An innovation/revolution in the world of learning disabilities

Welcome back!

I am writing this blog in a slightly delicate state after our success at the Sutton Business Awards, where we picked up an award for 'Business Innovation' and was commended in the 'Best New Business'. We are immensely proud at our achievements but we are under no illusions that this is just the beginning of the work we are trying to do and the differences we want to make to the lives of people with learning disabilities.

We were chatting at the awards and it became clear that although the innovation award was very apt for the work we are undertaking, however it could and probably should actually be renamed the 'Revolution Award'.

The organisation was set up a year ago with a clear aim of changing the way society views people with learning disabilities. It was our belief that things were going backwards and this last year, in our opinion, has proved that nothing has changed to alter this view.

We are in the fortunate position whereby we can look at the situation objectively without the 'red tape' and politics which has woven a complicated web through the heart of the world of learning disabilities.

The introduction of personalisation was meant to offer more choice and control to the people who are entitled a personal budget. Although there has been success stories, with people being able to utilise their personal budget to access quality services like our organisation, they are few and far between.

Many day centres have closed which has resulted in huge savings for local governments, and although in many respects I do not disagree with these closures, they have not been adequately replaced with much, let alone quality services. Day centres have long been criticised for not offering a good service for the people who attend and in my experience this is not too dissimilar to what I have witnessed in the past (although this is not the case with every day centre I have visited). Something did need to change, but it has not been handled well by the majority of local councils, resulting in many people sitting at home bored and ignored. I imagine there has been a fair few quid saved though by councils who have tasked with trimming the financial fat, with learning disabilities being a relatively easy target.

The new 'fashion' seems to be offer services out in the community, which on paper sounds encouraging, however what is being offered is poor. Charities and other organisations are being encouraged to offer their services in community buildings such as church halls and old scout huts. Now, I don't know about you, but if someone told me that if I was 'allowed' to access a service it would be in a random building that could change location on a week by week basis then I would feel a bit short changed. How can one expect to receive a quality service if the building is not equipped to provide this. The majority of the trainees we work with need consistency and a safe secure environment to develop the confidence and skills they need. It is nothing more than a money saving exercise wrapped up in the notion that engaging with community is what is best for the service users. Hanging out in a church hall for a couple of hours is not engaging by any stretch of the imagination, it is nothing more than a day centre on the road.

When the concept of personalisation initially introduced it was very exciting and people assumed there would be a wave of new diverse, quality organisations starting up. This has simply not been the case and we are one of very few trying to make our way through the quagmire of personalisation. To say this has been hard would be a huge understatement ... the financial and emotional burden has been overwhelming. There is simply no incentive for organisations to start up a service for people with learning disabilities, we had to fight every single step of the way. After hundreds of emails and phone calls to social services with very little by way of a response can be demoralising to say the least.

Eventually a couple of people within the social services team took notice and realised that we were offering a good quality service and made referrals to us. Many people within the social work team did not have a strong grasp of personalisation and how it could be implemented with their clients. This is simply not good enough, because the only people who suffer are the people we want to support.

For too long 'learning disabilities' has been on the fringes of the social care world. It's time for people to stand up and demand more. Councils need to start investing in people by actually offering the choice and control to the people they are meant to serve. Tokenistic services need to be abolished and faith needs to be put in organisations like ours who's agenda is nothing more than offering the best possible opportunities for people with learning disabilities. Egos and internal politics need to be put to one side and allow services like ours to flourish and in turn hopefully inspire others to set up community interest companies and social enterprises.

The choice and control needs to wrestled from the suits in ivory towers and given to the people who matter.

A change needs to happen people ... please share this with people who you think may be interested and support us in our campaign to make personalisation personal.

Thanks for reading

Nickel Support

x

Starting a new business ... nine months in!

Hi and thanks for checking in ....

It has been a while since I last posted, however in keeping with nature of this post .... time has been somewhat of a premium! In fact it has taken me three months to get this blog finished (although have set aside time once a week to make sure I keep on top of it)!

As mentioned in my previous blog, I wanted to share a of my thoughts, opinions and maybe a few moans about what we have experienced over the past 8-9 months since starting 'Nickel Support'. I am certainly not trying to pretend to be the next Richard Branson or have an encyclopaedic knowledge of business .... its just a few musings and if someone is looking to start a new business they might find it interesting ... take from it what you will.

Now it is a well used cliché that 'life is a rollercoaster', however there is no better way to describe starting a new business, and in particular the last nine months. There have been incredible highs, interspersed with lowest of the lows (getting broken into for the second time for example) ... not on a week by week basis, almost on an hour by hour frequency! The area under my eyes certainly are a couple of shades darker, with a few more lines rearing their ugly heads around the corner of my eyes (although they could just be to with getting old, but my vain side will disagree I'm sure!).

