Involving the people we support in every decision about their life is incredibly important to us at MacIntyre.
When Joe*, who is supported by MacIntyre in Leicester shared he was ready to leave supported living behind and live on his own for the first time, our teams did everything possible to support Joe to turn his dream into a reality.
With support from Sophia, a member of staff, Joe was proud to share his experience.
Moving into my own home
Last year after talking to my family and staff team, I felt that over the past year in supported living, I had gained enough skills and confidence in living on my own.
With the support of my team, I looked at different ways to gain housing. In the end, I decided the best way would be through housing and set up an account so I could bid on properties weekly.
Every Thursday with staff support I looked at the available housing and which properties would suit me. It was discouraging at times when there weren't any houses to bid on.
However, in November 2019 I was successful in bidding for a property. I was happy that I got a flat which was luckily close to my mum.
After a little delay, as Christmas came around, I moved into my flat in January 2020.
When I walked through the door I felt overwhelmed to begin with, as it looked empty. However, with support from my mum and staff, I have begun making it into my own place. Firstly, going with my mum to buy carpets and choosing which ones I wanted, as well as putting up welcome home cards in my lounge, which are still up now.
Since moving in I have learnt many new skills in turning the empty flat into my home. I’ve learnt that water is needed to scrap wallpaper off effectively and quickly. I ‘ve also brought new items for my flat, for example, curtains, as well as making a list of the items I still need to get. I have also gained more confidence in cooking making new dishes like chilli. I am so happy living in my flat.
*Names have been changed to ensure privacy
Join our team!
If you are creative, kind and think you could inspire the people we support in Leicester, we would love to hear from you! You could be providing support for people with learning disabilities by supporting them to learn new things and engage with their local community. We offer a range of benefits including:
- 30 days' annual leave (including public holidays)
- Workplace pension scheme
- MacIntyre Perks which offers up to 6% discount off leading retailers including Tesco, Curry/PC World, Costa and many more
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support your health and wellbeing
- MacIntyre Staff Savings Scheme
- Cashplan which provides money back on core health treatments such as: optical, dental, physiotherapy, chiropody
- MacIntyre Rewards Scheme
- DBS check paid for by MacIntyre
