How person-centred support transformed Linda’s life.
Providing person-centred support is at the heart of everything we do at Carr Gomm. We don’t do things for people, we do things with them. We know that helping people to be their authentic selves and live the way they want can transform lives for the better!
Becs Barker, Operations Manager: Community Contacts, Involvement, Quality and Innovation, shares a powerful story about how Carr Gomm’s person-centred support has changed Linda’s life for the better:
“The story is about a seventy-year-old woman who has lived with a lifelong physical disability, alongside mental health and cognitive challenges. She receives her support through Option 3, having previously lived in residential care. While she needs a great deal of assistance with personal care, the right support enables her to live a largely independent life.
Yesterday was only the third time she had ever left Glasgow. She travelled to Edinburgh independently to meet some friends, and I met her off the train.
One of the first things she asked me was, “Do you like my new leggings? I’ve also got a petrol-blue pair.” After I complimented her, she told me something that really struck me: it’s only recently that she has felt confident enough to wear leggings—and to shop in M&S. For over 40 years, she wore cheap joggers, a choice made for her by staff when she previously lived in residential care.
She explained that now, living in her own flat with truly person-led support, she finally feels able to make her own everyday choices. No one else picked the leggings. No one needed to. It has taken years of gentle, consistent, respectful support to rebuild her confidence and sense of self.
Those leggings are a small thing—but also a huge thing. They are a reminder of what happens when support is done well: people get to live the lives they choose– and it is possible under all 4 SDS Options.”
– Becs Barker, Operations Manager: Community Contacts, Involvement, Quality and Innovation
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