Our Impact in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot: 2022-23

Making improvements to the community

Community Connector, Jade helps to find opportunities for people supported in Swansea to get involved with activities in their local community, and support the development of community projects.

Jade found out about a great opportunity for people to volunteer at a local community garden, and encouraged Scott, who is supported by mirus, to attend.

Although he had never gardened before, the community garden has become enormously important to Scott.

Volunteering at the garden enabled him to learn new skills whilst supporting the local community at the same time.

Scott really enjoys planting and caring for lots of fruits, vegetables and flowers, and watching them grow. He doesn’t even mind weeding! He has become familiar with using different gardening tools and really likes getting stuck in to the heavy digging.

Scott has made several new friends at the Clydach garden, and he can’t wait to get dressed in his Clydach Community garden shirt every Wednesday. He knows that means that he is going to get his hands dirty!

He always takes home some of the vegetables he has grown to use in his cooking.

All Scott’s hard work at the garden was recognised when he was named as the “Best Worker”, for which he received a trophy.

At the end of a busy day gardening

Scott enjoys a hard earned cup of tea in the canteen with other volunteers.

Scott planting flowers in the community garden

Scott with his trophy for “Best Worker”

Having choice and trying new activities

Harry and his support network had a look at what activities were going well and found that trampolining, something that he used to love, Harry now found difficult.

The team put their heads together and came up with a plan.

Together they wrote a detailed plan of how Harry wanted to be supported when he went trampolining and made sure they let Harry know that he was doing an amazing job.

When Harry was planning his day trampolining was offered as a choice. When he chose trampolining the Practice Leader went along to see how the plan was going; this meant that they could make any changes as often as they needed to.

Paying it forward to help the community

Louise is currently supported by mirus in Port Talbot, where she has made such fantastic progress that she will soon be moving into a newly built flat. Louise will live there independently, with a small amount of support from mirus.

A few years ago Louise found herself in considerable hardship, and had to rely on charities to supply her with essentials like food and clothes.

One charity that helped her is the Trussell Trust, whose network of foodbanks provide emergency food and support to people in crisis.

Louise collected money from people she knew within the community to donate to the Trussell Trust, then matched the amount she had collected with her own money. Louise delivered her donation of money and two full bags of food to the local foodbank in Carmel Chapel.

Louise said:

The network decided on points of achievement –this first step was to successfully support Harry into the trampoline park, and each time he was more and more comfortable.

With lots of positivity and encouragement Harry got onto the trampoline and loved it!

The volunteers there rely solely on donations and were thrilled to receive Louise’s contribution and so impressed by her commitment to helping others in her community.

Harry having a great time at the trampoline park

Having the flexibility to adapt and change the plan gave the team the confidence to try new things and Harry had a great time too.

“I am now in a position where I want to be able to help people that are in the same situation I was once in”

Louise is proud to be in a position to help others

Having a voice in the recruitment process

Todd has been working on building his confidence, and pushing himself to get involved with more activities that challenge him.

To help with his goal, Todd decided to become a mirus rep for Swansea. mirus reps are the voice of people supported, and they have received training about how to better advocate for themselves and for other people.

As one of his first responsibilities in his new role, Todd was asked to be on an interview panel to help mirus find a new Chief Executive.

Todd said:

Taking control of health and wellbeing

For years, Sean has been living with type two diabetes, and struggled to find a good balance between enjoying food and being healthy.

Abigail Phillips, Swansea Area Manager said:

However, in the last eighteen months, Sean has worked really hard with his support staff to try new, healthier food and build a meal plan that he can stick to.

Now Sean has lost a significant amount of weight and is doing really well at maintaining his new lifestyle, whilst still eating and doing things that bring him joy.

As part of his annual health review, he was told that he is no longer considered to be diabetic, and can stop taking medication.

Todd is looking forward to getting involved with more activities in his role as mirus rep in future, and he would love to join more interview panels.

Sean said that he feels on top of the world with what he’s been able to achieve with support, and is keen to stay on top of his health through careful meal planning, regular weigh ins, and allowance for occasional treats.

“I felt comfortable at the interview and the process of asking questions and giving feedback was easy. I really enjoyed the experience and getting involved - I felt heard.”

“Todd was really pushed out of his comfort zone, but did amazingly. He didn’t come across as nervous, asked lots of questions, and gave open and honest feedback about his thoughts and feelings.”

Todd is now a proud mirus rep for Swansea

Keeping in touch with friends and family

People who are supported by mirus at Park Road in Swansea were offered the opportunity to receive a tablet on loan from First Choice Housing Association, and essential training to support them to use it.

The tablets were initially offered during lockdown, when the ability to use video calls and instant messaging was essential to bridge the physical distance between friends and family.

Although lockdown is now over, the tablets remain an excellent way for people to stay connected with their loved ones inbetween in person visits, and help people to receive vital support from their friends and family when they need it.

Many essential appointments with GPs and hospitals have also been changed to video call, a trend which is set to continue into the future.

Thanks to their new tablets and knowledge of how to use them, the people in Park Road have been able to attend their appointments virtually, saving time and ensuring they are seen quickly.

Sean now enjoys going swimming to get some exercise

Using a tablet to play a driving game

James from Park Road using his tablet to play a game

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 Hanan Thomas, a mirus staff member in Swansea. Hanan was a finalist for the category Together.

Hanan is incredible at connecting people together. She has worked with the people we support to identify things they would like to do and find others with similar interests and bring them together. She has arranged a Macmillan Coffee Morning, a dog day, a talent show and a food festival for people in Swansea. Her positive energy and enthusiasm makes everyone feel great, and she’s really brought people together with the local community.

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

Hanan was a finalist for the category Together

The whole crowd were up and celebrating