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living a life
Staying local: stories of how it worked

Life stories and life journey maps can enable people to stay close to home. Making local
support happen – even in crisis – means people can remain in their communities. Sue Ledger
and Lindy Shufflebotham tell three stories of making local support work

aking local support happen for Sadly, when Stephan was 45, his sister Stephan returned to his home with
all who need it is a long- was diagnosed with a terminal illness. 24-hour support.
Mstanding aspiration for people They informed David, the Oseney House David explains his thinking: “Stephan
with learning disabilities and their service manager, who met with both of and Iglika were a unit. The way I saw it,
friends and families. them to ask how he could help. They it would have been artificial to split up
Reliance on out-of-area provision leaves agreed a plan of support. their support. By supporting Iglika to
people cut off from others and Stephan recalls how he and his sister carry on at home, we were supporting
increasingly vulnerable to abuse, as vividly came to rely on the staff at Oseney House him too.
exemplified in the recent Panorama as her illness progressed: “I went more “In the same way, I saw it as our role to
report on Whorlton Hall. [to Oseney House] so Iglika could rest. make sure he kept his tenancy. We
This is the last in a series of three David said he would make sure that I worked with a local supported living
articles. The previous two looked at how didn’t have to leave Peel Crescent. He service to enable him to move back
life stories and life journey maps can came to see us and sorted out for me to to his home when his sister was no
enable people, including those with high have the flat. longer there.”
support needs, to stay close to home (see “Oseney House staff helped Iglika when In 2018, Stephan was still at the same
box) (Ledger, 2019; Ledger and she started to forget things.” address, attending church and clubs.
Shufflebotham, 2019). As Iglika’s health deteriorated, the short
This final article recounts three stories breaks team helped her to continue for as Billy: complex needs
from the project; they are about people long as possible in her caring role. “Billy should have the chance to try out
who found themselves in crisis and were going home – the last thing he needed
able to remain in their local area rather was an out-of-area challenging behaviour
than being placed far from home. “ I thought: what am I service in a new place with more new
people,” a senior local authority manager
Stephan: staying in his home going to do? We had no told the Staying Local project.
Stephan is a sociable man who loves train spaces but had to respond. Billy came to the attention of social
travel and conversation. He has complex It took a lot of juggling services when his mother died suddenly.
health and mobility needs and requires He was admitted on an emergency basis
24-hour health and social care support. but we got there to Oseney House.
Iglika, his older sister, had been his sole When she became so unwell that ” He had no surviving family nor circle of
carer since the death of their parents. They support. He had shared a housing
were very close and saw their long-term association flat with his mother who had
future together. They had lived in rented Stephan could no longer remain in their had minimal contact with services. Billy
homes at various addresses in the same home, the short break service swiftly was blind and did not use words.
street, Peel Crescent, over many years. responded to provide full-time care. No local service had a vacancy able to
While Iglika was at work, Stephan went David says: “I remember Iglika rang and support Billy. Twelve months later, he
to Oseney House, which provides short said she was being admitted to hospital was still living in the short breaks service
break services. Over several years, a that day. She was so worried about while the local authority tried to find
pattern of regular, trusted support Stephan. I said leave it with me and we a placement.
built up. will pick him up from the day centre. Christine, a challenging behaviour
“In my head I thought: ‘What am I going specialist, recounts the complexity of
to do?’ We have no spaces but I knew we Billy’s needs: “He had suffered a terrible
Life journey maps had to respond. Having built up loss. He was still distressed, and the
A life journey map is essentially a relationships with carers, I rang the father environment was very hard for him at
collection of images and descriptions of a person who was due to come in for a Oseney House. People were always
brought together to tell the story of planned stay and explained [the coming and going. He was blind and
someone’s life and where they were. situation]. He was fine. clearly unsettled.
The pictures and information are “I think I encouraged people to see that “His behaviour was getting worse and
collected during mobile interviews, it might be them needing that kind of causing problems. Other people using
where a person is taken out to places flexibility sometime. It took a lot of short breaks service were at risk as Billy
that are significant to them. juggling but we got there in the end.” was hitting out and pushing. Sometimes
The life journey maps show how After Iglika’s death, David worked with they would try to hit back.
familiar areas are central aspects of local agencies to support Stephan to “Staff intervened frequently and 3:1
individuals’ lives. succeed to his sister’s tenancy and staffing was introduced to keep Billy and
arranged adaptations to the home. others safe.”

26 Vol 33 No 1 | Autumn 2019 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk