Press release

December 2009

Alabaré branches out into Amesbury

Alabaré continues to expand as it opens two new supported living projects in Amesbury.

The homes, which are adjoining, have been named Joshua House and Jeremiah House.  Joshua will provide 24 hour supported accommodation to adults with learning disabilities, and Jeremiah will provide medium to low support with no over night sleep over.

Each client will be assigned a key worker and the support provided to them will be based entirely upon their personal needs.  A support plan outlining their goals and aims will then be drawn up.  Clients will also be encouraged to work on their independent living skills, which are everyday things like cooking, budgeting and household chores.

The first two residents have already moved into Joshua House and are settling into their new home very well.  Four more residents will be joining them in the New Year.

Ruth Telford, Supported Living Manager, says:

“I have always wanted Alabaré’s learning disability services to grow so I am delighted that we have opened a further two supported living projects.  The two new houses in Amesbury look fantastic and I want to thank everyone for the hard work they have put into making this happen.  I am delighted that the first two residents have settled in to their new home well and hope they continue to do so and I look forward to having two full houses in the New Year.”

Supported Living provides accommodation to people with learning disabilities, enabling them to lead a fulfilling life of their own choice.  Alabaré opened its first supported living house in 2002 providing accommodation for four men. Since then we have opened a further five houses.  We now have four homes in Salisbury and two in Amesbury.

Each of the houses offer different levels of support ranging from medium to very low and the support provided to each client is based entirely on their personal needs. Staff work to a system called Person Centred Planning; clients are assigned a key worker who will work with them to draw up a support plan. This plan outlines aims and goals that they want to work towards and could include anything from taking up a new hobby to finding employment. Each week clients also have to work on their independent living skills, which are everyday things like cooking meals, budgeting and household chores.

In addition to this, clients are also encouraged to explore a range of social activities and often clients from all of our learning disability projects will get together for lunch or parties.