From a few minutes speaking to Ivan Storey – a Leatherhead client for over fifty years – the evolution in services and scope is remarkable.
Ivan shows us his computer skills
'When I first came here,' says Ivan, 'we were all living in huts like army barracks. We had proper dining times. People had to be ordained before they could be in charge of this place.'
Even ten years ago, SeeAbility seems to have pursued a more traditional form of care. 'When I started here,' says Millennium Centre manager Clare Oades, 'we had workshops where people were packing knives and forks and cocktail sticks. We used to have 'day-service reception'...and three bases where people would have their activities from.'
The main thrust behind the change is a 'person-centred approach'. What each client does, explains Clare Oades, is 'dependent on the individual...and how they like to be supported.' Throughout SeeAbility's services, client preferences and needs are evident in accommodation, 1-to-1 time and social activities. There is also a strong emphasis on group participation. Ivan's neighbour, Ryan, is the chairman of the Quality Action Group, a user-group which discusses the running of the organization, and every client – irrespective of disability – is afforded 'interaction, communication, and all the skills which come with engaging in the community and citizenship'.
Through the day, Clare and Ivan explain how the different facets of SeeAbility's service suit different individuals. We start with accommodation.
As a more able resident, Ivan is in one of SeeAbility's new 'supported living' flats. 'In our supported living service, all of our tenants live independently and have different packages of support according to what their needs are,' explains Clare. Ivan, a fitness fanatic of seventy who likes meteorology and riddles, describes his flat: kitchen, bedroom, lounge and hallway, and a far cry from his 1950s dormitory. He puts up decorations, cooks his own meals and, like any resident, gets annoyed with his neighbour's late night sporting obsessions.
Due to a decline in health, Ivan's wife has recently moved from a more independent scheme to a residential one, where SeeAbility cares for those with more complex needs. With more new buildings scheduled to open in 2011, SeeAbility's enlargement is continuing apace – and much of the current site is covered in building materials. We brave the icy conditions to meet Rebecca, two years a full-time support worker, in the Willows, SeeAbility's newest residential home.
The main thrust of the Willows is to encourage greater independence. 'We have gone from a one-level flat to a three-storey house,' says Rebecca. 'It is a huge achievement to be in a house with individuals using the stairs. There had to be a lot of familiarization – coming over here as much as possible – but the clients have adapted so well to the change.'
Guiding us around the building, Rebecca explains that everybody has their own room and each one is different. Joyce, lounging in the sitting room, gives us permission to see her bedroom on the first floor. Equipped with en-suite, it is a colourful and expansive space stuffed with Joyce's favourite jewellery. Dennis' adjacent room is even larger, immaculately clean and decorated with pictures of his parents.
Wishing not to disturb Dennis, busy at his desk, we head to the kitchen where a super supper is being prepared. 'The worktops are lower [than in the old building] and can move,' says Rebecca. 'We have a gentleman – Nicolo [who is severely disabled and in a wheelchair] – who is now able to come up to the worktops and get his hands dirty and help with the cooking. Everybody eats together.'
A delightful host, Rebecca is clearly happy in her role at the Willows. In large part this is due to the relationship-based ethos of SeeAbility and the challenging nature of its work. She tells us that most of SeeAbility's clients have been resident for about ten years. 'We get to know [them] very well and it is very much like an extended family. In the Willows there is always one member awake and working in case of an emergency. It's definitely not a 9-to-5 job, but I don't know whether I could do one!'
Back at the Millennium Centre – the activities hub of SeeAbility's services – we talk about community. On a wall in the Willows there are pictures of residents enjoying a day at the local fire station, trying
SeeAbility-Web on hats, sitting in the engines, and talking to officers. In the past visually-impaired people have often been isolated, but things have changed. 'There's a focus on community now,' says Clare. 'We have an outreach service, supporting people in their own homes or in whatever they want to do, and we take groups out. On Monday morning we do community access group ... [where] the group plan what they want to do, where they want to go, and then we do [it].'
