It's Our 10th Anniversary!

Regular visitors to this page will not have missed the fact that You First is 10 years old this year! We've been supporting neurodivergent people, people with a learning disability, and people with a mental health illness for a decade, and that's amazing!

I still find it hard to believe that after converting our front bedroom into an office back in February 2014, where I was the only (unpaid!) employee initially, You First now delivers over 2,500 hours of support per week and employees almost 100 people. It's been a remarkable journey, one that has been far from easy with incredible challenges strewn across my path along the way (and those challenges keep coming!), but one where the vision has triumphed. A vision of seeing neurodivergent people, people with a learning disability, and people with a mental health illness building and growing their lives in ways that make sense to them. Whilst I founded You First, none of this is about me, it's all about the remarkable people we have had the privilege to support. I have often said that whilst I've studied and achieved a number of qualifications in social care over the years my real teachers have been those I've supported, got to know, and worked alongside. Our education always comes from those who are experts by experience, our job is to assume nothing.

The photos of me here are from 10 years ago where I was launching and promoting You First. You can see me working in the front bedroom, promoting You First at a social care exhibition, and emphasising the fact that You First is a social enterprise, an organisation that is not about private profit, but about making a real and lasting social difference in peoples lives.

Thank you, each and every one of you, for the part you are playing in making the You First vision the success that it is.

When I talk with people about our 10th Anniversary people usually ask me what the challenges and successes have been, and I am always happy to share examples with people as there has been many – of both!

In terms of challenges, I would say that working against a national culture that does not value social care as a worthy career has been one of the biggest. I have worked hard to buck this trend in terms of ensuring that Support Workers and office team members are paid well above the national minimum wage, but this is not easy in a sector that is dreadfully underfunded by our sole funder – Local Government, and Local Government have their hands tied as they can only fund from the pot they are allocated by National Government, although political decisions obviously play a key role here. Our nation must decide what our value of and commitment to disabled people really is if social care is to survive.

The quality of support someone supported experiences is intrinsically entwined with the quality of support the person supporting receives and whilst pay is not the only factor in job satisfaction it is key as people have bills to pay and lives to live and this is responsibility I carry with immense seriousness.

The nature of support we provide necessitates high levels of training to ensure that people supporting are equipped to manage what can often be significantly challenging situations, and training costs. To mitigate this, we are actively developing our own in-house training facility that will also be able to provide training outside of You First. This has required significant investment, but it is central to our strategic plan of continuing to ensure we reward team members justly. Reasonable financial reward for such dedication and commitment is a central factor in terms of building a consistent workforce that has continuity at its core, and one that provides a realistic career ladder, something that is often sadly lacking in social care due to funding constraints. Social care needs to attractive to those who wish to build a career, and it is poor funding that stands in the way of this which is an obvious challenge in terms of succession planning.

You First operates a flat organisational structure with a firm commitment to working toward self-management as a key driver to keeping our costs as low as possible so that we can redistribute these savings to people supporting. We work hard to balance not being top heavy in terms of management positions whilst ensuring that people supporting have direct access to their line manager and that immediate support is always at hand. Ensuring we have this right is an on-going challenge. Lone working in the community is a challenge, it brings risks, and back up must always be available, so the balancing act here is a continual pressure that we have under the microscope constantly.

So operating within significant budgetary constraints whilst trying to deliver self-directed support that has quality, dignity, empowerment, and continuity at its core is the primary challenge and one that is very much present in the here and now.

Another challenge is bespoke housing. Many people looking to live active roles in their local community have requirements that necessitate bespoke housing; that is housing specifically designed to support their needs. Many people who are looking to us to support them are in living situations that are not conducive to building and growing their lives simply because their unique housing needs are not being met. People with a neurodivergence often have significant sensory needs that demand a living environment that supports these requirements, yet this is often overlooked. We know that we cannot squeeze people into “off the shelves” services as there is no such thing as “one size fits all” yet we continue to do this in terms of housing. I have experienced, many times, that the only thing hindering a person living their best life as an active citizen is somewhere to live. This is a challenge for both statutory and third sector providers and it is imperative that we get our heads around this as a significant number of disabled people are being failed. You First is working hard with housing partners and experts in the field to mitigate this challenge to deliver for people so that they can begin living their best lives.

