This month, we were fortunate enough to meet with Clive Parry, the director of Association for Real Change, also known as ARC, to show him around the facilities here at New Directions Rugby. We had the opportunity to share our stories, introduce him to our staff, and discuss our mutual passions for providing exceptional levels of care and support.
What is ARC?
ARC is the only UK organisation specifically for learning disability and autism providers.
ARC supports knowledge development, improves practice, and influences policy in health and social care for the benefit of people with learning disabilities and other needs such as autism, mental health problems, and/or sensory and physical disabilities.
Members of ARC support learning disability and autism providers to promote the power of collaboration. They do this through encouraging providers to work together to address the challenges of the sector at network meetings, in turn making a real difference to people’s lives.
Clive’s visit
We were incredibly proud to hear that Clive left New Directions feeling inspired and energised after meeting our team and taking the time to talk to some of the people we support.
As a charity that puts its all into providing people with modern, spacious and comfortable accommodation, we were delighted to hear the following statement:
“One aspect that differentiates New Directions is that the services are all within a square mile of each other, a short walk from the town centre and unidentifiable as homes for people with a learning disability because they are no different from the properties nearby.
Many of them told me how much they loved their homes, how much they’re being supported to do for themselves to increase their independence and how much they value being part of the New Directions community.”
Our aim is for people to enjoy their lives living alongside their neighbours and being a part of their local community. We strongly believe that everybody has the right to live an independent and happy life, with reassurance that we’re here should they need any support.
Everything that we do here at New Directions is made possible with the knowledge, understanding and dedication of our team. Every day we strive to encourage and inspire the people we support by giving them the freedom to live their lives as they choose, to develop and learn new skills to reach their full potential.
Our thoughts
It was a real pleasure to invite Clive to meet everybody here at New Directions. Our team were delighted to hear about his comments and the people we support loved telling him all about their lives here, the things they love to do, the places they enjoy visiting, and how special their homes are to each of them.
To receive such fantastic feedback about our person-centred support, combined knowledge and enthusiasm for what we do inspires us to continue to strive for excellence. You can read more about Clive’s visit via his recent blog post here.
If you’d like to visit us here at New Directions Rugby, or know somebody that may benefit from supported living, short breaks or respite care, please get in touch. We’d be happy to support however we can.