A CENTRE which helps adults with complex learning disabilities is appealing for more employers to get involved.

The Brightways centre opened last April as part of the £23 million Catmose Campus development.

It is a spacious cutting-edge facility which provides weekday support for up to 15 service-users aged 19 plus with varying levels of disability requiring a lot of specialist care.

With government emphasis nowadays on the wishes of the individual, every user of the service has a tailor-made personal care and development plan with a timetable designed to help them achieve their potential and a personal budget to buy the care they need.

Training service users for paid or voluntary work is an important goal, as is helping them integrate into the Rutland community and access the county’s education and leisure facilities.

To achieve these goals, Brightways staff are prepared to challenge boundaries.

Rutland county councillor Christine Emmett, (Con) is responsible for health and social care, and is appealing to businesses in the community to provide employment opportunities.

“Brightways has had some success in getting work experience and paid employment for some of our service-users but we would like to ask more local employers to give these people a chance,” she says.

The Brightways centre includes sensory and wetrooms, a garden, dedicated areas for physiotherapy and relaxation and technological wizardry providing easy access to the internet. Brightways also offers support for the Rutwel group of adults with lesser disabilities which is based at the Victoria Hall.

All together 50 people are helped by a team of 44 workers plus 10 volunteers and people gaining work experience, such as student nurses. There is a further support team of health workers - physiotherapists, community nurses and a psychiatrist.

There is a commitment to helping service users to develop as much independence as possible. They were consulted every step of the way in the design and fitting out of the building and a competition was held to choose the centre’s name.

Glynn Attiwell is the employment development co-ordinator responsible for finding jobs and work experience. He liaises with employers, coaches individuals by breaking tasks down into small steps and gives ongoing support for the work placement.

As an example, one of the service users is a young man who loves shredding paper. He has been taught to do this safely and correctly and is now employed as a paper-shredder for one day a week. The biggest success has been one man who has gone on to full-time employment at Rutland Cycling and one young woman given a six-week work placement at Lands’ End that was extended to 14 weeks and then led to paid work in a shop.

“The emphasis is on ability rather than disability.

“Every individual has a unique selling point,” says Glynn. “I know of one man who was completely disabled - he could only blink and his family were very negative about finding him work but he found it as a model for an art class and as a hand model.”

Brightways is open to any member of the Rutland community who has been referred there by a social worker and prior to its opening users were looked after at the Rutland Day Centre. Some service users live at home and some in Oakham’s two supported living schemes; there are four minibuses for transport and lots of outings, from shopping and pantomimes to swimming, horse-riding and dance classes.

Emma-Jane Perkins, a team inclusion manager for the county council, says it is about “putting users in control of their own lives”.

She said: “We start with a meeting between the family and health professionals and get to the bottom of what the person can achieve and an action plan is formed.

“People use their personal budget to buy the services they want and use a PA to act for them. They decide what they will do during the day and where they want to go,” she says.

At the centre’s official opening in October, Coun Emmett said it was hard to describe in words just how good Brightways is.

“It’s so much more than just a new building. This is really about the people who provide just the right care, tailored for each individual, to help them grow and take part in our local community.

“We’re very lucky to have such a wonderful centre here in Rutland,” she said.

BRIGHTWAYS has three service users who already have work but would like more.

Scott Measures likes to wash cars; Paula Howkins works in a charity shop for one day a week and Matthew Trumpess works part-time at Oakham Castle and at the cafe at Market Overton’s Lodge Trust, but they would like to do more.

All service users are given travel training so that they can get to and from work themselves and they have a Keep Safe Card enabling them to access help if they encounter a difficulty, such as missing a bus.

If you are an employer in Rutland and would like to help the council provide suitable employment opportunities for Scott, Paul, Matthew or any other service users at Brightways, then please ring 01572 722577 or e-mail enquiries@rutland.gov.uk

For more general information about Brightways, contact 01572 772586