SeeAbility also benefits from a wide volunteer base. In response to a question about the prevalence of a local 'Big Society', Clare says that there are thirty-four volunteers at the Millennium Centre and around seventy across the whole site. The volunteers at the Centre click in with the support workers and the ongoing projects, but others operate from outside with the supported living clients. Ivan has a volunteer who takes him tandem riding, and they have completed some absurd projects: John O'Groats to Land's End; a tandem marathon; and a 1,200-mile trip from Seattle to San Francisco.
One of the most striking things about SeeAbility is the number of available activities, all of which are based around the maxims of independence and potential. At the Millennium Centre there are eight full-time support workers, a number of part-time staff, a co-ordinator, an administrator, and two I.T. staff, all of whom contribute to interesting and fulfilling pursuits.
Group work is evident throughout the building. Outside the kitchen there is a fantastic 3D mural on the wall, completed by a group with profound disabilities who explored Monet. 'It was a group of about six people on a project of participation and empowerment,' explains Clare. 'We linked to a charity called Living Paintings who do a pack containing thermo-images and an audio description.' In the adjacent arts and crafts room the walls are adorned with the best work of 2010: nose sculptures, and Magritte-esque photographs. Clare says that the work 'is split between group and individual projects, but it is very much based on what individuals want to do'.
Another popular activity is the drama group. They rehearse and perform two productions a year, and there is a waiting list to join. We stop by the lucky ten members upstairs, who are currently in rehearsal for their festive play 'First Christmas'. Anchored by Anne, who reads the script using Braille, all group members have parts: John, who gets himself in a muddle remembering his character, is Joseph; Tom, waxing lyrical over the 'wonderful' score, is Isaiah; and another Anne, the boombox of the group, plays the Virgin Mary. The play was held in Leatherhead over the Christmas break, and sounded in great shape as we left.
While the Centre also boasts a 'Merry Singers' group who are in rehearsals for their Christmas concert, it is clear that activity groups are not restricted to the arts. Among other things the Centre runs a women's group, a current affairs group and a bakery group. Clare tells us a bit more about the tandem club. 'Four times a year we do a full day trip but every week the club goes out to local venues in and around the local community. The last day trip was to Garsons Farm, but in May we went to the Wey and Arun canal. We have all our own tandems.'
Just before we leave, we go to see the 'intensive interaction' group in the sensory room. Clare explains that the group helps those with profound disabilities who might not be able to communicate verbally. Inside the room we are met by flashing light panels, dodgy Christmas music and Activity and Resource Centre Coordinator Katherine Cassidy.
'The multi-sensor room is full of various equipment which enhances awareness of cause and effect,' she says. 'The equipment is operated using switches, so if I press this switch a light comes on or a sound occurs, and if I let go it stops. This process passes on to other things in their lives, such as using a switch on a music player.
'We use the sensory room as a multi-sensory and therapy room. We have massage and foot spas. We have the vibrating floor, the heated waterbed, the various light panels and tactile panels where we can play light games. All of these link to switches.'
I ask how the activities in the multi-sensor room are coordinated. Unsurprisingly, they are chosen and organized by the group, rather than Katherine and the other staff. 'Today is an 'easy-listening and activities' session. The group have decided to rotate activities on a five-weekly basis. So one week we do a therapy and massage, one week we do a music quiz, and the next week we do a movie theme.'
The multi-sensor room is a perfect microcosm of the conscientious person-centred approach pursued by SeeAbility in Leatherhead. Through each and every one of its services, SeeAbility's staff combine hard-work with friendship and seek to provide individual clients with the most appropriate support and fulfilment. It can only be commented that the transition from dormitories and cocktail stick packing to modern, needs-reflected and action-packed care, is a revelation.
Report by Benjamin Halfpenny, GLFB Volunteer Journalist
You can also listen to a Podcast of our visit to SeeAbility.
