www.mcch.org.uk
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learning disability | autism | mental health
Tuck by Truck’s big tidy up. Page 4
Winter 2014
Sam Woollard Editor
Welcome Awards are a great way to recognise the hard work of everyone at mcch. We have been nominated for 2 national awards and are recognising the achievements of our staff at our annual awards ceremony. Award nominations We are so pleased to win this year’s Great British Care Awards for the London area. Our Carlton Centre team won the care team award for their great work getting the people we support settled into their new building. We also had success at the 3rd Sector Care Awards. Our mental health specialists were runners-up for the collaboration and integration award and Allan Finn won the citizenship award for his work with the Jigsaw hate crime project. Staff get an award We recognised the hard work and dedication of our staff and volunteers at our annual awards ceremony. We gave them awards to say thank you for their great work.
I was very humbled to even be nominated so you can imagine how I felt to be announced as a winner! Colin Thomas Employee of the Year
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People can work Lord Freud was ordered to issue a full apology after he said that some disabled people were “not worth” the minimum wage. This quote is something that we completely disagree with. We currently run 10 enterprises that support people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs. The enterprises are real businesses that support people in a working environment. They give people valuable work experience and the chance to develop work related skills. These include: • improved confidence and self-esteem • communication skills • improved mental wellbeing • CV building and interview training • support to find work experience and paid work Within the enterprises there are paid roles that we support people to apply for when they are ready. These roles are paid at least the national minimum wage and have the same terms and conditions as other mcch staff.
I would like to offer a full and unreserved apology. I was foolish to accept the premise of the question. To be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I accept that it is offensive to suggest anything else. Lord Freud source: www.theguardian.com
Find out more about our social enterprises on our website: www.mcch.org.uk/services/ enterprises Winter 2014
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Tuck by Truck’s big tidy up Our Tuck by Truck enterprise took part in the ‘Womble & Waitrose - Big Tidy Up’ and helped to clean up their local community. They got involved to say thank you to the Kent County Council Community Wardens who have helped people at Tuck by Truck to find job opportunities in the community. The Community Wardens helped to make contact with potential employers that were previously hard to access like children’s play groups. They introduced Tuck by Truck to the businesses. This proved to be a lot more successful than cold calling. Since they have been working with Tuck by Truck they have helped to get lots of volunteer and paid work in businesses and community projects. They also helped Tuck by Truck to arrange a Community Safety Day that included talks from the Community Wardens and Fire Brigade about staying safe at home and when you are out and about.
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What is a tenancy? Nicola Bowen Head of Tenant Services A tenancy is a legal estate in land. It gives you rights and responsibilities. There are different types of tenancies. The benefits of having a tenancy are that you have some security and the landlord cannot just ask you to leave your home without a good reason. A tenancy agreement is a contract between you and your landlord. It lets you live in a property as long as you pay rent and follow the rules. It also sets out the legal terms and conditions of your tenancy. Our housing handbook We have made a new housing handbook. The handbook is displayed in every property. It gives lots of useful information to help the people we support with their tenancy. It has information about how to pay rent, reporting repairs, contacting our housing officers, dealing with problems with neighbours and useful telephone numbers. Get invoved and have your say We are always looking for people who use our housing services to get involved in shaping the way we do things. If you have an interest in housing and feel that you could spare some time please contact Nicola: 01622 722482 n.bowen@mcch.org.uk Winter 2014
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Thank you for your help
To celebrate the opening of their new store and community rooms, Tesco Extra in Ashford made a donation of ÂŁ500 to our Live it Well centre as part of the continued support of the local community.
After their great work earlier this year DSH chartered accountants and business advisors returned to the Live it Well centre in Maidstone volunteering their time to help tidy the garden. They got stuck in doing some weeding, strimming and hedge cutting to tackle the most overgrown parts of the garden.
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Emma Cassley Fundraising Manager
We were thrilled that our Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 riders John and Richard both completed the 100 mile bike ride. John completed the ride in 7 hours 19 minutes and Richard in 5 hours 12 minutes. The money raised will be used to buy sensory equipment for our autism london accomodation service.
Richard
John
Thank you to Process Benchmarking for their donation of ÂŁ850 for our Tuck by Truck enterprise in Bexley. They visited the service to meet the people who work there and see how it is run.
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Ken Boyce Centre
Green fingers Every year we run a gardening competition for our services. It encourages people to improve their outside spaces and recognises their great work. There were 22 entries and everyone who entered received a free compost bin and some Flanders Fields poppy seeds. The competition was judged by Chairman Ann Cooke, Vice-Chairman Philip Sayer and staff from across mcch.
London Road
Ken Boyce Centre were this year’s winners. They transformed their outside space into a sensory garden using materials that were donated to them by the local community. The people we support were involved every step of the way during the garden’s transformation.
A full list of the winners can be viewed on our website: www.mcch.org.uk 8
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Bexley fun day We held a fun day for the people we support in Bexley. It was a great opportunity for everyone to get together, try out new activities and watch performances on stage. There were lots of great things for people to watch and try. People were given the chance to have a go at taekwondo, bollywood dancing and Cossack dancing and lots of other fun activities.
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Marvellous support Supporting a new tenant who may have slightly more challenging behaviour can be difficult. To do this within a family home when mum and dad are both there makes it even more difficult.
Brian, Sam and Ben
Support assistants Brian, Sam and Ben were praised by parents when they supported their son Darryl into his own flat at Ridgelands Road. Darryl moved into his own flat after living with his parents for 3 years. For 2 weeks Brian, Ben and Sam supported Darryl in his family home to reduce the impact of moving into his own flat. During this period the staff gave Darryl’s parents confidence in what they were doing, they were always professional, polite and respectful. Darryl’s parents even told their care manager that they think these are the best staff that they have ever worked with. Since Darryl was supported by mcch his behaviour has improved and he enjoys having his own flat. Brian, Sam and Ben were awarded the Respect award at the 2014 mcch awards.
The staff are marvellous, I would give them an award myself. Vic, Father
I am proud that these 3 members of staff who have shown what a good service mcch is and how staff should support and respect all tenants, families and each other. Tracey Wilson, Team Leader
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Who says support planning needs to be form filling? For some people filling out a support plan can feel very restrictive. You have to fit everything you want to do into small boxes. Teresa decided to complete her support plan in her own way. Instead of using a form she used pictures.
Teresa
Chris, my broker at Signpost UK, made it clear that the support plan itself could be in any format as long as it provided the information needed. After all, it’s no use filling in a form if forms are something you struggle to use. Everywhere I looked for inspiration I found a list of questions and couldn’t find an example of a creative support plan. I decided to change this. I wanted my support plan to reflect my personality so the person reading it could see what I was like and understand why I had chosen to spend my budget in the way I described. A support plan should reflect your personality, your wants and needs. I chose to use a sheet of A3 paper, get out my crayons and draw my support plan. I chose to do this as I felt it was the most honest way of portraying my needs, I added quotes which inspire me and used bright colours for each of the boxes.
Read more of Teresa’s story on our website: www.mcch.org.uk Winter 2014
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Are you looking for support? Call us free on 0800 028 28 15
mcch One Hermitage Court Hermitage Lane Maidstone Kent ME16 9NT
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t. 01622 722400 f. 01622 722450 www.mcch.org.uk
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mcch is a registered charity number 1156486 and a company limited by guarantee (registered in England and Wales number 8971493).