Lauren is a support worker for Brandon; she joined us in 2016 after moving from the childcare sector. She tells us more about her journey to a new career in care and what makes her role “amazing”.
At some point overnight last weekend (7-8 Dec), you made a conscious choice to commit burglary at our much-loved charity’s care farm, where we support people with learning disabilities and autism.
Your actions have caused great distress to them and to our staff, who give so selflessly and whose passion and commitment enables approximately 80 of the most vulnerable people in our society to enjoy the opportunities we provide at the farm.
Steve is a locality manager for Brandon; he’s worked with us for four years and began as a team leader. He tells us about his journey in setting up a brand-new service for a group of young people in Yate.
Some of the people living at one of Brandon’s registered care homes near Bristol came from long-stay institutionalised care, where they were prescribed medication which may – or, crucially, may not – benefit them.
STOMP is a health campaign to stop the overmedication of people with learning disabilities and/or autism, and improve their quality of life.
Hugh and Sophie are team leaders at the care home – here they describe the life-changing effects STOMP can have…
After working as a civil servant for 25 years, I knew I needed a change. My job had become the most stressful it had ever been.
My daughter is a support worker, and one day, she asked me to keep her company at a recruitment evening. I had no intention of applying for a job, I simply went for moral support. I’d always envied my daughter’s job role and how much satisfaction she got from her work. She knew it was something I’d talked about wanting to do, but I never had the courage to do anything about it.
I first met James in 2014. He was 24 years old. Described as having a severe learning disability, autism, and behaviours that seriously challenged, he had spent many years in a long-stay hospital. Any attempt to move him to residential care had failed catastrophically.