Page 16 - Community Living Magazine 32 - 4

living a life
We were here: sharing

stories of local support

People are telling their stories through mobile interviews and
life journey maps. These stories can help them remain in their
communities, say Sue Ledger and Lindy Shufflebotham

e are the experts on how Consultation with self-advocates, families,
things worked – it was us who health and social care practitioners,
Wwere here.” commissioners and service providers made
So said Otis Robinson, one of nine us ask: how did some people remain local?
people with learning disabilities who told This gave rise to Sue Ledger’s Staying
stories of how they were supported to Local PhD Research project. This aimed to
stay in their communities. find out what enabled people to remain in
The Staying Local research project drew their communities through listening to
on unexplored life stories to better those who had made it happen.
understand what supported people to
remain local. Taking the lead from life Why recover and record life stories?
storytellers, the project developed mobile Sharing stories from our past is a good
interviews and map-making to support way of telling people about ourselves and Raymond (above) pointing to his old school
people who use few words to is important in building relationships. and (top left) choosing pictures for his map
communicate to tell their stories. Yet people with learning disabilities
Life stories were analysed alongside often find it hard to share stories. Some Reconstructing and recording life stories
accounts of local support from 36 others do not use words; others experience None of the nine life storytellers had any
closely involved, including families, problems with remembering dates or form of life story recorded. There were
frontline staff and managers, as well as putting information in the right order. As significant gaps in explaining what had
information from documentary sources. people move away from their families and enabled them to stay local – where they
Our article in the spring issue of rely more on services or paid support, had lived, when, who they had lived with
Community Living (Ledger, 2019) reported many stories are lost forever. and how crises had been resolved.
what we found out about how people We explored how people could recover The missing information was accessed
stayed local. In this article, we explain the and share their life stories and, in doing so, through people with learning disabilities,
project’s life story methods. answer our questions about how local their families, friends and support circles,
support had worked for them. in addition to documentary sources.
Staying local Life stories are important to staff, Former staff were sometimes contacted.
Keeping people local is a key policy managers and commissioners if they are to
objective (NHS England, 2015). Sadly, provide genuinely person-centred support Mobile interviews
progress has been limited, as the previous and help people stay connected to the We completed 14 mobile interviews,
edition of Community Living showed people and places that matter to them. which involved walking or going on car
(Jarrett, 2019). Children and adults placed Government policy states all people journeys to support people to recover and
at a distance often feel that it is their fault with learning disabilities should be able to share their life stories.
that they have been sent away – when it live in their communities. Yet we found Mobile interviews were trialled as a
is the system that has failed them. very few accounts of local support told means of supporting people with less
At the start of Staying Local, both from their perspective. The voices of verbal communication to share their life
authors were working to strengthen local those with complex needs – at the experiences. Their value first became
support and prevent out-of-area greatest risk of being moved away – were apparent when we accompanied Lenny
placements being made in a crisis. very rarely in evidence. Smith to photograph the house where he
had lived as a child. As we drove through
Tracing family photos the streets near his former home, he
and putting them in became very animated and pointed to
date order one building, saying, “K Club”.
This turned out to be a former youth
club for people with learning disabilities
– Smith’s naming it prompted his family to
remember how this club was also a source
of support for siblings and parents.
Being mobile enabled people with less
communication to lead researchers and
physically point out places of significance.

16 Vol 32 No 4 | Summer 2019 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk