Come along to one of our Open Days to find out more about working for Creative Support and meet our friendly team:

Thursday 9th September from 1.00pm – 5.30pm at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, Market Place, Bishop Auckland DL14 7NP

Friday 10th September from 10.30am – 3pm at Sedgefield Racecourse, Sedgefield, Stockton-on-Tees TS21 2HW

Vacancies for this service are:

Male Support Workers – Ref:2663

Support Coordinator – Ref:2660

Male Waking Night Support Workers – Ref:2659

Relief Support Workers – Ref:2664

9th September Event Location Map

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10th September Event Location Map

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We are holding an Open Day event on Wednesday 8 September 2010 from 12.00pm til 4pm. Visit us at The Corn Exchange, Bar 1861, Market Place, Newbury RG14 5BD.

For any enquiries please contact Sarah Malkin on 0161 236 0829.

Vacancies for this service are:

Support Workers – Ref:2655

Relief Support Workers – Ref:2656

Mental Health Support Workers – Ref:2657

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Thanks to the great efforts of the team of staff and service users from Beardall Court who made the table decorations, put together the incredible buffet and organised the whole event, a fantastic time was had by all until the early hours of the morning!

NE Summer Ball 2010

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The workshops were split into three parts: first we looked at some of the rules of composition and photography and then we went out with disposable cameras, to put these rules into practice. After a fun session taking photos, acting like the paparazzi and being mistaken for tourists, the films were put in for 1 hour developing whilst the participants enjoyed their lunch. In the afternoon we looked at each person’s photos and selected their best ones to be made into a display at the projects. Everyone was impressed with the photos and we look forward to receiving their entries for the photography competition!

I haven’t taken photographs since I was a boy and this course has helped me as I can take them again. I enjoyed it! Harry, Worcester service

Droitwich Photography Workshop

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London Photography Workshop

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The feedback we receive from universities and students is very positive and the Midlands is doing particularly well for compliments this year.  Staffordshire University let us know how impressed they were with the professionalism and support given by staff at Leonora Street and Robert Heath Street. North East Worcestershire College have similarly said how well staff at the Droitwich Project  supported a student of theirs and thanked Mary Gleaves for her valuable contribution, which helped them to be placed in the top ten social work courses by the GSCC!  So … well done to the Midlands!

This is not to detract from the North East, North West and South where projects all continue to provide very good placements, thanks to the support of staff.

If you are interested in being an on-site supervisor or practice educator to a social work student, or (if you are a qualified nurse) in mentoring a nursing student, please contact Margaret Littlejohn, Practice Learning Co-ordinator at head office on 0161 236 0829. Training will be provided for all these roles.

You don’t have to be artistic, there are 5 different competitions so that everyone can participate; these are:

Arts and crafts – from painting, to knitting, to mosaics, to pottery, to rug making, to embroidery and much, much more.

Performance arts – from dramatic productions, to music and song, to films, to dance, to poetry reading.

Photography – the participants in the Creative Photography for Beginners workshops held in London and Droitwich can confirm that we can all take beautiful photos and you don’t have to have an expensive camera to do so, a disposable camera can produce great results – so please do send us your photographic masterpieces!

Creative writing – from poetry, to plays, to short stories, and those that are not so short, we have some great writers amongst us and we look forward to reading and being moved by your words!

Poster – this is your opportunity to put together a poster celebrating 20 years of Creative Support working to provide Opportunity, Choice and Wellbeing to all our service users! The posters can be drawn, painted, coloured with felt-tip pens, mixed media using paint, collage, pen and ink, whatever takes your imagination!

The theme of the competitions is Opportunity, Choice and Wellbeing – what do these mean to you and how does Creative Support help you to achieve them?

We look forward to your creations!

September is Service User Involvement Month and we have heard from projects all over the country about the activities that they are putting on! To see a calendar showing some of the planned events, click here. If you haven’t told us what you have planned, if the calendar inspires your project to do something, or if you suddenly decide on an activity, let us know and send us your photos so we can share the fun with everyone!

We are seeking a dynamic senior team who will share our vision of a progressive and empowering service.

We are holding an Open Day event on Thursday 19th August 2010, from 12.30pm till 6pm at Avanta, 79 College Road, Harrow HA1 1BD (just outside Harrow on the Hill Tube Station, opposite Costa Coffee).

So come along to find out more about the vacancies and meet our friendly team.

Vacancies for this service are:

Service Manager – Ref:2621

Extra Care Manager – Ref: 2622

Deputy Extra Care Manager – Ref: 2623

Housing Support Workers – Ref: 2624

Senior Extra Care Workers – Ref: 2625

Extra Care Workers – Ref: 2626

Waking Night Workers – Ref: 2627

Relief Extra Care Workers – Ref: 2628

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Come along and find out more about working for Creative Support and meet our friendly team.

Vacancies for this event are:

Support Workers – Quorn & Sileby – Ref: 2632

Support Workers – Kirby Muxloe – Ref: 2633

Relief Support Workers – Ref: 2634

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Visit us at Blackburn Central Library, Town Hall Street, Blackburn BB2 1AG.

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The support workers and service users all got together to build a chicken coop out of some old metal fencing and the back wall of our garden shed.

To protect the chickens from fox attacks we have put a door on the chicken house (back of the shed) and attached a rope pulley system so we can open and close it from outside the coop (to protect us from their mess).

Every morning a Support Worker and service user go out to the coop to open the door and feed the chickens with their special feed. When they are happily eating, the eggs are collected. We normally get 2-3 eggs a day which is good as it means we get between 14 and 21 a week, which is enough for us. And every evening a Support Worker and service user go out to close the coop door to keep the chickens safe.

We started with three chickens but as it has gone so well we already have plans to double our brood to six, so our egg production should soon eggsplode!!

As well as the chickens, we have decided to start a vegetable garden. We have dug up a section of our back garden with some help from Robert and turned it over to loosen the earth in preparation for planting.

As you can see in the photos below, unfortunately our garden soil is not exactly plant friendly and so we are awaiting delivery of some very lovely fertile topsoil/compost mix to invigorate our patch and enable us to start planting our wide variety of produce.

Our plan is to grow potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, onions, some herbs and anything else that takes our fancy (and will fit). As we don’t really have much experience of growing vegetables we will be planting a few extra plants than we need to ensure that we get a plentiful crop.

Looking at it optimistically, we should then end up with far too much food for us to consume by ourselves, but our Acting Team Leader, Valda, has come up with a solution to this ‘problem’. Valda has agreed with The Lowes Arms in Denton and a cafe in Hyde that if we have any surplus vegetables, or indeed eggs, then we can trade these with them for free meals for the service users. This will reduce our food bill even more and will help us to become even more self sufficient, as well as providing opportunities for all service users to have more interaction and involvement in the community.

As you can see, it has taken a lot of effort by all involved to get as far as this and there is a lot more work ahead of us! We would like to take this moment to thank everyone involved and say bring on the livestock!!

Oldham Road chickens

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This is a tribute to their hard work as the team works with some complex service users so finding time in order to complete the workbooks can be hard. In order for staff to complete their LDQ they need to attend training courses and the whole staff team has pulled together to ensure that colleagues can do this whilst still providing the high level of support needed at Lunedale Road. The team have supported each other with advice and guidance. The lesson from this experience is that it is amazing what you can achieve if you all work as a team.

Some of the group had never performed to an audience before so this was a fantastic way to break the ice. Next stop Broadway!

Disability Awareness Day 2010

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‘Over the last three years I have been consistently impressed by the professionalism and care provided by the staff at Birch Lane. A number of patients with complex problems, significant forensic history and chaotic drug use would probably not have been accepted by most other projects but the care provided to them has been of the highest standard.’

Well done to all the team at Birch Lane – keep up the good work!

Pelham House is a pioneering new project which aims to provide the very best in personalised supported living to 16 young adults with learning disabilities. Service Manager Amy Gillam says:

This is an important project supporting people to live independently, whilst remaining in close contact with their families and friends.

Welcome to everyone at Pelham House … we hope you make yourselves at home!

Pelham House launch

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It was the hottest day of the year so far and all those who went will confirm that it was like a sauna inside the building. The competition was fierce and despite a couple of gentle scraps on the pitches and some sporting injuries everyone had a fantastic day out.

The final match between Fletcher Court and Cumbrian Chipmunks was tense although the mood was lightened by Peter Scott and Allen Howard’s hilarious commentary.

