very hard at first when Mat was applying for jobs as he had a lot of rejections. I contacted all his job applications and asked them for “feed back”. I told him to keep trying and he was successful in his second interview with the Hilton where he is a housekeeper.. He has made many friends and has nights out with work mates. He is a reliable well thought of young man and has grown in confidence and self-esteem.

Safer, better, lower cost Lower cost of care. Great outcomes 34% of service users had made five or more new friends.

Shared Lives: Day Support Day support in the Shared Lives Carer’s home and the local community. Matching process ensures provider and client compatible. A Shared Lives carer supports up to 3 people at a time. Maintaining skills: cooking, gardening, eating together. Consistent, familiar setting. A break for family carers (carer’s grant funded).

Shared Lives: short breaks Lynne: “My dad was his usual self on our return and slotted straight back in as though he hadn't been away. When he went to a care home before, he came back quiet, withdrawn, unable to do things - some things were lost forever.” Karen: “It was an absolute pleasure to be matched with Harold. He instantly became part of the family” PossAbilities, Rochdale

Home Hospital Shared Lives carer Home from hospital care Consistent, familiar homely support. Each time an older person goes into hospital they are less likely to return to their own home. Home Hospital Shared Lives carer

Payment for care includes 4 weeks’ paid breaks p.a. How the funding flows £ Payment for care includes 4 weeks’ paid breaks p.a. £ 2? Disability benefits Council or NHS Shared Lives scheme Shared Lives carer John £ £ 1 £ Housing benefit £ 1 coordinator to 25 supported individuals (live-in). Recruiting, training, supporting Shared Lives carers. Staff team & office 3? £ £

Savings Source Investing in Shared Lives Social Finance July 2013 • Average net savings from a long-term Shared Lives arrangement per-person per year are £26,000 (learning disabilities) and £8,000 (mental health). • Expanding a scheme by 75 arrangements requires around £250,000 of up-front investment and generates savings of £1.5 million p.a. at capacity. Source Investing in Shared Lives Social Finance July 2013

Our national role Connect people & families Peer networks Peer networks Support Shared Lives carers Support local schemes Shared Lives Plus Raise awareness & influence Protect the values & ethos Advice skills & learning Innovation research & grants Families Awareness

We support innovation Mental health support Older people & dementia Out of hospital Shared Lives Parent & child Transitions & young adults Offenderssubstance misuse Domestic violence Families Awareness

Homeshare Householder (free spare room + shared facilities) matched with Homesharer (10 hrs/wk support + companionship) in return for Independence & safe, affordable accommodation for an agreed period.

UK Shared Lives: the future Our vision is for Shared Lives to become a movement for shared living Seeing capability and potential, not just need Valuing ‘informal’ support as well as paid support Arranging support around family and self-care All services can and should connect people Tackling isolation and loneliness Small and personal on a massive scale

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