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from Balance

Welcome to the Balance newsletter!

Find out more about the different service areas that Balance

deliver

www.facebook.com/BalanceCIC

www.twitter.com/BalanceCIC

Kweku Bedu – Addo Danielle Voller Finance Manager HR Manager

Some of our recent partnerships

Welcome to Balance’s first newsletter. We hope to

produce these newsletters every three months; I

hope you find our first edition useful. We decided

that every service area will have a page dedicated

to them, to enable them to tell you about what has

been happening and share successes with you.

Balance launched a new advocacy service in April

with Kingston Advocacy Group and Advocacy for

All. This is a small but significant project for us,

and we are excited to be a part of it, and looking

forward to working closely with our new partners.

Last year we re-vamped our website

www.balance-cic.com and we’ve been working

with another social enterprise called Digital Mums

to support us to have a bigger presence on social

media, we have a Facebook page and Twitter

account – please follow and like us!

This year we’ve recruited a Finance Manager,

Kweku Bedu- Addo and a HR Manager, Danielle

Voller who have joined our management team.

Our Business Manager Katie Vivian, who played a

key role in setting up Balance, left us in December

to work for a charity in London. We wish Katie

luck in her new role, and thank her for her

dedication to Balance.

One of our key objectives for this year was to

establish a robust training plan, and we are now

rolling out a strong package of Care Certificate for

all staff who deliver direct care, helping us achieve

high standards in our service delivery, reflecting

the principles and standards of the Care Act.

I hope that the Summer brings us some good

weather. Keep an eye out on our social media sites

as we will be launching our new Supported Living

video shortly, many thanks to Greg and the team

for all their work on this project.

Best wishes, Andrea

June 2016

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Employment Teams Balance Learning Disability Employment Team

Last year (April 2015-April 2016) the Learning

Disability Employment Team secured 20 paid

positions. We want to improve upon this further

this year and since April 2016 we have already

helped three people gain paid work. Sarah secured

a job with Poundland in Leatherhead. This was

through a relationship we had built with the store

manager. Michelle secured employment with

Sodexo at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton

as an Admin Assistant. This is the second position

we have secured through our ongoing relationship

with Sodexo. Finally Amanda was successful in

gaining a position with Robert Dyas in

Wimbledon, as a Sales Assistant.

We are continuing to build relationships with a

wide range of employers in industries such as

catering, retail and grounds maintenance. We have

recently been meeting with two large catering

contractors as well as several retailers and expect

to secure several new paid positions in the coming

months- so watch this space!

A few pictures of people we have helped in the

last year, both still working as of May 2016:

If you have a Learning Disability, and want to

work - or know somebody who does - then please

get in touch to discuss referral to our team. Our

approach is person centred, working at the pace of

the individual. We follow the true Supported

Employment Model, profiling and getting to know

the individual working with them at their pace. We

can start at any point on an individual’s journey

towards paid work, using volunteering and work

experience if needed, to explore different areas of

work, build confidence, skills, etc.

Mitcham Job Club Plus with Circle Housing

The Mitcham Job Club runs on Thursdays at the

Acacia Centre in Mitcham. It is open to anyone

who has a Learning Disability or a Mental Health

condition and lives in the Borough of Merton.

Referrals for the Job Club have not yet been as

high as hoped but in the few months it has been

running we have already had great success with

those referred. Out of the four clients who have

fully engaged we have secured two paid positions.

One of the individuals, yet to secure paid work, is

due to start work experience with TK Maxx in

Wimbledon on 31.05.2016 and should this be

successful the store will offer her a paid position

in July 2016.

If you would like to discuss referral to Mitcham

Job Club Plus please contact:

Holly Ganley on: 07850 205032.

Amy Fraser:

Supported by us in

October 2015 to gain

paid work with

Sodexo working as a

Catering Assistant at

Queen Mary’s

Hospital in

Roehampton.

Paul Horsecroft:

Supported by us to

gain full time paid

work in January

2016 as a Patient

Transport Porter

with Medical

Services Group at

Kingston Hospital.

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Balance Mental Health Employment Team

Welcome to the Mental Health Team. We provide employment support to those with mental health needs who are:

Already in employment but finding it

difficult to continue in their job

Unemployed and finding it difficult to

get back into work.

Balance provides an impartial, supportive and

confidential approach to finding solutions that

help people who experience mental health

issues find work that is right for them. We

want to prevent people suffering with issues

such as stress and anxiety from leaving their

existing jobs, when they are both able and

motivated to work. Last year we supported 96

people in Kingston to secure paid work.

Below is an outline of an individual who

accesses support through the team;

“An individual was referred to our service as

she was experiencing stress in the workplace.

When we met she had only been signed off

from work for three weeks and wanted to

return. At that time she was extremely

anxious and conflicted about returning but

she could see no option other than to return

to her role. We discussed her range of skills

and started some practical work such as

revising her CV and reviewing her skills. We

discussed the nature of her health difficulties

and history and I explained what she could

ask for to get more support in the workplace

to ease her way back in. This gave the

individual confidence to informally approach

her employer and ask for what she needed to

ease her way back in to work. Her manager

declined to make the adjustment.

