Starts at Home: Life in Supported Housing
Starts at Home is an annual awareness day that celebrates the value of care and support services, and the difference that having a safe and secure place to call home can make to people’s lives.
Our Independent Living service helps to support Onward’s customers to better manage their tenancies and live more independently.
Hayley Eadie-Miller, a Supported Housing Specialist at Onward, shares how her role is enabling customers to be their best for Starts at Home day.
A little bit about me and my role
I am a bubbly character who wears my heart on my sleeve. I love to help people and feel I am kind, loving and caring. I believe a problem shared is a problem halved and my life motto is ‘Live, Love, Laugh’.
Before joining Onward in 2022, I’d worked in my previous role for 18 years. My son had recently left school, so we were looking for jobs for him when I came across the advert for a Supported Housing Specialist at Onward. I thought “this sounds interesting and like a bit of me” so I applied.
After my interview, I accepted the offer and was ready for a new challenge, and to learn and grow in my career. I quickly built great relationships with our customers and support workers, and the rest is history.
My day-to-day role as a Supported Housing Specialist is very varied and keeps me on my toes, from liaising with internal teams and completing property inspections, to regular meetings with external specialist support providers.
Life in Supported Housing
I love to visit our customers, whether they live in one of our Supported Housing schemes or in their own homes with support from specialist providers.
Our schemes often feel like family homes, as the on-site colleagues and customers have such good relationships, and some have great banter which makes me smile. Some of these customers are non-verbal but give me the biggest smile when they see me, whilst those who can communicate love to talk with me about what they have been up to.
Robert, an Onward customer who has lived in a Supported Housing scheme since 2010, said:
“I like living in supported accommodation, we all eat meals together and it feels like a family. I have a good life and feel happy.”
“I get to go out to different places and to see my girlfriend, staff support me with this, and sometimes I go out on my own. I go to my girlfriend’s house, and she has a lovely dog, I love dogs. My girlfriend also spends time with me at my house.”
“I like going out on my own to basketball. I volunteer at the Cancer Research shop. I also attend the DIY Theatre Company, I have been in lots of shows and even been on BBC North West to celebrate 30 years of the theatre.
“I am going on holiday to Egypt with my girlfriend and staff in December and I am looking forward to this”.
Our customers that live in their own homes thrive with the support of specialists and it is a pleasure to see the impact this help can have on their lives. These customers like to take the lead on answering the door and showing me around their homes. Lots do their own gardening, cleaning, cooking and other chores within their homes.
I love this part of my role, as I can see how happy our customers are and how proud they are of their homes.
Working with partners to make The Onward Difference
As a Supported Housing Specialist, I work with a lot of external partners who share our vision of enabling people to be their best in a home they love.
Recently, I’ve been working closely with Stockport Council on their Supported Housing Improvement Programme (SHIP) and have been keeping them up to date on our improvement works across Supported Housing homes.
We recently installed a new Appello system across our supported properties. The system includes emergency call buttons, intercom door access, door sensors and links to smoke and fire alarms, allowing us to ensure our customers are safe and well whilst living as independently as possible.
We also take part in community initiatives as a team to help support our customers such as fundraising for Rossendale Trust, an organisation that helps customers gain new skills and have days out together, as well as hosting mental health awareness events.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog about my life in Supported Housing and the positive impact our services have on customers, allowing them to live more independently.
Since starting the role two years ago, it has really opened my eyes to how important it is that everybody should have the chance to live in a safe, secure home, which is what Starts at Home is all about.
To learn more about Starts at Home, please visit startsathome.org.uk.