Stronger Voices-Strong Support

View all the dates of the next “Living Your Life workshop.”

View all the dates of the next Peer Support Drop-In sessions.

View all the Stronger voices … Strong Support contact details.

Confused about Personal Budgets and Self-Directed Support?

• Struggling to get support that works for you?
• Want to understand more about being in control of the support you get?
• Want to know more about how Personal Budgets work?
• Want to support others to get the knowledge and skills they need to be more independent?

DAD’s new project Stronger Voices…Strong Support is about:

• Supporting disabled people and carers to have real choice and control over their lives and the support they need, even in difficult times
• Empowering people with the information and knowledge they need
• Offering people the right level of support
• Developing Peer Support: this is support from someone who has had similar experiences to yourself
• Volunteer opportunities: use your own skills and experience to support others, and get training and support to do so
• Support for people with Personal Budgets, Personal Health Budgets, Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND Pathfinder) Assessments and Plans, Independent Living Fund, Access to Work, etc.
• Support for people who fund their own support and/or who choose not to engage with agencies

Stronger Voices ... Strong Support is funded for 3 years by the Department of Health’s Voluntary Sector Investment Programme, Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund

Making it real

“Personalisation,” Personal Budgets, Personal Health Budgets, and other changes are happening all over the country: It should mean disabled people and carers are getting better support, but not everyone is seeing positive changes in their lives yet. Recent research finds the best outcomes happen when people are able to take more of a lead in planning their own support, and that Peer Support, from someone who has “been there, done that” can really help people to do this

Peer support

The project is based on peer support, which means: support for disabled people and carers by disabled people and carers; support for Personal Budget holders by Personal Budgets holders; support for people who fund their own support by people who fund their own support, etc., whenever this is possible.

Project staff use Personal Budget, Direct Payments and Access to Work funding; and the project trains volunteers who use support to support others.

National good practice recognises that disabled people supporting each other to identify flexible and innovative solutions, often leads to increased independence and support which really works.

High quality independent support will be delivered by trained disabled people, older people and carers who have first hand experience of the issues and barriers that people encounter on a daily basis, and understand the types of support and advice that help.

3 levels of support

Some people will need a little support, some will need a lot. Stronger Voices ... Strong Support aims to offer people the right level of support to be in control of their own lives and their own support packages.

For example: one person might just need a little information; another might want a better understanding of how personal budgets work and of different ways of meeting needs; another might need one-to-one support over a period of time to plan and set up a support package that really works for them.

The project will therefore offer three levels of support:

Level 1 - Information and Advice

A helpline will be available delivered by trained individuals with personal experience of using support to live their lives, who can answer any queries you may have by telephone on 01325 267757, by e-mail on strongervoices@darlingtondisability.org, or by arranging to call in at the office to speak to someone.

Level 2 - Living Your Life Workshops and Peer Support Drop-Ins

Every four weeks we run a Living Your Life Workshop, introducing and explaining the seven steps of personal budgets, looking at best practice, how to make the process work for you, and working effectively with social care and other authorities to achieve a support package which enables you to be in control of your own life. These are currently taking place every four weeks on Wednesdays at the Darlington Association on Disability meeting room in Enterprise House between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. with lunch provided. If this time is unsuitable for you, please contact the project to talk about when you might be able to attend instead.

Also running every four weeks, there are Peer Support Drop-in Sessions. These will be very informal, with tea and cakes available and people dropping in to share and discuss their experiences, and problems and solutions they have encountered. As well as other disabled people and carers who use support, there will also be project staff available to answer your questions. These sessions will be generally on a particular subject, but please do feel free to come in to talk about other issues as well. Currently these are also running on Wednesdays in the DAD meeting room, alternating with the workshops with a drop-in session from noon until 2 p.m., (with the morning session from 10 a.m. until noon set aside for one to one appointments)

Level 3 - Peer Mentors

Those who need a little more support, there will be Peer Mentors or Peer Support Planning Partners: these will be people with experience of using support to live their lives, who can give you one-to-one support over a period of time to deal with issues such as making your own support plan, preparing for reviews of your support package, and other issues around be in control of the support you need to live your life

Volunteer opportunities

The project will train and supervise volunteers who have personal experience of using support, as disabled people or of carers, to become Trained Advisors or Peer Support Planning Partners.

Trained Advisors will deliver information and advice to empower and enable people to be in control of their own support.

Peer Support Planning Partners will provide a more sustained one-to-one support for people to make their own support plan, or to deal with other issues relating to achieving choice and control and flexible support to meet their needs in a way that works for them

Partnerships and developing an effective model of Peer Support in Support Planning

While the project is primarily based in Darlington, it will also work across the region, in County Durham, Tees Valley and North Yorkshire, developing partnerships with other user led organisations of disabled people, with local authorities delivering social care, and with health authorities which are developing Personal Health Budgets

This will allow the project to learn about, share and promote best practice for disabled people and carers to working in effective partnerships with local authorities, health authorities and other public bodies; and to develop an effective approach to developing peer support in support planning, which can then be used as a model by other authorities to develop Peer Support in other places

The next Living Your Life workshops

The next Living Your Life workshops (about understanding and using the Personal Budgets process to be in control of your own life) are between 10am and 2pm (but if you want to come to one, but these times are not possible for you, please let us know).

Current workshop dates are:-

• Wednesday 27th March 2013
• Thursday 18th April 2013
• Thursday 16th May 2013
• Thursday 20th June 2013

Lunch is provided. Please contact us to arrange a place, and we will also check your access or dietary requirements.

The workshops and drop-in peer support sessions are held at the DAD Meeting Room, Unit 1P Enterprise House (south entrance, ground floor), Valley Street North, Darlington DL1 1GY.
Phone: 01325 267757 (if you need to leave a message please include your name and phone number and speak slowly and clearly)
Text: 07624 818780
Email: strongervoices@darlingtondisability.org

Information and Peer Support Drop-Ins

These sessions will look more closely at each step of the “7 Steps” Personal Budget process as well as provide an opportunity for the group to share knowledge and experience with each other. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided.

If you have issues to bring to the drop-ins that are off-topic, feel free to attend so they can be discussed with staff and other people that have experience of Personal Budgets.

Current Drop-In dates are:

• Wednesday, 6th February, 12pm - 2pm
Step 1: Supported Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SSAQ)

• Wednesday, 6th March, 12pm - 2pm
Step 2: Support Planning

• Friday, 5th April, 1pm - 3pm
Step 3: Having the plan agreed
Step 4: Managing the Budget

• Thursday, 2nd May, 1pm - 3pm
Step 5: Setting up the Support
Step 6: Becoming Accountable

• Thursday, 6th June, 10am - 12pm
Step 7: Enjoying Life - Review

Contact Stronger Voices…Strong Support

Contact Stronger Voices…Strong Support for peer support, advice and information:

Phone: 01325 267757 (if you need to leave a message please include your name and phone number and speak slowly and clearly)

Text: 07624 818780

Email: strongervoices@darlingtondisability.org