This story starts with learning from a negative experience a while back. We had started supporting someone in a new area and had a lot of complaints from neighbours who were worried about what the house was used for and the parking and additional cars that would be using their road.
Now, we are working with Jeff*, a man who is moving out of long-stay hospital into his own home in Greater Manchester. We have started to get to know him and find out what he loves and what he’s good at.
We began to consider what we could do to make sure that when he moves in, we can feel confident about getting to know our neighbours and think about what we can contribute to our local area.
Gifts, skills and passions
So far, we know that Jeff is interested in:
- Parks and outside spaces
- Bicycles and cycling
- Litter picking and making sure spaces look tidy
- Cars and going to the shops
- Fire, ambulance and police
Looking out not in
This is a new house and new start for Jeff. We want it to go as smoothly as possible.
We are not from the area so started to look for what was happening. We used google maps and Facebook to look for local projects and initiatives, to find the cycling routes, the parks, the litter pickers and where the emergency services were based.
We want to recruit local people. We met some people at a community café and litter pick – we asked what the busy periods were, looked at the parking and planned the routes. We went to the pub and introduced ourselves and asked if there was a quiet time and area – they suggested that we sit in a particular place, they were surprised and warm and keen to make us feel welcome.
Connect
The road is a settled area with an older population. When we visited, a neighbour came over straight away to ask what we were doing. This can be tricky because while we want to introduce ourselves and start to build a relationship, we can’t give information about Jeff. But we can be friendly, open and honest about it. So by having a chat with her, we have made a connection with this neighbour.
Before Jeff moves in, we plan to go door to door and speak to each of the neighbours and make sure that they have our contact numbers so if there’s a problem, they get in touch with the right person.
It’s about putting ourselves in their shoes. We want to make sure they know there may be sounds and cars but if they understand about MacIntyre and our values and know who to speak to if they are worried, we hope to help the person feel part of where they live in a positive way.
How can we help
We have really thought about this because it’s so important for us to be seen as giving back locally and putting our stamp on the area. The local community centre said that they have struggled since Covid and have spare rooms available. So we use the centre for our team meetings and are starting to build a presence.
And for the people who live nearby, we are hoping to help them feel reassured that we are a genuine and trustworthy organisation. There will be someone at the house and awake 24/7.
What could it look like for Jeff to use his resources to help others? We have ideas but it will depend on him. We have been inspired by other people who have offered their neighbours to have parcels delivered if they are out during the day, or joined local litter picks to help keep the area looking nice, or set up a small cabinet with second hand books for people to swap on the road.
We need to make our team feel confident to have those conversations. We are leading it but we want it to grow organically and informally. We are modelling it as leaders and building a good foundation so our teams will be happy to have those conversations and keep connecting.
- Shem, Team Manager
The staff perspective
Many of the stories we share here are when people are already established in their homes and neighbourhoods, but just as important is the work staff teams do behind the scenes to make sure everything will go well.
* Not the person's real name
