Prayer Diary: September - December 23

Here to serve

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others.

1 Peter 4:10

Welcome to our prayer diary

Dear friends

Thank you for your faithful prayer support for Livability. In this edition, we’re focusing on how we serve children, young people and adults with disabilities. What does this look like in practice? Enabling people and fostering independence is a vital part of our service and we’ll be praying through how we do that across the charity.

Have you heard about Livability’s Prayer Circle? This group meets on Zoom every

Monday at 11.30am, to pray for the people we support, our staff and wider community. All our supporters are invited. The group is led by our chaplain, Elizabeth Harrison, who says: ‘We’ll pick up themes from the Prayer Diary and pray for each Livability service in turn, welcoming guests to tell us more about where they live, work, or study.’

Hope you can join us –just email prayercircle@livability.org.uk .

Sally Chivers CEO

Dear God,

Thank you that you care for each area of Livability’s work, and for each person we serve. Please guide all those who make decisions for the charity, big or small, and enable our services to flourish and increase.

Amen

September Let’s pray

Lord, we pray for our education services this month: Livability Victoria School, Livability Nash College and Livability Millie College. Thank you for these three vibrant places of learning and for each young person and staff member who is part of those communities.

Amen

Week 1

Dear God, we thank you for the ‘can do’ environment of Livability Education centres, which enables students to learn and socialise well and be prepared for their next steps in life. We particularly lift new students and staff to you as this term starts, asking that they may quickly settle in and thrive. Amen

Week 2

As Livability Millie College starts its second academic year, we pray that you will consolidate all that was begun last year, and bring the right opportunities along for each student as they prepare for as independent and empowered adult life as possible. Amen

Week 3

Lord, we thank you for the ‘good’ rating that Livability Nash College was awarded by Ofsted earlier this year. We ask for energy, vision and fulfilment for all staff at Nash as they start a new college year. Amen

Week 4

We pray for all students at Livability Victoria School and especially remember Alum Class, the specialist class for non-verbal young children with autism, which opened last year. Please give the staff wisdom and skill as they build relationship and communication with each child and bring joy to each student and their family, through their progress.

Amen

Why our work is needed

Our Livability Education settings work with children and young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) issues.

We provide tailored support for each of them, aiming to furnish every individual with the prospect of the most flourishing life.

Mainstream schools are struggling to meet the needs of all pupils. Special education like ours is so vital.

Future stars: Livability Victoria

Enabling students with complex disabilities to make music is a big hit at our education centres – and Olly and friends, at Livability Victoria, have got a band together for Friday jamming sessions.

Olly uses Eyegaze, a programme to control his computer with eye movement. This enables him to play the drums, at which he excels. His mates William, Deniz and Daniel are part of the band, playing synthesiser, soundbeam and percussion. Soundbeam is a cutting-edge device that enables students with very little movement to independently choose from a huge palette of sound.

The band’s achievement has reaped rewards – they are number six in the Mixcloud global charts.

Our education centres provide extraordinary, specialised care for children and young people who need individual input on communication, health and disability equipment to flourish in their education. Building confidence is also a key part of enabling our students to engage with the world around them.

Please support Livability Education and donate online at livability.org.uk

Let’s pray

We pray that our government and law-makers would demonstrate a consistent commitment to providing and resourcing adequate social care that effectively meets society’s needs. Amen

Week 1

We pray for all the people we support who are living with an acquired brain injury, and their families. We thank you for the specialist care that Livability’s nursing homes and rehabilitation centre provide and ask that each person would thrive in our care. Amen

Visit www.livability.org.uk/lor to find out about our ‘Life Changed in an Instant’ campaign.

Week 2

Lord, we thank you that some of our services have successfully recruited care staff recently, despite a national shortage. We pray that other vacant posts will be filled in coming weeks, with excellent candidates who care about their work and the people they support. Amen

Week 3

We pray for our patron, HRH The Princess Royal, as she visits Livability Millie College this month. We ask that this event will raise the profile of our work. Amen

Why our work is needed

There is an increasing number of requests for social care nationally. Almost 1000 people are supported by Livability every day. This includes those in our residential care facilities, independent living facilities and rehabilitation centres. We recognise the abilities of every person, demonstrated in their Care Plan and in their unique Livability Life Sum.

Week 4

Dear God, please bless new staff who will be joining our services in the autumn. May they be quickly included into the team and welcomed by the people we support, and may they sense your peace and joy in their workplace. Amen

Changed lives Livability Treetops

One in three people living at Livability Treetops, our highdependency residential service, is there because of an acquired brain injury, whether through an accident, stroke or illness.

‘Just about everything can be affected: speech, cognition and concentration, sight, continence,’ says area manager Mandy Nixon. ‘Everyone is an individual and that person is right at the centre of our care. How we support them will depend on what they, and their loved ones, want to achieve.’

