At Godfrey Barnes Care, supporting our residents to take steps towards more independent living and being involved in their local community is one of the most rewarding aspects of what we aim to do. The path to this is not always smooth and there are usually some bumps along the way, which makes the sense of achievement even more so when individuals take these big strides in getting towards achieving greater independence.

In our newly opened service, Ashby House one resident MM showed an interest in getting a job. The team at the home worked with MM to look at what possibilities there were in the local area and made contact with several shops and made appointments to go and see them with MM. MM showed a particular interest in a local charity shop called Sense in Burton on Trent town centre. Since the beginning of September MM has been volunteering there for 3 days a week helping sort and display items for sale in the charity shop.

MM said “I really like helping in the shop and enjoy meeting all the new people that come in”.

At Godfrey Barnes Care we help all our residents get the opportunity to participate and make positive contributions to the community they live in and that this is an integral part of each individuals dignity. Maintaining contact with families and having opportunities to meet new people to form lasting relationships is therefore an important part of ensuring each resident being socially inclusive in their own communities. Promoting social inclusion in turn also goes a long way to promoting equal opportunities and eliminating discrimination, whilst promoting equality and diversity in our communities.

To help facilitate this we held an open day at Field House with a BBQ and many outdoor activities on the 22 of August for other service providers and their residents in the local area to attend and share resources. The day was an outstanding success with a lot of positive feedback and many other service providers looking to do similar days in the forthcoming months.

Godfrey Barnes Care is delighted to announce Ashby House has opened. With our commitment to the local community within Staffordshire and the success we have seen at our founding home Field House, this steps marks a milestone in our groups ambition to role out high quality care in our local community. The 6 bed residential home is within walking distance of Burton on Trent town centre and has access to the picturesque countryside surrounding the home. The new homes manager Sarah Lycett has an extensive background of leading successful teams providing care for residents with a learning disability. The service will employ in excess of 25 full time staff who will all be trained in specialist NAPPI techniques  as well as having specialist training in Autism and Epilepsy that will ensure they can offer positive influences on each service user and minimise the levels and frequencies of challenging behaviour.

To mark this milestone day we held a open day that was attended by members of the local community and also the Mayor of East Staffordshire Chris Smith and his wife the Mayoress Jane Smith to help with the cutting of the ribbon ceremony. It was a brilliant day enjoyed by all and marked with great weather and food that allowed everyone to take full advantage of Ashby House’s wonderful garden settings.

We are really proud of the team work and effort by all involved in the design and build process and a huge thank you goes out to the whole team for all the hard work and passion shown to get this house looking like the home it will be in the future! Our next steps will now to be working with the professionals from the local authority team and identifying people that would benefit from the extensive knowledge and services that we will be providing at Ashby House.

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.