We were delighted when two of Field House’s service users went to watch a celebrity football match in aid of BACT (Burton Albion Community Trust). Soap stars, TV favourites and pop artists were among the celebrities who played in the special challenge match at the home of Burton Albion where the two sides where captained by non-other than Calum Best and Jake Wood. Both EL and DJ had a fantastic day out in the sun and got to watch many recognisable stars provide an afternoons worth of sporting entertainment. In addition to the entertainment provided for the afternoon these kind of meaningful activities play a massive part of what we do at Godfrey Barnes Care in laying the foundation for service users to take real steps in becoming more independent and have a greater stake in their local communities. Additionally the confidence this helps develop will be crucial in allowing service users to take strides in more independent futures that they aspire towards.

Godfrey Care is delighted to announce that work has started on building the groups second residential home for adults with complex needs, learning difficulties, autism, and behavioural difficulties. The home will be based on Ashby Road, Burton Upon Trent and will be an extensively sized family home, comprising of six en-suite bedrooms, large communal areas, substantial garden spaces, and a purpose built sensory area to help service users enjoy a high standard of life. In addition the home will have an office, en-suite wet rooms, communal bathroom, large family style open plan kitchen & dinning room, two lounge rooms for both relaxation and activities as well a large open plan sensory room for service users to relax in and engage in different forms of therapy. The service will employ in excess of 25 full time staff who will all be trained in specialist NAPPI techniques as well as Autism and Epilepsy that will ensure they can offer positive influences on each service user and minimise the levels and frequencies of challenging behaviour. The home will be run by Sarah Lycett who has recently joined Godfrey Care. Sarah has in excess of 7 years management experience in this sector and a wealth of experience and knowledge that she will bring on board to the existing Leadership Team at Godfrey Care. The launch of our second home in the Staffordshire region is testimony to all the hard work and commitment to providing the highest levels of care and recognition of the person focused approach we strive so hard to achieve. With the opening of Ashby House we will be able to further our service offerings to the local community that we are committed to and mark this landmark step in the expansion of Godfrey Care.

Godfrey Barnes Care is delighted to announce the completion of its new self-contained extension added onto the Field House site. As part of the close working relationships we have built with the social worker team in the Staffordshire region a need was identified for a setting that would allow service users to experience a more independent setting whilst still being part of a home where support was available. As we strive to support our service users to ultimately take the step towards completing a transition into an independent scenario this self-contained flat, with its own living area and kitchen is the perfect place to allow us help our service users develop those skills that will be crucial to their independent futures. Although the build process wasn’t without its challenge the end product is every bit what we hoped it to be. Since it was completed a service user has moved into the self-contained extension and started their journey towards a more independent life in the future.

As part of our commitment to delivering excellence in care we work very closely with our training partner NAPPI UK to develop tailored training for our team of carers. NAPPI is a leading provider of training solutions to the care sector and specialise in BILD Accredited training methods. Our partnership has been based around a no standard “one size fits all” approach but rather developing tailored methods that emphasise on Positive Behaviour Support in every aspect of service users day to day activities. On a recent training day held at the Burton Albion Football ground we held a one day special programme with NAPPI UK regional trainer Jason Reece-Sumner and the Field House team. The day was really useful and allowed for some very thought provoking discussions around the challenges that the team face and how we can ultimately deliver excellence in care with our team at Field House.

Tai Cain (Home manager) said “it’s an integral step of the continuous investment we make into the team at Field House that we hold these training days, where we can all have open discussions and share knowledge and experiences that will ultimately help our team deliver tailored care that suits every service user. The team from NAPPI are excellent and there is never a dull moment during these development days!”

Having the benefit of beautiful and diverse settings and our commitment to genuine inclusion at Godfrey Care, during a recent nature walk some of our staff and service users took part in collecting water reeds from the canals.

These were used as part of the weekly craft session that we hold with our service users. The aim of these sessions is to try and develop skills that encourage self-expression through creativity and promote imaginative and independent thinking, whilst promoting personal confidence and growth. The reeds that were collected were interwoven and formed into different shapes. One of our service users, David excelled with this and managed to make some very good shapes as shown in the pictures.