The area I have found the most difficult has been maintaining friendships and has put strain on relationships with those close to me. I have pretty much had to take a social sabbatical for nine months (with none of the benefits) hoping the strength of the friendships built over the years will hold true. With regards to the strains placed on relationship; this was, in part, due to the fact my fiancée and I deciding to get married this year ... as if starting your own business wasn't enough (don't worry the wedding prep is well underway and all is going according to plan). Be prepared to press pause on your social life as you knew it!

My business partner and I were chatting just last week about how much we have learnt and the experienced gathered over the last few months ... on reflection this has been pretty incredible. We estimated that we have experienced and gleaned as much knowledge and skills in the last nine months as we would have in five years in any other job.

When researching starting our business one thing that kept cropping up was the freedom people experienced ... now I hate to shatter this illusion but not getting a wage and shouting from the rooftops about us with no-one listening is not my idea of freedom. However, we can start to see this materialising and this mysterious holy grail of freedom is starting be within our grasp .. we just need to make sure we keep drinking from the right cup!

Another area I found difficult was selecting which advice to take .... everyone wants to support you and try and help move your business forward. The problem with this is that, although well meaning, they don't have the necessary experience to give you invaluable advice and can lead to hundreds of email's/phone calls/texts/knocks on the door.  This can be really hard to deal with and feels like you are drowning a little bit. It is important you find your own direction, research your ass off and feel your own way into the business ... make your own mark and move it forward when you have a clear, balanced direction in which to go.

As I was writing this blog I was looking back at photos of when we got the keys in the empty shell of a shop and where we have got to now ... the swell of pride that rose from within was immense. It was a crazy, brave and a wee bit stupid decision to give 'it' all up and start for ourselves. What I can say however, with a 100% conviction, is that it is the best decision (apart from getting married to Ashley) that I have ever made and wouldn't change one bit of it .... the lows make you appreciate the highs and the highs make the lows just about bearable.

This obviously only scratched the surface of what you could potentially face when starting a business, however it is a blog, not a book! Chuck in finance, wages, social workers, landlords, websites, phone companies, plus many more and you might somewhere near to the pressures and strains we have faced. If anyone wants any more info about anything in this blog or anything else related, give me a shout .... nick.walsh@nickel.org.uk 

In my next blog I am going to talk about the work we undertake with people with learning disabilities, the difficulties they face, with particular reference to employment ... so check in in a couple of weeks.

Until then make sure you check out some of the unique products we have in our shop or on our website ........... www.interestinglydifferent.co.uk.

Or have a look at the learning disability training side of things on our other website ....... www.nickel.org.uk.

Lots of love guys

xxx

 

 

Introducing Interestingly Different!

Hi and welcome to our blog ... thanks for reading!

I am new to the world of blogging, however thought this would be a great platform to tell you about what we do, what we offer and give our thoughts on our sometimes beautiful, sometimes tough and sometimes very weird world we inhabit ... hope you enjoy!

We have experienced so much over the past six months and I think it would be great to share some of our experiences and you never know may be of some use to someone who:

a) Is thinking about or actually starting up a new business
b) Works with people with learning disabilities
c) Is interested in all things, retro, vintage, 'antiquey' and a little curious

We are a not-for-profit community interest company (for those who don't know what this is, look out for blogs in the future where I will explore this further) which essentially means that any profits the shop makes gets reinvested back into the company to support the local community ... and in our case primarily working with people with learning disabilities, which I will explore in later blogs .... however, in the meantime, check out our website:

www.nickel.org.uk

Our beautiful shop is based in Carshalton (Surrey) and sells an array of products that fall into the categories of vintage, retro, antiques, craft or just a little bit curious! We are passionate about all these areas and this will be reflected in future blogs ... in particular trends and fashions in the world of furniture and crafts. We also have a website which has all the stock on it for you to look at of an evening and hopefully purchase as a centre piece in your home.

www.interestinglydifferent.co.uk

We started the company about six months ago and it has had many ups and many downs, but ultimately it has been an amazing experience. In the last six months I feel like I have learnt and picked up the equivalent amount of experience as I would do working for someone else for 10 years! I will be exploring this in some more detail in my next blog and warn of some the pitfalls you may face .... also the amazing sense of satisfaction you will experience.

If any of the above interest you please check back here once a week and spread the word ... particularly the future blogs about people with learning disabilities and the issues they face. It would be great to hear some feedback and also your own thoughts and experiences of the aforementioned subjects.

In the meantime here are a few pictures from our shop as a little taster of what we do:

Cheers very much for reading guys and gals .... until next time fill your life with love and laughter!

x