How to become a Shared Lives Carer for an adult with additional or complex needs in the Dudley Borough and the surrounding Black Country areas.
Email: sharedlives@cvt.org.uk or call 01384 441505 to find out more
Carer – Shared Lives • Could you share your home with someone who needs your support? • Are you open to providing something similar to ‘foster care’ but for an adult? • Do you have a room in your home and room in your heart? • Do you believe that everyone deserves a safe, supported and inclusive home? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, you may consider becoming a Share Lives Carer and we’d love to hear from you.
Email: sharedlives@cvt.org.uk or call 01384 441505 to find out more
What is a Shared Lives Carer? ☺ It’s very similar to being a foster carer but for adults with additional or complex needs. ☺ You will need a spare room and be open to sharing your home and life. ☺ You don’t need any qualifications or experience … just the right values, commitment and openness to create a stable and safe home ☺ As a Shared Lives Carer, you can be paid up to £580 per week or pro-rata depending on the level of support you provide to the adult who comes to stay with you. Through HMRC, you will have self-employed status and therefore qualify for tax relief at £10K per annum and £250 per week for each person you support.
What do our Carers have to say? "If you have room in your house and room in your heart, then do it, it’s really, really rewarding. Paul makes me feel happy all the time because I know he’s happy." Tina "It's a great feeling when you see someone moving forward, progressing and reaching their potential. You enrich us, Donna, you really do. You enrich the whole family." Diane and Richard "I think it is what it says on the tin. We're sharing our lives and Paul and Mark are sharing their lives with us. We're just living our own life with two people with a disability and supporting them." Lin and Jim
All our Shared Lives Carers have found that welcoming an adult with additional needs into their home adds an enormous amount to their own lives and family. Could you become one of the most important people in the life of an adult we support?
About you This is a great opportunity for those individuals who want to develop a rewarding career within the adult social care sector across the Black Country region. Shared Lives really does challenge the assumptions of what adults who require extra support can achieve whilst living within the comfort of an ordinary home, but with extraordinary carers. If you are currently looking for a change of direction/career change, or already working as a support worker/carer assistant in domiciliary or residential care, however, you are more passionate about supporting people in the community, then Shared Lives could be for you.
Some things to consider If you don’t own your own property, you will need to ask your landlord’s permission to use your home for a Shared Lives Arrangement.
Shared Lives Carers open their home and support adults with additional/complex needs on either a live-in, short-break or day-support basis. Shared Lives is sometimes described as a bit like ‘foster care for adults’ but it’s so much more than that.
The Carer encourages the person to not only become part of the family and provide a sense of belonging, but also to create a life of new opportunities, of which the person would otherwise have limited chances to experience.
The aim of the Shared Lives Carer is to always support the person to develop the practical, social and emotional skills to make their own choices in life and be as independent as possible, whilst remaining at the heart of the community, just like you and me.
We will provide you with relevant training, and once approved, on-going support to ensure that the highest quality of care is maintained throughout each Shared Lives Arrangement.
The Assessment process will involve several stages to check your suitability and allow us to find out more about you and your family, along with your values and experience.
We will use a combination of online meetings, training and professional discussions, before presenting you to an independent panel.
An Enhanced DBS Check and references are also required. Becoming a Shared Lives Carer means there is also the opportunity to take part in wider social events, celebrations and access existing resources, as well as connecting to a wealth of support and friendships within our long-established Stourbridge Community.
What is the Shared Lives model? Shared Lives is a unique model of personalised support and accommodation, with a very strong track record of transforming lives, going back over many years.
It is a unique and cost-effective alternative that achieves better outcomes than other traditional forms of care such as supported living, residential and long-stay hospital, enabling adults to live longer, healthier, happier lives.
There are approximately 9,000 adults being supported by 122 Shared Lives schemes throughout England and here in the West Midlands, there are 13 schemes supporting about 800 adults. At Camphill Village Trust we currently have over 90 Shared Lives Carers supporting nearly 50 people across Dudley Borough and the neighbouring Black Country region.
For an informal chat or to learn more, please contact:
Email: sharedlives@cvt.org.uk or call 01384 441505 or go to our website: www.camphillvillagetrust.org.uk/locations/shared-lives-west-midlands/