Service User Involvement Day — 24th August 2009
On Monday 24th August 2009 Service Users in the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales were invited to attend a Service User Involvement Day which was open to the service users in receipt of support throughout the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales Area.
The aim of the day was to provide our service users with information about the range of activities and support that we offer, and to consult with them about the sorts of things they would like to see us organise. We also sought their opinions on the support provided, in order to help us to review our policies and to improve the service as a whole. Most importantly, though, we sought to run a day that was interesting and enjoyable and provide an opportunity for people to meet and get to know each other.
The meeting was held at The Source Café, which is run by the Church in the Peak, who are Friends of Adullam.
Twelve service users attended on the day and four members of staff. The day started at 10.45 with tea coffee biscuits and an introduction to the facilities staffing and programme of the day.
The day kicked off with a quiz. Four teams competed, receiving mini chocolate bars for every correct answer. The Quiz was won by Jasmine, Sam and Kelly’s team. They were very pleased with this result and decided to host their own quiz later in the day. They compiled a further ten quiz questions and ran the quiz for the other two teams. All seemed to enjoy a bit of competition, whilst retaining a nice friendly relaxed atmosphere!
Following the quiz, and on a more serious note, service users where given a booklet of questions about the service and an opportunity to indicate, from a menu of options and ideas, what they may like to see take place, or participate in. Ideas on offer included:
- participation in Sports and Leisure activities, including a camping trip
- compilation of a local News Letter
- joining an Opinion Panel to meet, over lunch, to give Adullam feedback on policies or procedures
- Participation in staff recruitment
- Other activities, such as craft, cookery, self esteem workshops, first aid, mock interviews etc
Service Users were given a proposed programme of events from September – December and again a very positive response and a lot of interest.
After an enjoyable lunch break, the focus turned to our Guest Speaker, Johnny Kinch who gave a presentation to the group about his life.
Johnny, from Leicester, now works as a radio presenter for BBC radio Derby. However, at one time, he had a promising career as an actor and had been to RADA and landed parts in The Bill, Doctors and worked with Neil Morrissey and Ralph Little on Paradise Heights. He was living the high life in London, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous, whilst developing a serious drug/alcohol and gambling addiction which resulted in him losing everything. Homeless and living on the streets, Johnny eventually ended up in prison. He talked about his experiences and how he managed to turn his life around through his Faith. Johnny’s story was very interesting. The audience looking completely spell bound. Following the presentation Johnny gave everyone a signed copy of his book “Johnny Be Good” and everyone had an opportunity to ask any questions.
For the last half hour, Jasmine – Resident at Salisbury House - entertained everyone through her singing and guitar playing, while everyone completed their feedback forms.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable day. All those who attended, gave positive feedback and our thanks to all the Service Users for helping make it such a successful day:
Amy, Chris, Ashley , Chris, Sam, Jasmine, Kelly, John, Peter, Harley, Paul and Andrew.
Staff who attended and ran the day included: Anita, Ruth, Jackie, Debra and Dawn.