The successes I could talk of are myriad and I know that we need to get better at trumpeting them. The challenge here is that the success is not ours, the success belongs to the person supported and is often testimony to their resilience, so it’s not our story to tell. You First works with people, but no one can empower another, we simply point the way to show people they already have that power no matter the level of their disability. They can make their own choices, they can stand on their own feet, they do matter, they are of value and worth, and their personal choice in how and where they live and who supports them rests with them and them alone. Power sits with the person supported and no one else and it’s a key part of our job to enable and facilitate people realising this.

When I first met E she had been inappropriately sectioned and was being supported 3:1 by her current provider. She was angry, and she was angry because she was being denied her basic human right of having choice and control over her life. This anger would spill over into how she communicated her feelings at times, but people were focusing on the behaviour and not the motivating factor behind it. Now E has her own home as part of the HOLD scheme, she has gained qualifications at college, she has a thriving Avon round that connects her to her local community in a very real way as she has a meaningful and valued role in her community. We have been able to drop E’s staffing levels to 1:1, and she now spends some time alone during the day at her request. E wanted to speak to the CQC Inspector at one of our inspections and I came in at the end of this conversation to hear the Inspector say to E “all you needed was someone to listen to you.” And that’s what we do, in a nutshell. E's Mum says "You First have a very good understanding of autism and are person-centered. The support workers and management are very approachable, listen to any concerns there may be and do their best to sort them out."

D sought support from us due to his previous provider not being able to support him. D has autism, ADHD, and complex epilepsy, but he is a young man who wants and has the absolute right to build and grow his life on his terms. D is an adult, with adult needs, and part of his support is very much communicating with him on an adult-to-adult basis. The people we support are equal people, they are not “less than” they are equal with, and any label that may have been attributed to them over the years is simply that – a label. Our job is to get to know people as human beings, not as people who are unfortunate, or need help, or have “special needs” but as human beings who have needs, just as all of us have needs. A key aspect to D’s support is recognising his need for a diverse team, an active life plan that he is in control of and fully understanding the need for risk to be part of his life, just as it’s part of all our lives.

When I first met M he talked at length to me about wanting to be in charge of his life. He had quit many services because he had felt like a cog in a wheel, part of a money making programme, and not as a valued human being. M looked at others and wondered why he was not living the life he perceived them to be living. He didn’t feel an equal person. M’s needs were expertly masked by his years of practice and even well qualified professionals missed the deep complexity of M’s personality, needs, and make up resulting in You First having to advocate for him on many occasions and successfully, may I say! M now lives in his own property under the HOLD scheme, is able to pursue his hobbies and interests and is in charge of his life and how he lives it. M's Dad has said "I've been anxious about M's support for so many years, but now I don't have to worry. I don't even look at the roster anymore because I know you will have it sorted."

When I met J he did not know how to go about accessing support, tended to live his life in his bedroom and had not been outside the house for some time. I sat with him and his family and went through the Adult Social Care assessment process. J was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at age 14 and he talked to me about one service failure after another. J was so keen to talk about his story he made a series of videos that you can find on our You Tube channel. J is now in the unique position of not only receiving support from You First, but he is also employed by us for 5 hours a week where he delivers invaluable work linked to evidencing compliance for which he is paid the National Living Wage. J also volunteers at Owl Enlightenment in Glastonbury and he is working on building relationships with others by attending Geeky Gamer in Street. J’s mum said: "I hope you pat yourself on the back Andy, because it’s you that got him to this stage in his life. I was so worried a year ago this day would never come, well done from me."

M came to us following a full scale safeguarding alert with her previous provider. I have known M for around 25 years and I was horrified when I met her at her previous supported living home. M’s funding was cut as she transferred to us, so we have worked hard, obviously on the back foot due to this. M has autism, PTSD, bi-polar disorder, and significant sensory needs. We worked closely with external professionals to ensure that M lived in a sensory environment that was geared toward her specific needs. Routine, structure, consistency, and continuity were not desirable, they were pivotal to her wellbeing and this resulted in a scripted approach to her support to ensure that she felt safe. Slowly, through the support her dedicated team the M I remembered returned. M’s emotional resilience, her ability to bounce back from no matter what has long been a source of inspiration to me.

These are just a few of our successes, but as I say, the success belongs to each individual. Yes, we have provided quality and consistent support, but it is the person supported who has achieved, who has built and grown their life on their own terms according to their own world view, and the credit belongs to them and them alone.

Thank you for many and varied ways that you have supported me as an individual and for the way you have supported You First as an organisation. Thank you to the amazing people who work with us, and who have worked with us over the years. Thank you to the incredible people who have allowed us into their lives to support them, and to their families.

Here’s to the next ten years . . . which may contain my retirement. We’ll see!