United Response Christmas Cards

United Response Christmas cards are now for sale!

Costing £2.99 for a pack of 10 - they're a bargain.

The artwork has been done by Bill Atack who is supported by United Response. And they're easy to get too! Go to www.unitedresponse.org.uk to have a look and order yours now!

Association for Supported Living announces new chair

Bob Tindall, Managing Director of United Response has been announced as the Association for Supported Living's (ASL) new chair.

He said “It’s essential we maintain momentum in delivering an improved quality of supported living for people who choose it as part of their preferred lifestyle,” said Bob. “There are a lot of challenges ahead, with many new policies being introduced and implemented under Gordon Brown, so all our members have to work together to make sure the Government hears our hopes and concerns clearly from the beginning. If we do that, then we’ll make supported living not just better but easier to access, something of vital importance to the 14,000 people with learning disabilities supported by our members.”

The ASL is a member of the Department of Health’s Learning Disability Task Force and the joint Healthcare Commission/ Commission for Social Care Inspection’s Learning Disability Improvement Board. It holds an annual conference and other member consultative events.

Carol services!

Christmas is getting closer!

We are having two carol services this year: one in London on 5th December and one in Easingwold, Yorkshire on 13th December.

We'd love you to come along. Both services are free!

For more information, please go to our website: www.unitedresponse.org.uk

We are Advantage's Charity of the Year!

Leading healthcare provider, Advantage Healthcare, has nominated us as its charity of the year!

This is the first time that either organisation has entered in to a charity of the year partnership and the relationship is expected to generate at least £20,000 in fundraised income as well as creating volunteering opportunities at United Response services throughout the country.

Advantage is an established healthcare recruitment specialist.

Su Sayer, chief executive of United Response said:

"We are absolutely thrilled to have been nominated as Advantage's charity of the year. At United Response we passionately believe that people with learning disabilities or mental health needs have the right to lead fulfilling lives, accessing the same opportunities as everyone else. We are so pleased to be working alongside an organisation like Advantage that so closely shares this vision.

"Our fundraising work means that we are able to offer people the opportunity to experience new things in their lives, whether that's a short trip or access to specialist equipment to make communication easier. By raising money for United Response and volunteering their time, staff at Advantage will be helping us to make these things an everyday reality in more people's lives. We look forward to working with them."

Keith Nurcombe, chief Executive of Advantage Healthcare Group, said:

"This is the first time that Advantage Healthcare has chosen to have a charity of the year and I am very happy to be working with United Response. It is fantastic for our staff to be able to give their time and energy to a charity that helps such a wide range of individuals in community settings. I look forward to this being a long and successful partnership."

New Jobs site!!

We've got a new jobs website! It allows you to search all our jobs by specialism or geographical area. You can create job alerts so you know about new jobs you are interested in, once they are posted.

And the whole application process can now be done online.

It couldn't be easier to work for us!

Go to www.unitedresponse.org.uk/jobs and sign up now!

Sensory Gardens appeal and Competition

We have launched an appeal to help us to raise funds to build sensory gardens

The appeal is backed by a range of celebrities including Kim Wilde, Anne-Marie Powell and actor George Baker

Many of the people supported by United Response have spent a large part of their lives living in big institutions, with little or no stimulation. Sensory gardens allow them to interact and engage with their environment through sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. This can transform their quality of life.

We are asking people to donate to help us build these gardens around the country.

You can help by going to http://www.unitedresponse.org.uk/appeal

There are also details of a competition to find the most imaginative garden with a great prize. Enter yours or one you know now!

Telesupport

Pioneering twenty first century social care: United Response trials telesupport as a possible means of meeting future social care demands.

We are the first charity pioneering a new integrated telephone/video system as a means of supporting people with learning disabilities or mental health needs. It’s called telesupport.

We released this information to the press :

By 2050, it's predicted that four times as many people will need social care as today*, which will result in a major resourcing crisis for the care sector.

That's why United Response is the first charity pioneering a new integrated telephone/video system as a means of supporting people with learning disabilities or mental health needs. It’s called telesupport.

The project embraces cutting edge technology – a stand-alone unit incorporating broadband-enabled telephone, videoscreen and camera – to pilot a flexible, 24 hour form of support. Telesupport will complement face to face provision, offering a service which is available as and when people need it, with support workers, friends and peers just the touch of a button away. Additionally, by reducing some unnecessary home visits, overall costs will be reduced.

United Response’s partner in the project is Aupix, leading UK experts in the delivery of new solutions incorporating IP and video technology. Aupix have created a unique, tailored solution for the telesupport project which ensures it is fully user friendly for people with learning disabilities or mental health needs.

United Response has already run two workshops involving the technology to test the outline concept. Feedback from people with learning disabilities or mental health needs was overwhelmingly positive, with users finding the devices easy to use and believing they would be both reassuring and highly practical.

As a result, United Response is funding a limited trial, with 5 people with learning disabilities and 3 people with mental health needs using the technology. 7 residences have had the technology installed, so that the effectiveness of the service can be thoroughly tested and evaluated against a benchmark of current provision.

Initial findings show that, in addition to the flexibility of the service, telesupport could provide additional benefits including visual support for those who find verbal communication challenging and also assist with specific mental health conditions – helping people with schizophrenia to manage their "voices" for example, in a way that just isn’t possible with an ordinary telephone.

