Your Stories

Tom

We have recently improved and extended the kitchen area at our Tea Room social enterprise in Blewbury. The additional space has had a positive impact on several people we support who work or volunteer at the Tea Room.

Additional space alongside support from one of our Employment Support Workers has led to Tom making some great progress with the tasks he is undertaking and his general wellbeing at work.

Our Employment Support Worker says: ‘Tom usually prefers to complete a few known tasks, normally in silence and suggestions to try new tasks are not taken up. We often spend a large proportion of Tom’s session outside to help alleviate his anxiety. Lately though, Tom has been happy to engage in new things and he has shown great capability in many areas. We now make soup, finely slice vegetables, put deliveries away and we are planning to start baking traybakes soon. Yesterday, we took some time out in the green tent, and he asked me why my fingers were bandaged up. I explained I fractured my finger, and he very gently held my hand and said, “feel better soon”. He then talked about Top Gear for a few minutes before going quiet again. This was a really positive moment for us both!’

Work Programme

Tom chopping vegetables at Style Acre Tea Room

Katy-Anne

Katy-Anne works at the Style Acre Tea Room, she enjoys working at the Tea Room every week and feels valued and fulfilled in her role. She particularly enjoys working front of house and using the till as she likes to meet and chat to the customers.

Katy-Anne’s mum says “Katy Anne has had various opportunities over the years to do cookery and catering courses, and to work in coffee shops in ‘closed’ settings…I was delighted when I found that Style Acre’s Tea Room would give her a chance to use her skills in a real commercial setting, interacting with members of the public, but with support as and when needed..”

Work Programme

James

James works as an administrative assistant for Style Acre’s “Quality Checkers” Programme which asks people we support to talk to their peers who live in Style Acre supported living houses about their lives, their support and their homes. The information is then shared as a report with all that were involved.

James’ role co-ordinates the communication between the managers of the support living houses and the individuals who are going to be performing the quality checks. James’ role includes checking and writing emails to and from the house support teams, organising dates for visits and making sure all the people who are Quality Checkers have a profile that can be sent to houses in advance of a visit, together with a list of questions they are likely to ask. James does this with minimal support and he has been learning a huge variety of office skills and has enjoyed every new challenge.

James has embraced his role with enormous enthusiasm, he loves working on the laptop, and when asked where he’d like this role to lead to, his response was “the sky is the limit.” When asked how he felt about his job he said. “This is everything I ever wanted. Thank you so much for giving me this chance I am enjoying it immensely and I like learning new skills- like my typing.”

Work Programme

Katherine

Katherine volunteers at a small café that is open to the residents of an over 55’s housing association development in Wallingford. Katherine also has a paid role as a cleaner at Style Acre’s Didcot community hub.

At the café, Katherine is supported by Carla, one of our Employment Support Workers. Carla picks Katherine up from her home to take her to work and back again. Katherine’s role is front of house, serving customers, taking cash and card payments, taking trays of drinks and cakes over to tables and cleaning up after her shift. Katherine has also gradually become more confident making hot drinks. Katherine has overcome a lot of anxiety whilst working at the café, when she first started, she struggled with being overwhelmed when having more than one customer at a time. Working 1:1 with an Employment Support Worker has enabled Katherine to have focussed support to work on her confidence to talk to the range of customers. Katherine can now confidently initiate conversations and has learnt to independently make pots of tea using the hot water dispenser. Katherine has also learnt how to complete the daily fridge temperature checks, warm up scones and serve them with jam and with support will use the coffee machine to help make a latte or cappuccino.

Katherine says “I love working here. I am getting much better at serving lots of customers without “freaking out” and I am doing a good job at making cups of teas and talking to the residents. Carla has been really helpful at reminding me of how to do something if I am not sure. I want to carry doing this as long as I can.”

At her cleaning job, Katherine is supported by a volunteer who takes her home after her shift, knowing that she is going to be working the same time each week has helped a lot with Katherine’s anxiety. Katherine works through a personalised job list which includes hoovering, cleaning toilets and surrounding areas, emptying the dishwasher, replenishing cutlery, tea bags and coffee and emptying the bins. Katherine really enjoys her job and it is clear that she takes it very seriously. She says “I am the best cleaner at T2 and I like that I get paid – if I don’t work I won’t get paid.” Katherine values her work as part of her routine, she is able to do her work independently, only needing support for transport and to lock up the building.

Work Programme

Ollie, Tom and Matt

2023 saw the opening of a lovely new Style Acre house in Abingdon. Ollie, Tom and Matt and their support team have settled in really well, quickly creating a happy and relaxed place to live.

The support team empower Tom, Ollie and Matthew to make their own decisions about their lives, running their home and choosing how to spend their time. Michael leads the support team and says ‘as long as they’re at the centre of everything, I’m a happy Support Manager’ and ‘I like that we just hear laughter’.

The housemates all have their own interests alongside having fun together on day trips, using gym memberships, cinema cards, playing PlayStation together at home and basketball using the hoop in the garden; they have created active lives for themselves. A board in the kitchen displays their house rules, photo’s, everyone’s favourite things to do and usual weekly timetables.

The support team work quietly in the background to help the housemates overcome any issues and to keep everyone safe. The housemates have a great base from which to live their own lives and see their families who live nearby when they want to.

There are lots of plans for the future and a great garden space to work on.

Our Houses

Friends on a walk, smiling at the camera