Cheryll Champion, Quality and Compliance Manager at LDC Care Company, a provider for people with learning disability and autistic people, explores the vital intersection of relationships, sexuality, and the journey towards reducing isolation for the people who draw on services.
I recently was honoured to win an award for innovation at the regional Great British Care Awards and am excited to attend the nationals very soon. Alongside my joy at winning the award was a little sadness that the work we are doing is still seen as innovative.
The work all centres around supporting people in our care who live with learning disabilities, autism, acquired brain injury or mental health needs to be less isolated. Supporting them to build friendships and having opportunities to meet potential partners.
It’s a sad fact that data shows approximately only 3% of people with a learning disability will ever live with a partner with the statistics for marriage being even lower.
The opportunities for them to build relationships and find an intimate partner are so few and far between. There is still an uneasiness from staff, families and other professionals about people who need support expressing their sexual needs and finding ways to meet them. So often the thought of people with a support need being intimate provokes an assumption that this is a safeguarding issue, rather than a natural thing and a connection most people seek.
The work we do at LDC all came because of a person we support saying her goal for 2023 was to go on a date. We knew if that was a goal for her it would also be one for other people. The first thing we did was to start a group called meet and mingle, where people could socialise and meet people both supported by LDC and other local organisations.
I am happy to say it has been a massive success. People have made friends often with people we would never have matched them with. Those friendships have continued outside the group with people meeting for coffee or lunch. We have also had some romances, with slow dances, dates, flowers, and some kissing. For some people they gave progressed to thinking about intimacy and we have worked with them around their understanding, capacity and when needed sex education.
People with a support need are so vulnerable to ‘mate crime’, a bad friend is better than no friend at all. We work really hard to enable people to make friends who will treat them well and help those friendships to blossom. This minimised the hold those ‘bad’ friends have on people. It also minimises the risks that people encounter with online interaction.
We have introduced the idea of intimate relationships and expression of sexual needs into our induction training. So, staff know from day one that this is a support need we take seriously and do not avoid.
We have found staff are asking lots of questions and seeking training. We have trained 3 people to deliver the skills for care programme around relationships and sexuality.
The opened in this area has encouraged those in our care to ask for information and support relating to their gender, sexuality, and intimate lives.
Sex is not a taboo word at LDC.
In most recent interview for the award the interviewers told me it has inspired them to go back to their own organisations and look at how they were supporting people around reducing isolation and expressing their sensuality. For me this is a win in itself. If even one person’s life is improved by my work then I am very proud.
LDCCareCo
ldccare.co.uk