Unfortunately, it became clear over a

relatively short period of time that she was not

going to receive the support she needed. The

situation quickly escalated with the individual

becoming unwell and in crisis which led to her

self harming for the first time. I continued to

support her through this challenging time and

with her decision to resign and move on from

what was clearly an unhealthy situation. I

supported her to write covering letters for

further work and to make an application to

study to retrain. We also explored exciting

and more adventurous options like working

abroad. At the same time, I was helping her to

bring her previous situation to a close. I am

happy to say that the individual decided to

prioritise her own health and wellbeing. Only

three months after her referral to us, the

individual had returned to teaching supply

work and had started a Level 5 Diploma to

become CIPD trained to give her more

options in her future. This brief intervention

was at a crucial time for the individual who

potentially averted an even more serious

breakdown in her health so that she was

quickly able to become independent from our

service”.

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Woodbury Residential and

Respite

Surbiton Village Fete

On Saturday 7th

May many residents from

Woodbury enjoyed the food and beer festival at

Surbiton village fete where there were many stalls

for sampling different foods as well as enjoying a

stroll in the fresh air. After the fete, residents

enjoyed some pub food together before heading

home. A great day was had by all!

Surbiton Village Fete and Food Festival 2016

Massage Therapist, Angela Byrne

Woodbury is proud to introduce Angela Byrne our

massage therapist.

Angela has a wealth of experience both in

massage therapy and working alongside people

with Learning Disabilities. Angela has known

Woodbury residents for many years and has built

up a great relationship over the years.

Angela Byrne, Massage Therapist at Woodbury

Boogie Nights Kingston

Boogie Nights are discos for adults with

Learning Disabilities (over 18 years).

This month four of our residents attended Boogie

Nights Disco in Kingston, enabling them to

socialise with friends from the local community.

Boogie Nights is a regular disco which some

residents very much enjoy and will continue to

attend in the future.

New Staff

We would like to welcome Onyekwere

Ogueri to Woodbury as the new

Registered Manager. If you have not

met Onyi yet, please feel free to contact

him and arrange to meet him. We would

like to wish Onyi every success in his

new role.

Contact: 0203 740 2318

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Community Activities &

Transport Services Balance Gardening and Crafts Open

Week

On Monday 16th May we launched the Open

Week for Gardening and Crafts at our

Twickenham site. We had a good response,

and many people visited to see what was on

offer. We would like to initially offer one full

day crafts session, plus two gardening

sessions for adults with learning disabilities

per week.

Arts and crafts room – Grimwood Road

Catering

We are currently running a sandwich making

competition with the service users. We have

had some fantastic ideas and names for

sandwiches. We will be putting a ballot box in

the café so our customers can vote for the

sandwich they would like to see for sale in the

café this summer. Get your votes in now!

Balance Community Café operates from King

Charles Adult Education Centre Monday-

Friday

Stud Nursery

We are busy at Stud Nursery making bug

hotels, bird feeders and hampers in

preparation for the ‘Green Street Goes Green

Market’ in Twickenham which Balance will be

attending on the 18th June and also the

Surbiton Farmers Market on Saturday 16th

July. We are going to be preparing lots of

different plants for selling at the markets as

well. We have also been preparing the flower

beds ready for the summer months, and

these are starting to bloom wonderfully

New staff / leavers

We would like to welcome

our new Support Worker

Samantha Lowe to

Community Activities – you

will find Sam either at Stud

or at Grimwood Road.

David Hooper will be leaving

his role as Senior Support Co-

Ordinator at the end of May,

but he will be staying on our

casual staff bank so you may

still see him about. We are welcoming Leeni

Szalay on board as the new Senior Support

Co-Ordinator; you may

recognize her as she is

transferring over from

our Supported Living

service.

If you are interested in joining us for any of the

activities above, please contact Tanya Pooley

on 07710 019915 to arrange a free taster

session.

Ann who was our escort

left in May for a new

job- we wish her good

luck in her new position!

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Supported Living

Welcome to our Supported Living

update.

As you may or not know

I have recently been

working as interim

manager at Woodbury

Residential Home for the

last five months. It was

an interesting and

enjoyable experience but

I’m pleased to announce that we now have a new

Registered Manager Onyi Ogueri in position.

Whilst away our seniors have been doing a great

job holding the fort. Looking ahead I believe we

have a lot to look forward to at Supported Living.

We are currently recruiting new staff and taking

on new referrals. We are also about to produce a

DVD highlighting what Supported Living is all

about – I want to thank Greg Rata and Leeni

Szalay for all their hard work putting this

together.

Filming taking place at Sessions House

Finally I hope you enjoy the following items.

Please contact me if there is anything you would

like to add to our part of the newsletter or speak

generally at roger.mathews@balance-cic.com. We

really look forward to hearing from you.

