LEISURE & ENTERTAINMENT A Bright Future
Oliver Richards has been a Support Worker at Eden Futures for just over a year and is enjoying developing his skills and
experience, alongside studying for a degree in psychology. Here, Oliver explains more about the work that Eden Futures does to encourage inclusivity and progression for its service users.
Eden Futures supports over 600 people in a range of Supported Living settings, with over 1,100 staff members working to support, sustain and develop the service. Everything we do is person-centred and, because of this approach, no two people will have the same interests or the same level of confidence. Led by an individual, we strive to find the right balance of respecting someone’s privacy and encouraging their participation in activities.
We like to think that everyone we support has an interest in something, no matter how small, and it is part of our role to identify and adapt to find out about these interests.
“Having something to get up for and to look forward to
within your day is a powerful tool to inspire someone, and this is why leisure and
entertainment is so important for service users.”
Having something to get up for and to look forward to within your day is a powerful tool to inspire someone, and this is why leisure and entertainment is so important for service users. The activities they choose to participate in can be a way to take their minds away from the stresses of life.
Active Support is a process we use at Eden Futures to enable people with learning disabilities to engage more in their daily lives, by becoming familiar with their individual needs and interests. According to the Centre for the Advancement of Positive Behaviour Support, Active Support changes the style of support from ‘caring for’ to ‘working with’, promoting independence and supporting people to take an active part in their own lives.
We also use tools such as Graded Exposure, where staff introduce service users to an activity little by little but oſten. This allows them to pick up skills at their own pace and, once
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they feel confident with their achievement, move on to the next set of skills or activity.
Together Learning has also helped us to not give up on an activity when an individual took little part in it first time round. A good example of this was a painting session with a non-verbal individual. To begin with, they only painted for around 2-3 minutes. Aſter sitting with them and observing the types of pictures and colours they liked to paint with, we realised they had a preference for non-vibrant colour. This small change of increasing a darker range of colours has resulted in increased activity time of 15 minutes.
It’s also important to not focus on the big picture. By breaking down activities into a series of smaller segments, it’s much easier to understand and demonstrate an activity. Someone may dislike football, but that doesn’t mean they won’t enjoy kicking a ball with another person.
On a daily basis we could be supporting individuals with a wide range of hobbies and interests, ranging from line dancing and discos to veganism and cars. We also support people to access the community or take trips and holidays. And for those that are not as active, the entertainment may be as simple as cooking, completing a jigsaw or using Play-Doh, but equally as enjoyable to that person.
Routines help, but are not set in stone. We use activity charts to offer choices on a daily basis and community visits (like going to a cinema, or using a sports club) will be planned and booked with an individual in advance. Many service users will use some sort of visual cue, such as a tick chart or social stories, so they are prepared for their daily routine.
There are sometimes instances when a person expresses an interest in a certain activity, but may lack the understanding or motivation to take part. When this happens, we look at the short, medium and long-term goals, as well as known areas of difficulty, to tailor the support. Someone I currently support wants to hold a charity event so we have looked at different avenues to enable this to happen, such as financial management, ordering resources online, planning, and researching sponsored activities.
Our values are to be brave and show positive risk-taking, ensuring service users get the best possible outcome to enhance their confidence. It’s so rewarding to witness an individual’s pride when they have completed and enjoyed an activity, and want to make this a part of their regular routine.
www.edenfutures.org www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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