The Sheds are not large and they are intended to be places where people come to help themselves/others on a path of confidence building.
It is NOT a drop in. We need to have some knowledge about people before they come (directly from them or from a carer/support worker) and we do have to assess at that time (and ongoing) the way people fit in so that they benefit and the other Shed members.
We cannot undertake personal care and we are not professional workers (we are all volunteers, we are all Shedders). Should we agree (and it is at our discretion) that someone with significant need for support attends, it is important that the care worker or carer plays an active role in the Shed in some way not only as the support for an individual but also slightly more widely in “the family”.
Coming to the Shed involves a process therefore. It is to ensure the well being of all who attend.
The most that any of our Sheds can accommodate at a Shed session regularly is 10 – 12. Thus we do have to make judgements on who we agree to join and it may be decided on the basis of a few trial attendances.
We have to watch (as do professionals) that promises are not made that leave an individual liable to feel let down.
To be clear, nobody has a “right” to attend. It is by mutual agreement. It has to be reassessed from time to time (e.g. if someone has further advancing Alzheimer’s) but we try to do it considerately and normally it happens in a way that is natural and anticipated.
The message is that we are family, and that includes carers and support workers.
People’s problems are not the subject of much conversation, we try to focus on the positive of people in some way developing in a new surrounding.
If you want to talk more about this, please make contact.