November Let’s pray

Thank you for the amazing progress that many make in our rehabilitation services. We ask for the means to increase what we can offer in this much-needed area. Amen

Week 1

We pray for all those who are supported to live in their own homes by Livability’s independent living services, around the country. May their independence grow and may they gain confidence and pride in their achievements. Amen

Week 2

We pray for younger people in our services who live with an acquired brain injury. We ask you to be very present with each one, as they learn to accept and live with their disability, and we pray for your strength and encouragement for all they hope to achieve. Amen

Week 3

We pray for engaged and married couples supported by our services, that you would bless and deepen their relationships. May they find a happy balance between privacy and the support they need. Amen

Week 4

Dear God, please guide and encourage all our staff who are involved in rehabilitation. We particularly lift Livability Icanho, Livability Treetops and Livability Kenway Court to you. Increase their wisdom and skill and may they experience many rewards through their work. Amen

Why our work is needed

‘Rehabilitation services have been under-resourced for decades .... This has exacerbated poor health outcomes, particularly for people from marginalised groups,’ says Professor Karen Middleton of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, reported by The Guardian*. More people living with poor outcomes puts additional strain on services. Livability’s rehabilitation services provide vital therapy and support which transform outcomes for the person being treated or cared for.

*https://www.theguardian.com/ society/2022/sep/21/millions-in-poorhealth-due-to-lack-of-rehab-afterillness-warns-uk-report

Support

Help us to provide specialised support and care in the years to come. Call Michelle on 020 7452 2099 to find out how you can remember Livability’s work in your will or visit www. livability.org.uk/getinvolved/gifts-in-wills

Light at the end of the tunnel Livability Kenway Court

Laura, in her early 30s, moved to specialised nursing home Livability Kenway Court following a fall and a life-changing brain injury. Laura, who now has complex disabilities, is determined to keep a positive attitude to her changed life. ‘Staff have helped me to improve my speech immensely, from being able to vocalise a couple of single words to holding full conversations. And they’ve helped me develop self-confidence. I am … proof there is light at the end of the tunnel with love, support and hard work. I am genuinely happy and content with my life, and I’m about to start a master’s degree in psychology.’

Read about Laura’s mum’s experience on p19 and watch

Laura’s video http://www.livability.org.uk/laura

December

Let’s pray

Lord, please prompt us to include others as we prepare to celebrate your birth and sacrificial love for all people everywhere. Amen

Lunch for disadvantaged children provided by The Shaftesbury Society (now Livability) in days gone by.

Week 1

Lord, we ask for wisdom for our staff as they plan the best possible Christmas arrangements for those who will be with their Livability service over Christmas, and for those who will travel to family or friends. Amen

Week 2

We pray for the families of everyone who uses a Livability service and ask that this Christmas will be a special time of love and joy for them, especially where there are stresses and strains as they support their disabled loved one. Amen

Week 3

Thank you, Lord, for all the caring, enabling support our services receive from their local community. We pray for new friendships and connections to be established over the Christmas season.

Amen

Week 4

We pray for our residential care homes, whose staff will be making Christmas very special for all their residents. We pray for smooth logistics, health and the true meaning of Christmas to be very present. Amen

Why our work is needed

One in three carers live with longterm physical or mental health conditions themselves*, whilst coping with their care responsibilities. At Livability, our services and support are there not just for the person who uses our services but for their family and loved ones too. Open visiting, invitations to celebrations and a listening ear are all part of many Livability services.

*https://bit.ly/3qlCK5P

Caring for my daughter Livability Kenway Court

A 1am phone call was how Laura’s mum Janet learned her daughter had had a lifethreatening accident. Laura now lives at Livability Kenway Court (see p15) where, Janet says, ‘Laura has come on in leaps and bounds. She’s become more independent, her speech has improved and the staff enable her to make her own choices. Before she was here, I used to leave her, sit in the car and just cry my eyes out because I didn’t want to leave her. Now I can think that I’m going home, I can switch off and be “normal”. The staff here don’t just support Laura, they support me too.’

Read Laura’s story on p15 and watch her video www.livability.org.uk/lau

Watch it directly here at www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvyCvFWtVg&t=5s

Please support us so we can continue to provide the best possible services: donate online at www.livability.org.uk/ donate

Come and join the Prayer Circle

September 2023 sees the relaunch of Livability’s Prayer Circle, at the new time of 11.30am on Mondays. We’ll pick up themes from the Prayer Diary, and pray for each Livability service in turn, welcoming guests to tell us more about where they live, work, or study.

Prayer Diary readers are warmly invited to join this half-hour Zoom meeting, hosted by Elizabeth, Livability's chaplaincy manager. As Mindy, a regular attendee, says: ‘It’s an honour to pray for Livability, trusting God to continue to bless and guide the work we do, our leadership and the people we support.’

To register and receive a link to join, email prayercircle@livability.org.uk.

Livability is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee in England and Wales. Charity No: 1116530 and Company No: 5967087. Registered office: 6 Mitre Passage, London, SE10 0ER.