What is Supported Living?
Individualised Care Plans
Supported living helps people with disabilities or additional care needs live as independently as possible in the home they love. By accessing supported living care at home, people get to remain where they want to be, without the need to move into a care home, nursing home, or residential facility. This keeps you more independent than you would be elsewhere, as well as able to maintain control over your own life and daily routines. Having regular support from Helping Hands also means you’ll have an individualised care and support plan, designed to your exact needs, and in collaboration with you and your advocates. This ensures that the way you like to live your life is always known by everyone who supports you and will be comprehensive yet flexible enough to change if your needs do. And because all our care services are fully regulated by the Care Quality Commission and Care Inspectorate Wales, you and your loved ones can always be confident that you’re being supported exactly as you wish.
As we get older, we often find that certain tasks aren’t as easy as they used to be, or that age-related frailties have made life more challenging. If you’re living with a long-term disability, the additional challenges of ageing can mean that whereas you once managed relatively independently, you may now appreciate extra support to accomplish your goals. Your dedicated carer will follow a schedule of arranged visits or live in your home with you, meaning you’ll benefit from the support and friendship of someone who’ll soon become a friend. For over 30 years we’ve been supporting adults living with disabilities to have an improved quality of life. This can benefit your emotional wellbeing as well as your physical, boosting your confidence and self-esteem, and supporting you in the choices you make every day.
We offer a variety of different services to ensure you get to live your life exactly as you wish. We design your package of care to your own personal routine, meaning that you get a bespoke service that’s flexible enough to change if your needs do.
Visiting care
We offer visiting care from just 30 minutes per week, although the average visit tends to be for an hour or more. As our customers find they enjoy having their carer around for longer. Having the opportunity to carry out all of the tasks you need them to while they’re in your home means your carer will concentrate on exactly what your support plan states, whether that’s doing your housework, taking you out to the shops, or assisting you to attend appointments or activities. If time allows, they’ll certainly enjoy sitting down with you for a cuppa and a chat too. If you need them to focus on your personal care, mobility, medication, or preparing meals, they’ll be able to do that too.
Live-in care
Our live-in carers are always on hand to support you with your everyday needs, as they’ll be in your home on an around the clock basis, so that you can enjoy their companionship when you wish, or enjoy hearing them undertake your everyday requirements. This could be changing the beds and doing laundry, keeping your home tidy and clean, helping you to make your favourite meals, or you can enjoy the smells from the kitchen while they do. Live-in care also gives your loved ones reassurance that you’re never alone at home; that there’s always someone there in case you need unanticipated help in-between a visiting carer’s calls. You’ll soon stop looking upon your carer as just that – they’ll quickly become a trusted and welcome friend.
Respite care
Even if you receive the majority of your care from family members, they’ll still need to take a break regularly to avoid becoming too exhausted to support you. This is the same if you have an existing professional carer – they’ll still need regular time off, or they’re liable to ‘burn out’ and risk becoming stressed or unwell. Respite care from Helping Hands can be delivered from a few days to several weeks, depending on your circumstances and the needs of your condition. Your family may be taking an extended vacation and are concerned about how you’ll manage while they’re away, or perhaps they want you to go with them but aren’t sure of the practicalities of doing so. By having respite care either at home or while you’re on holiday, you’ll get to continue your regular routine without any disruption to your everyday life, while knowing that your loved ones or your carer are taking a well-earned break too.
The Helping Hands Approach to supported living
Our exceptional supported living care and support is available to care for complex conditions such as spinal injuries, neurological conditions, other physical infirmities, and mental disabilities. With supported living care and support at home, you get to remain in the place you love, maintaining your independence, and living your life to your own preferences. Choosing supported living care at home as opposed to in a residential or nursing home can be a difficult decision to make. The thought of someone you don’t know coming into your home can be daunting – however it’s always going to be more preferable to uprooting from the home you love and moving into a place that isn’t your own. Many people aren’t aware that supported living care at home even exists, presuming they have no choice but to eventually move into a care home. Helping Hands have supported thousands of people to continue living in the home they love – despite the complexity of their condition – since we were established in 1989, which is why we can be so confident that our standards of care are unrivalled. Remaining in your own home for care means you’re always in control of your routine – you decide what you do, when you eat, and when you get up, if you want to get up at all that day. You might fancy a duvet day and that’s your right, and we’ll always respect your choices. Your carer will never try and tell you what to do or influence your decisions, you are an individual and we’ll always treat you as such. We only employ people who have naturally compassionate natures to become our carers, and we ensure they are equipped with all the practical skills they’ll need to help you enjoy your life at home and in your local community. Whether your carer is with you for an hour or two to give your family a break, or they’re there around the clock, you’ll always receive the same exceptional standards of care that we’re recognised for.