Shared Lives Case Studies

Lorna's case study

Lorna is sociable and warm person, she works as a full time Care Home Manager, and has a lot of experience and understanding on what it takes to support different kinds of people. Having come from a big family and with her own children having left home, she felt she had room in her life, her home and her heart for someone else – which is why she came to Shared Lives.

Summa is a young woman who knows what she likes and knows what she doesn’t. She’s passionate about Manga and can talk for hours on the subject, try and get her to talk about anything else and you’ll have a struggle. Summa has autism and had been living in foster care for a number of years. Summa finds lots of everyday practical tasks difficult, like laundry and cooking for herself, and struggles with socialising with people. She’d rather stay in her room. Summa was leaving foster care, but still wanted to be able to live in a home environment, which is why she was referred to Shared Lives.

Summa has been living with Lorna for over 2 years now, and with Lorna’s support she has achieved some amazing things. Summa can now confidently cook from scratch and has learned how to contribute to household cleaning and even comes down to chat with Lorna and Miriam - another young lady living with Lorna through Shared Lives. When Summa began her time at Lorna’s her work was all done in pencil drawings, but with encouragement and guidance from Lorna, she now produces her work digitally, regularly posting her work online and even enters competitions. Summa’s confidence and practical ability as a Manga artist has soared since living with Lorna, and now Summa is on the cusp of a major milestone as she prepares to go to University to study animation.

To meet Summa and Lorna, check out this short film:

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Lynn's case study

Lynn Stevens is a former nurse and has been a Shared Lives carer for many years. Lynn provides respite care ranging from a few days to a few weeks.

She now provides short breaks and day sessions to service users. 

Lynn explains:

“We can cook meals together, do some baking. We’ve gone out for trips together seeing lovely bits of London – like taking a boat up the Thames or visiting Greenwich Observatory.”

Lynn says Shared Lives staff are always on hand to answer questions on the phone, and there are regular meetings and plenty of training opportunities.

“If you’re someone who enjoys working with people and want a rewarding and challenging experience then Shared Lives could be for you,” says Lynn.

“It’s a real pleasure getting to know someone through Shared Lives. It could be life changing for certain people.”

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