We are proud of ourselves here at Kirkdale for so many things. We are helpful to eachother and to staff. We are also proud of our achievements in life and how far we have come to live independently in supported living. We all enjoy different activities, such as going to the gym, arts and crafts, football, attending football matches, jujitsu, dancing, acting, singing, going to discos/karaoke, spending time with friends and families. Some of us attend college and have dreams to find a job that we love. We are all passionate people who are caring and always smile, even when we have our struggles. We are good at getting to know people, and teaching people about ourselves. We would get along with people who are understanding, and who will not leave once faced with a difficult day. We would need you to be kind, patient, caring and funny. We are all adults with capacity and enjoy banter and meaningful conversations.

At Kirkdale, we have 3 staff members on every night on night shifts. This is to deliver support throughout the night if needed, and to deal with any events that may occur.

On a day time, the staffing numbers fluctuate as there are currently 21 people that live here, with 2 empty flats that will soon be filled.

Shift patterns work around the rota and to meet our support needs. Night shifts start at 8pm and finish at 8am. Day shifts fluctuate from 8am-8pm or 12pm-8pm etc.

We offer full training across the service, all mandatory training and in house training received from professionals, such as psychiatrists. We offer on going training to suit the needs of our service.

We live in a large supported living accommodation which is all one level, apart from the managers office which is up a set of stairs. Our flats are on the ground floor in different zones. We have a large garden that goes right around the outer building and it is lovely for walks around. We have a patch of garden that we like to work on in the summertime.

We have a large shared communal area, we have a TV in here where we listen to music and watch movies on our comfortable sofas. The doors leading from the communal area, to our communal garden space has a hut and a large area where we have BBQs in the summer and it has benches which is therapeutic when needing some time alone.  We also have a ping pong table that we enjoy playing and it keeps us occupied. We use this area when we want to do activities, we also have Halloween and Christmas parties here etc and we all get together and decorate this area and sing on karaoke. We also have a space that we are currently turning into a ‘chill out zone’. This is a more quiet communal area that will be for chilling out and sensory items will be added. Our service is next to a college, but where we are placed is in a cul-de-sac so it is out of the way and very quiet. We don’t really have neighbours in the area apart from each other, as we are next to work buildings and a care home. There is a large car park on site with plenty of spaces to park, as well as a charging port for electric cars.