Our Impact in Ceredigion: 2022-23

Recruiting the right support staff

It’s important that the people we support have choice and control of who supports them, what support they receive, and when they receive it.

That’s why we’ve worked together with people supported, their families, staff across mirus and people from other similar organisations to come up with a plan that empowers people to make decisions about the support they receive.

Alan sat down with his circle of support to think about how he would like to be involved in recruiting his own staff. They discussed everything, from deciding on what type of support is right for him, right down to whether he wants to be the one to tell the successful candidate that they’ve got the job.

Alan writes his own questions, centred around his interests such as DIY and gardening, as well as questions that help him get to know the person being interviewed.

Alan is a funny, friendly person and likes to have a laugh in the interviews that he’s involved in.

He sometimes catches people off guard toorecently he asked a candidate if they could speak to him in Japanese, even though Alan doesn’t know any Japanese himself! He likes to see how people will respond, and his off the wall questions always get a good laugh and break the ice.

Alan loves to be involved in recruiting his new staff to make sure that they have things in common and get on well.

Alan as part of the interview panel recruiting his support staff

Learning skills to increase independence

People told us that they wanted to learn skills that enable them to be more independent. So, our Connecting People team set up a cooking group for people with a learning disability.

The group meet every other week at the Penparcau Community Hub, and there they learn how to make simple home cooked meals from scratch.

The group has been a real success, and lots of people have joined to learn new recipes and cooking skills that they can try out at home.

One of the group’s favourite recipes was lasagne - the dishes looked and tasted great!

Reducing night time support

The Just Checking system at Talardeg has allowed staff to monitor night-time movement, so that they can improve their approach to night time support.

The discreet system has strategically placed sensors, which allow for unobtrusive tracking of people’s activities during the night. When needed, precise and comprehensive reports can be generated by the system. These reports have helped staff work with the people supported and commissioners to reduce night time support, without compromising on safety.

Where previously a member of staff would need to monitor people constantly during the night, the technology now does this effectively their place. Staff no longer need to be awake during the night, and night time shifts are now sleep-ins.

The new approach was introduced gradually, based on data from the Just Checking system and feedback from the people supported.

People have told us that they are getting a better night’s sleep now that they no longer engage with staff during the night.

The transition was smooth for the people supported, who now feel less restricted and enjoy more autonomy during night time hours.

An overview of how the Just Checking system displays activity

Our cooking group loved learning how to make lasagne

Making choices and preparing for a holiday

Martin loves his holidays but finds the first few days difficult as he settles into a more relaxed pace of life in a new place.

In the past Martin has always been told about his holiday the morning he was going; this is because when Martin knew sooner, he then found it difficult to wait for the holiday.

Martin’s support network thought that this could be better for Martin and got together to have a think about this and came up with a plan.

Martin would know about his holiday two days before going; in these two days he would be busy buying clothes and packing.

Martin’s network made sure the lead up to his holiday was structured and used his communication profile to make sure he knew what was happening and when.

Martin got really excited in the two days leading up to the holiday but loved being involved in the preparations. He knew where he was going, when he was going there and what he was coming home. His holiday was a huge success and Martin enjoyed every day to the full!

Raising awareness of Autism in the community

This year for Autism Acceptance Week we arranged a community walk across the promenade in Aberystwyth.

The challenge this year was a ‘spectrum colour challenge’, and we encouraged our walkers to dress in bright colours on their walk.

The walk was a great success, and everyone had lots of fun while raising money and awareness.

Meeting new people over coffee and cake

When we heard that Kirsty, the new Chief Executive of mirus, was visiting Aberystwyth, we arranged a coffee and cake meet and greet so that people could get to know her.

Lots of people we support and staff turned up to welcome Kirsty to mirus, and they all had a great time chatting and asking questions.

Meeting up with Kirsty over coffee and cake

Sarah, who is supported by mirus, and Huw joined us for the walk

Making friends through shared interests

We recently started to support two gentleman Eddie and Jim who live close by to Alan and Mal, who are already supported by mirus.

To make them feel welcome and part of the mirus community, we invited them to our Better Together event. Better Together events are held in the local community, and give people who are supported by mirus the opportunity to meet and socialise with others, as well as provide mirus with feedback about what they think is and isn’t working.

Getting to know the community together

Earlier this year Adrian moved into his new home with Eirion. Eirion has lived in the area for a while, and was excited to take Adrian on a tour of the best places to eat, drink and visit in the local community.

Spending time in the community together has

Since the event they have met up frequently, often visiting each other’s houses for food, a catch up, and a jam session.

They have a great laugh together, and their friendship is blossoming.

At the event Eddie and Alan got to know each other a bit better, and found they had a few things in common - especially their enjoyment of Bingo calling!

New friends Eddie and Alan enjoying a ‘jammin’ session together

Eirion and Adrian enjoying a meal at the Starling Cloud

Celebrating the achievements of our stars

We held a mirus stars awards event to celebrate the fantastic achievements and great things that the people we support and our staff accomplished.

People connected with mirus used our mirus moments form to nominate others throughout the year, based on achievements that matched our values; Together, Respectful, Responsible, Empowering and Courageous. Our mirus reps from each region then had the difficult task of selecting 40 of the very best nominations out of a total of 192, and those people became our mirus stars semi-finalists.

At our mirus stars pre-awards parties, held in Cardiff and Swansea City Stadiums, we read out the nominations of our 40 semi-finalists, and encouraged everyone to vote for their favourite using electronic voting pads. Each category had 4 people selected to go forward to the final stage as mirus stars finalists, which were chosen by our Trustees.

The mirus stars awards event itself was a fabulous celebration, with Alex who is supported by mirus, and staff member Jamie dressed as the greatest

showmen to introduce the event and get the crowd cheering. Everyone was so excited to see who the winners for the events were, and to celebrate their success with them.

Our mirus stars winners were:

Together – Beth Broad, supported in Powys

Respectful – Allan Ramsahoi, staff member in Cardiff

Responsible - Sophie Scheeres, supported in Cardiff

Empowering - Andrea Romanga, supported in Swansea

Courageous – Matthew Clarke, supported in Neath Port Talbot

The incredible mirus stars winners celebrating on stage

To end the event, the fabulous drag collective ‘House of Deviant’ took to the stage, and lip synced, danced and encouraged the audience to take part in challenges.

House of Deviant is Wales’ first inclusive drag troupe for people with learning disabilities, and Sophie Scheeres, who is supported by mirus in Cardiff, performs as Miss Shade B****. They are fierce, sassy, and incredible performers, and their passion and excitement on the day of the event was contagious!

We received an inspirational nomination for Saffron, who is supported by mirus in Ceredigion. Saffron was a finalist for the category Responsible.

Saffron moved out from her parents’ home into a supported living house in 2020. At first she found the additional responsibilities challenging, but she has grown so much in two years. She is caring and considerate to those around her, and is now taking on lots more responsibilities and is becoming independent. She now has three hours home alone time, and has grown and matured so much. We’re so proud of how far you’ve come.

We love reading about the achievements and courageousness of people connected with mirus, and we can’t wait to see what amazing nominations next year’s awards brings.

House of Deviant provided fabulous entertainment

Sophie performing as Miss Shade B****

Our Greatest Showmen introducing the ceremony

People cheering the winners

Saffron was a finalist for the category Responsible

The whole crowd were up and celebrating