Active Support – Janet, David and Lynne

Since we initiated Active Support at 2 Harbour Close, the staff were behind the idea so we implemented it immediately. We soon realised that customers can do more for themselves.

Janet

To begin with, the customers took some encouragement to agree to do this for themselves and to participate. But staff all worked as a team and encouraged the customers to do things that they could include in everyday life for themselves. Janet now helps with various household chores (as shown below):

Allied-Janet-HooveringWith encouragement, Janet also makes her own drinks and lunches though she does not want to do this regularly. But with perseverance of the staff we hope to continue to encourage this in future.

Janet has said that she is happier now that she can perform these tasks and that she has more confidence.

 

 

 

Lynne

Lynne is the customer who needs a lot more support from staff. She currently needs hand-on-hand support with most of the tasks we encouraged her to do. She will occasionally feed herself a few mouthfuls of food though she would not do this regularly. Also she currently partially undresses and washes herself with hand-on-hand support. With staff persistence, we will continue to encourage more of this in the future.

Allied-Lynne-eating

In summary we have observed that Janet and Lynne are showing more confidence in doing more for themselves. With continued perseverance and teamwork from staff, we are confident that Janet and Lynne will continue to progress.

Feedback from Senior Support worker, Charina Guanzon who works at Sandon Road

Right after the Active Support Training, the staff in Sandon Road put things in place immediately. All staff were and still are on board and clients appeared eager to take part as well. We tried it with all the clients according to their needs and the support that they require. We lessen doing things for the clients and instead we let them take the lead, which is fantastic!

One client in particular who has benefited the most and made the most difference is David. He is more active with house work now more than ever. When we first introduced Active Support Dave still needed a bit encouragement to participate. Now he would volunteer to help out in the kitchen after the meal. There are still days he is still not very keen to help but with prompting Dave would do the task at hand with minimal support.

With Active Support clients there had been a massive improvement with their behaviour as they have something to look forward to doing in their own home.

When Dave is not in his best mood like something upsets him or made him anxious, helping with house work, like drying the dishes, reduces his anxiety. It keeps his mind off what is bothering him and changes his mood almost immediately. He appears happy and accomplished when he helps around the house. With Active Support clients there had been a massive improvement with their behaviour as they have something to look forward to doing in their own home.

Sara McKie
Harbour Close
Allied Healthcare