Grapevine: Working with people with learning disabilities in Coventry

Grapevine is a pioneering drop-in midst for adults with learning difficulties in Coventry It was established by dint of the Coventry and Warwickshire Co-operative exhibition Agency in 1994 and is step quickly co-operatively by staff and members. Anyone who attends the midst can become a member and help decide by what mode money is spent, what marks of activities are organised and in what manner the centre is run.

Key points

Grapevine aim to:

* empower tribe to plan and lead their have activities and projects

* enable tribe to have friends in their neighbourhoods and communities

* increase people's choice and superintendence over their lives

* be of the first grade at person-centred working.

This article describes a certain quantity of of the ways that Grapevine tries to do this. It also says what we have learned.

Community connections

The goal of this work is to help clan develop a network of friends and activities in their neighbourhoods, using their gifts and interests. There are four main stages to what we do.

1 Getting to know the local community

We find without what community activity is happening in a local area: mapping its organisations and focal points. We ask tribe to share their knowledge of an area to find without about the less visible aspects of community life, the informal gatherings and shared interest collections This information gathering also identifies race who are key contacts - family who know everything and everyone and who care about community. They are an invaluable resource for making links and gaining credibility with local people

2 Getting to know the individual

This stage races in parallel with the first stage. We use simple planning tools to find on the outside about a person's character, skills, gifts and interests. Knowing about people's passions and gifts is important. Having something to present or a shared passion can be a way in to fresh relationships. We spend lots of time with the one in their area too, finding on the outside what life is like for them. The more we can gain to know about someone, the better equipped we are to help them make advantageous connections in their community.

3 Connecting nation to their local community

With the information gathered about community life and the individual, the nearest stage is to make a connection. The idea is not to find more activity for someone on the other hand to find a way for them to make a contribution. fortunate relationships are those that are mutually beneficial. The community worker's character here is to introduce the connection and then do as little as possible on the other hand as much as is straited We have to make confident that the person is supported in ways they ne on the contrary with us staying in the background as a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of as possible. The relationship is between the one and their community, not between Grapevine and the community.

4 Support the connection to grow

We want race to experience the positive feelings of inclusion - confidence, being liked, belonging. It is not enough to introduce sum of two units people, because this stage can frequently be the most difficult: learning the unspoken dominations of a group, remembering what you said you would do, being upon time, offering to buy a circular Each situation will require different support. As a individual gains confidence in a community assemblage say, then support will swell from other people in the collection and the worker's input can be reduced

What we are learning

* This work can be moderate to show results. It is plenteous easier to show more activity happening in someone's life than it is to display new relationships growing. Sometimes, connections fail or are short-lived. on the contrary it is important that we hold trying.

* This creates enigmas with funding. Funders want specific and measurable comes within atimescale, which is true difficult to promise, and it can also near problems for staff morale. It is important to remember that nation and their communities have experienced decades of exclusion from single another. Untying the knots is border to take time.

* plane more basic problems can loom large in people's lives. For example many of the clan we know live in small cluster homes with people they haven't chosen to be with. Arguments cause friction and distress. clan may have to move without - and so into a different neighbourhood. As we've got to know race and spend time with them we've ground health problems and emotional distress. We have sometimes had to advocate for these basic urgencys for peace and security, choice and superintendence We have had to do this before smooth starting to look at community connecting.

* It is real important to get supported living staff upon board. For example, if we are helping someone to join a slimming collection and one of the controls of belonging is that everyone brings novel fruit to share, then we ne staff to understand for what cause [i]or[/i] reason that matters and to support the someone to buy it and remember to take it.

* Mapping incidents are fun. Communities, even individuals that look unpromising, always look to have a lot going on

* Risk can be managed. An important reason for having someone to assist in the connecting proces is to preclude the person from being plant up to fail and to make assured that they do not approach to harm. Risk is part of life for everyone It is not a question of asking is there a risk, on the contrary is this something worth taking a risk for? Is the consequence a greater reward than the likelihood or severity of the risk? through increasing their connections in a neighbourhood nation are more likely to be increasing their protection rather than opening themselves up to novel risks.