Although telesupport must never replace essential face to face support, it is likely to be a highly valuable additional technique as part of an overall "care menu". It is very flexible, so can fit around the schedule of the person requiring support, and their own preferences regarding privacy. Initial feedback has also shown that it could provide an excellent channel for peer to peer communications and support, as well as family contact.

Su Sayer, chief executive of United Response, said, "We’ve always tried to pioneer the best ways of supporting people, from the early days of care in the community, and telesupport seems a logical step forward. We believe we are the first organisation to use this technology to create an improved, more accessible and flexible service, and our initial findings show it has a major potential value to people, although it must never replace face to face support."

John Dixon, director of adult services in West Sussex, said, "We are keen to explore anything which can provide an improved but cost effective new way of providing care and support. From United Response’s initial research, it’s clear that telesupport is welcomed by the people who are using it, and has unexpected benefits, particularly in how flexible it can be around individual lifestyles. We look forward to further findings and hopefully seeing telesupport improve the lives of people with learning disabilities or mental health needs in West Sussex and beyond."

Anne Davey, a United Response service manager who has begun using telesupport with three people she works with, said, "It’s a really exciting project and we’re all looking forward to seeing how it can help us. It’s already had one benefit for me, personally. One person I work with often needs a little support out of hours. Because he has a speech difficulty, it’s not always easy to understand what he needs from me, so I have to make a face to face visit just in case. Through telesupport he finds it far easier to communicate, partly through using gestures, so I am able to support him without always having to disrupt his day."

United Response is now seeking funding for a fuller pilot programme and rollout later this year.

* Source: Speech by Stephen Ladyman MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Community, 24 February 2005. "Today we spend over £12bn on providing social care and by 2050 there will be four times as many people needing that care and their needs will be more intensive. More physically disabled people and more people with learning disabilities are now living into old age. A bigger proportion of older people will have mental health problems such as dementia and the fastest growing cohort of people now is older people over the age of 100! But if four times as many people will need care we can be sure of this: we cannot afford to quadruple the cost of care and we certainly cannot quadruple the number of people delivering care."

Every Vote Counts

Every vote counts: United Response launches campaign to engage people with learning disabilities in the democratic proces

United Response, the charity creating opportunities with people with learning disabilities or mental health needs, has launched a campaign to make the democratic process more accessible to the thousands of people with learning disabilities in England who are missing out on the opportunity to vote.

The campaign will be funded by the Electoral Commission, under its programme to encourage greater participation among disabled people.

In the 2001 General Election only 31% of people with learning disabilities voted compared with a national turnout of 59%. Every Vote Counts is a three year campaign to increase the number of people with learning disabilities that are registered to vote and help them have more of a say in the political decisions that affect their lives.

During the first year of the campaign, United Response will consult with other organisations and people supported by the charity, to create a resource to help people with learning disabilities better understand how politics affects their everyday lives, the reasons for voting and how to engage in the democratic process.

United Response will then disseminate the information, providing training for its staff so they can support people to become more actively involved. It will also offer training to organisations and groups involved in the electoral and democratic process on how to make information about policies and candidates more accessible to people with learning disabilities.

For more information email info@unitedresponse.org.uk

Mental health services must look beyond clinical needs

We have welcomed the publication of Professor Appleby's report on the next phase of mental health care reform.

The Chief Executive of United Response, Su Sayer, said:

"We need to work together to create services that not only respond to a person's clinical needs, but which look beyond them to provide people with the information and ongoing support they need to live full lives in the community."

To read our full response, go to www.unitedresponse.org.uk

Mental Wealth

In June 2005, a group of people with mental health needs took part in a project called Mental Wealth. The project aimed to equip those people with the skills they needed so they could take photographs about what it's like to have a mental health need.

The results are amazing. We decided to make a mini-book out of some of the photographs. And now we have decided to make it available to everyone.

You can get a copy of the mini-book by going to the United Response website: www.unitedresponse.org.uk

Thank you to our Marathon Runners!

Thank you to all the people who ran 26 miles the Flora London Marathon yesterday to raise money for United Response!

Runners get ready, get steady..

United Response at the Flora London Marathon

This Sunday, 28 people will run the Flora London Marathon to raise money for United Response. We decided to share some of the amazing stories we know about these people on our website. Go to http://www.unitedreponse.org.uk to find out more..

Can You Hear Us? is launched

After many years of production, we launched our new DVD “Can You Hear Us?” This DVD is a unique new film made by people with learning disabilities to challenge discrimination “Can You Hear Us?” is a collection of dramatic stories drawing on the real life experiences of the people who made the film, ranging from getting engaged to moving into a new home to dealing with the police. The DVD is available to anyone interested in seeing life from a different perspective, and is also an excellent training resource for organisations or individuals working with people with learning disabilities. “Can You Hear Us?” was made by by UR First, a group of people supported by United Response. The group was set up to support people to speak out for themselves. They came up with the concept of the film, wrote the scripts and acted in the different stories. A major motive was the fact that when they had grown up themselves they hadn’t seen films like this, only ones made by staff or actors. You can buy it from our website: http://www.unitedresponse.org.uk/ More soon..