Special guest Sue Smith who plays Midfield for England gave an inspirational speech and shared football techniques. She also chose two players of the tournament, Colin Andrews, service user, and Scott Black, Senior Support Worker.

The event raised a total of £580 which has been donated to two charities: CP Sport which encourages people with cerebral palsy to enjoy sports, and WaterAid.

A great day was had by all, as can be seen in the comments and photos below:

“Damaged toe, cut leg, tight hamstring, bruised ribs, couldn’t breathe … all in a days work. Fletcher Court winning the trophy … PRICELESS!!”  Scott, Fletcher Court

“Everyone had a lovely day and I am really proud that we won!! Nobody was more surprised than we were!”  Wendy, Fletcher Court

“We made the long journey down to Manchester determined to win after last year’s narrow defeat. The group stages were full of highs and lows but we made it through to the final game. Bittersweet emotions ran high as we lost the final to Fletcher Court. A fantastic day made easy with superb organisation by event officials … As Arnie once said ‘We’ll be back!!’” Gary, Cumbrian Chipmunks

“We all had a superb time at the football tournament. There was clearly a great deal of work done before the event and everyone worked so hard on the day to make it run smoothly. It was very impressive. Better than that … we had 2 teams in the quarter finals. A big thank you from everyone in the north east and we look forward to next years event.”  Denise, North East Allstars, North East Town and North East United

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Football Fantastic

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Come and visit us between 11am & 3pm at The Forum, Grasmere Suite, 28 Duke Street, Barrow-in Furness LA14 1HH.

You will have an opportunity to meet the staff team, learn about the services we provide, and find out more about the vacancies we have for our Ulverston Service.

View our job vacancy board to see related job vacancies for the Ulverston service and also adverts on The Bay Radio and The North West Evening Mail and Jobcentreplus.

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Award nominations for the service user, staff and other stakeholder awards are coming into head office at a good rate. If you haven’t nominated anyone yet then download the nomination form here and let someone know that their work is appreciated and valued.

We have launched the Creativity Competitions and the regional offices look forward to receiving all service users’ entries by the end of August. If you are planning on having an activity day as part of Service User Involvement Month in September, to create arts, crafts or posters for the competitions, do not worry, you can send your entries to Alison White at head office as long as they arrive by Monday 20th September. More details, including the entry form can be downloaded here.

We have heard from projects and services across the country about the activities and events they are planning for our special celebratory Service User Involvement Month in September. If you haven’t let us know your plans yet, please do. If you need assistance with planning an event or funding it, download the Service User Involvement Grant application form here.

And finally, we will be having a big celebratory party and awards ceremony in Manchester at the end of October. More details will follow on this later.

Throughout the year we have a film crew who will be filming some of the activities and events taking place around the country and interviewing some of our service users and staff about Creative Support. This filming will be used to make us a short film and a documentary about Creative Support, the work we do and the difference we make to people’s lives. They will also make short highlights films about the winners of the Service User Awards to be shown at the Manchester party.

As you can see we have a very full year, and with the participation and assistance of our service users and staff we look forward to making it a year to remember for a very long time! Please do encourage everyone to participate!

If you have any questions or would like more details on any of the celebration initiatives, contact Alison, Alannah, Harriet or Suzanne at head office.

You will have an opportunity to meet the staff team and learn more about Creative Support and the opportunities available within our services in Newbury & West Berkshire.

Visit us at The Corn Exchange, Bar 1861, Market Place, Newbury RG14 5BD

For any enquiries please contact Sarah Malkin on 0161 236 0829 or email: sarah.malkin@creativesupport.co.uk

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Participants will choose from taster sessions in:

• Art and Life River – a therapeutic art based session, looking at life events.
• Dance Session – an energetic, fun workout using interactive dance mats.
• Tai Chi/Chi Gung –  a relaxing technique used improve both physical health and emotional wellbeing.

Take part in interactive workshops:

• Perceptions of Mental health – an intriguing look into our perceptions and views of mental health and the stigma that surrounds it.
• Headbands –  a fascinating insight into how we treat people and the effects it can have.
• Take the biscuit – an interesting view of services and people’s willingness to engage.

And enjoy a tour of the stadium!

The Holiday Inn, 1 Higher Bridge Street, Bolton BL1 2EW.

You will have the opportunity to meet the staff team and learn more about Creative Support and the opportunities we have available at our Mental Health Service in Bolton.

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