| Lifeways’ poet Adrian wins national praise |
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 20th March 2009Lifeways Community Care’s Ivybridge manager Adrian Kennedy is a self-made poet – and now the whole care world knows it! Adrian’s latest verse, “Hands off – It’s My Home,” a poem which expresses the importance of independence and personal autonomy for people with complex needs, is now winning national acclaim. Mobility nurse Adrian, 47, who is married with two children, heads up a Lifeways team supporting 72 people from the Ivybridge office near Plymouth. One of the UK’s leading provider of supported living for people with complex needs, Lifeways has an expanding organisation in the southwest and Cornwall, and Adrian’s quick-witted and creative verse is now the talk of the team. His latest poem, written in just 20 minutes, is now on a national care website ,”In Control” after he dashed it off during a training day called “Hand Off - It’s My Home: a path to Citizenship.” Led by Samantha Sly, Learning Disabilities Quality Improvement Manager at the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust, (CIOSPCT) the training day was designed to help providers improve the support they give to people living in their own homes. This follows from a Government White Paper launched last summer about passing power to communities and giving real control and influence to more people. Adrian scribbled his poem Hands Off- It’s My Homet o celebrate the empowerment of Lifeways’ clients who stand to gain from new ways of budgeting for more independent living. Lifeways’ Chief Executive Paul Marriner adds: “Lifeways is very proud of Adrian’s unique way of expressing quite complicated issues in direct and entertaining verse. The move to individual budgets will transform lives and Adrian’s verse really sums up how independent living can empower people to take ownership of their own homes and lives.” Adrian adds:” I thought people may be getting a bit fed up with jargonistic buzz words - so I had a go at making the training day a bit different by writing my thoughts down in verse. I was a bit nervous but my poem was very well received and everyone just loved it!” And now Adrian’s poem is posted on the home page of website ”In Control,” the leading website for organisations who are learning more about individual budgets for people with complex needs at www.in-control.org.uk The poem has also been read at CSCI national conference on communicating with people with complex communication needs. It will also be appearing on the Lifeways’ website at www.lifeways.co.uk Trainer Sam Sly added: “I thought Adrian's poem was excellent as it captured the essence of what people with learning disabilities should expect from being supported in their own homes and showed me that the training had worked!” HANDS OFF – IT’S MY HOME I don’t have a Rota blue-tacked to my wall I don’t expect to find one anywhere at all If the telephone is ringing, I pick up to see who calls I don’t have great big posters about slips and trips and falls I decide what happens, when I go to bed, or eat I decide who enters in, which people I will greet I decide on furniture, which bed, which bath, which seat I decide the temperature and when to turn up heat All the things around my house, they all belong to me I don’t have strangers coming in changing channels on TV All the post I get is opened by the addressee I have dominion in my castle, I have my privacy I don’t used my home for meetings, training or interviews The colors in my carpet are my favourite chosen hues All records kept about me are accurate and true And, if I really want to, I will own 100 shoes. I will make my choices; I will make my own decisions And any Plan I make contains my own wishes and visions Any person in my home is only here from my permission No office do I have here, no rules and no restrictions I decide who to employ to a vacant situation I decide on where I want to store my medication I have the right to keep my mother out of my accommodation And I don’t need to have a weekly fire evacuation No risk assessments stop me from trying something new I make my own mind up about everything I do When I need support I will let you know if it is you Hands off, it’s my home – or Sam Sly and I will sue! Adrian Kennedy |
