We are taking part in Starts at Home Day 2019

Today we are taking part in Starts at Home Day.

Starts at Home Day celebrates the positive impact that supported housing has across the country to make sure people who need extra support will always have a safe home that meets their needs. We visited Speedwell Court, one of our supported housing schemes for residents with Autism and Asperger’s, to meet with residents and our colleagues and find out what supported housing means for them.
 
Caroline Pierce, Scheme Manager at Speedwell Court, and Amir Khalili, Support Worker.
 
‘Supported housing is absolutely vital.’ Caroline told us, ‘For autistic people, or people with Asperger’s life can be generally quite overwhelming. We can support them with everyday tasks like shopping, budgeting, cleaning and helping them to attend community activities. It’s about enabling individuals to have that little bit of independence they wouldn’t be able to afford on their own.’

Fred, resident at Speedwell Court
 
We asked one of our residents Fred about his experiences living at Speedwell Court. ‘When I moved in I’d just turned 21, moving out of my parents’ house at this age made it feel like adulthood in some way, having a degree of freedom.’ Fred has been living at Speedwell Court for six years, ‘I like that we are not isolated or kept away from the world. The staff are really lovely and very helpful – 24 hours and seven days a week if you need something they’re there, even if it’s four am!’

Carol Williams, Director of Operations, Carol Carter, our Chief Executive and Gareth Jones, Director of Development and Assets.
 
Speedwell Court was recently awarded with a second Accredited status by the Autism Award Committee from the National Autism Society.
 
Caroline added ‘Years ago individuals with Autism and Asperger’s would have been looked after by parents or family members or put into institutions whereas now we’ve got community involvement, they have their own private space. I love what we do here. We’re quite a passionate team and we’re a close knit team, It’s good to see we’re on target to achieve the best service and support provision that we can!’