Wishing you all a great summer, Roger Mathews - Service Manager.

Days Out

Trip to Mercedes Benz World

On the 13th November, some of the Supported Living

service users went to Mercedes Benz world with their

support workers. One member in particular enjoyed a

fast driving experience on the track where the driver

sped around at 100 miles per hour!

The rest of the group had a driving lesson with the

instructor, which was very exciting as it was the

first time for most people behind a wheel.

Everyone did so well. When people were not busy

with the driving experiences they had a look

around Mercedes Benz which has 3 floors of

displays - cars, the history of cars, car simulators

and a cinema that tells the story of Mercedes Benz

where you get to sit in a formula 1 style seat!

Everyone thought it was funny to go there on

Friday the 13th

but luckily no-one had an accident!

We all had a great day out and everyone agreed

that they would love to go again!

Support Living Service Users at Mercedes Benz

Trip to Hampton Court

On the 2nd

December a group of people went to

Hampton Court for a day out. The members and

their support workers all enjoyed the tour of the

Palace that was a bit like a play with people

dressed up in King Henry the VIII’s style clothing.

We had a lovely lunch in the Privy Kitchen which

was a kitchen set up by Queen Elizabeth I. As it

was a lovely day we walked around the gardens

before catching the train home.

Roger Mathews

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Asperger Syndrome Team

Balance treads the boards…

On 3rd

May several participants from the Balance

AS Service took part in a Drama production at St

Marys University, Twickenham, alongside

students from their Voicing Stories course. The

piece entitled ’Hello: My name is Anxiety’ was

both powerful and moving & met by rave reviews

from both the audience and participants alike:

‘The drama workshop was an amazing experience

and I couldn’t have asked for a friendlier bunch of

people to collaborate with’

‘It really helped my confidence to perform in front

of other people for the first time in years’

‘If Music be the food of love….’

To celebrate Shakespeare’s 400th

anniversary this

year, a lucky group of us enjoyed a wonderful

relaxed performance of Twelfth Night at the Globe

Theatre on the South Bank.

For many, it was their first time in this world

famous theatre where we were all struck by the

wonderful performances and humour inherent in

one of the Bards best known comedies.

Bowling Trips:

We have has a couple of recent bowling trips

which have also involved food and drink as well

as a lot of fun!

UPCOMING SOCIAL GROUP

DATES

Date: Tuesday 31st May .Pub quiz at the

Druids Head

Time & Place: Outside the Druid’s Head pub at

7:15PM

Cost: £2. Please let us know if you intend to

come by Friday 27th May.

Date: Wednesday 15

th June. Visit to Kew

Gardens

Time & Place: 65 bus stop on Eden Street at

10.30 am

Cost: There is no cost but bring money for

refreshments

Date: Friday July 8th

.Ham House, near

Richmond.

Time & Place: 11.00 a.m. at 371 bus stop on

Eden Street.

Cost: No cost and refreshments provided

Involvement in the Drop-In is increasing and it

has proved to be a popular social event! They

take place every Monday 10-11.30am at the

King Charles Centre- All are welcome!

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Travel Training

Balance’s Travel Training Programme has been

designed to support young people aged 11-19

years with a special educational need in accessing

locally provided transport services, to travel to and

from school independently.

Our mission is to enable young people to become

fully independent and confident, while gaining the

necessary skills to travel safely between their

home and place of study.

Accessing Our Support

Young people are referred to Balance by

Achieving for Children. Balance’s Travel Training

Team will then contact the young person’s family

to arrange a home visit and assessment, giving an

opportunity for the young person and their family

to ask questions about how the training works.

Following a successful initial assessment, a further

individual risk assessment is carried out, followed

by a comprehensive route assessment for the

journey between home and school.

Travel Training Graduation Ceremony

A Graduation Ceremony was held for our Travel

Trainers who had successfully completed the

training with the help and support of Balance.

Travel Trainers being presented their award by the

Mayor

Success Story

Debbie’s account:

“When the idea of Joe doing independent travel

training was suggested to me, my initial reactions

were pretty negative. I thought Joe was too young,

that he would find it too difficult and that it would

be a stressful process for all of us. How wrong

was I?

Our experience has been a positive one from the

beginning. The training has been totally geared to

Joe’s pace – at no time has he felt pushed into

doing anything he could not manage. Gradually,

Spencer, Joe’s Travel Trainer, let Joe use his own

initiative and would meet him at the bus station

until Joe finally was able to do the entire route on

his own – all within the space of 6 months!

This has done wonders for Joe’s confidence and

self-worth – he is so proud and also feels he is

more like the majority of other people of his age.

Joe’s confidence, independence and social skills

have all developed as a result of the training.

All in all, Joe and I both believe this to have been

invaluable training, and has definitely given him

skills and confidence that have helped in all areas

of his life and has been supportive for all of the

family.”

Our Team of Travel Trainers