Livability Ashley Place is a residential care home in Bognor Regis. The service provides great care and works hard to ensure that the people that live at the home are supported to live the life they want to lead.
Community connections and supportive networks are so important to people living well and thriving. Claire – a lady that lives at the home and the Ashley Place staff talk about why.
‘Friendship is really important to me because you can have a good time and a laugh together, and you’re there for each other when you need to be,’ says Claire. ‘Livability just encourages me to be as independent as I can and get out and meet people. I’m there for my friends just as much as they’re there for me.’
Watch this film to find out why Friendship Really Matters’ for Claire and her community at Livability Ashley Place.
For Livability, supporting people that use our services to connect to others is a key component to person-centred care. ‘Connections in the community are really important for the residents,’ says Carole Brian, senior support worker at Livability Ashley Place. ‘When people have got interests outside the house, they know there’s more to life than Ashley Place, there’s a whole world out there and they’re part of it. It’s important for us as staff because we see how they are after interacting with people – we see a positive difference in them.’
Staff start with where the person is at, says Trudy Lockyer, Ashley Place’s manager. ‘We work with each individual, we meet with them, we talk to them about their interests and see if we can find a way in. It could be somewhere they’d like to go, whether it’s to see a film or join a club – anywhere where other people might be. Then from there we can help our residents to develop those relationships – as with any of us, they can sometimes turn into friendships.’
Whilst Livability staff are trained to keep appropriate boundaries with the people they serve, sometimes great friendships form outside the care setting. ‘We’ve got people who used to work at Ashley Place who are now friends of residents at Livability Ashley Place, rather than workers,’ says Trudy. ‘Vincent became very good friends with his key worker John after he left the service. John knew that Vincent, who has speech and hearing difficulties, hasn’t got many close friends although he’s got hundreds of acquaintances. John’s been a very good friend to Vincent, for instance taking him to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. John and his wife are there for Vincent and Vincent knows them as friends.’
Livability, 6 Mitre Passage, London SE10 0ER.
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