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.

Mental health has always been a part of my life. Campaigning and raising awareness around the help that's out there has become very important to me. I know where it can lead when you feel no one understands or can support you.

Hi everyone, this is Peter aka 'George Ezra' here! I am very excited to tell you all a bit about myself and how I won the Dream Fund, so let's start.

Here’s the first blog in our career series. Stuart Robbins, who is currently acting as Head of Quality and Safety, talks to us about his career at Brandon, his roots as a support worker and why he loves his new role.