On Friday 10th June we were very proud to launch our new Westgarth service in partnership with Calderdale Council, with a special guest the Lord Mayor of Calderdale, Cllr Angie Gallagher

Westgarth has undergone major refurbishment works providing much-improved accommodation for people accessing the service and for staff providing support.

Westgarth provides a respite service enabling safe and comfortable accommodation for adults with learning disabilities, giving them and their carers a welcome break.

The new Westgarth facility has been planned with its users’ needs fully in mind with fully accessible accommodation and bathroom facilities, finished to a high standard. The entire building has been refurbished and remodelled and provides a kitchen, laundry, lounge and dining area, plus office space for staff.

The building also includes a number of self-contained living units to support people to maintain their independence and further develop the skills they need to lead full and active lives.

We are sure all clients who stay at the Westgarth Service will flourish and enjoy many of the great local community facilities, which will further support people staying at the service.

Pictured The Lord Mayor of Calderdale,  Service Manager Nigel Brown, and CEO of St Anne’s Azra Kirkby.

Gerard Wainwright, manager from our Heatherstones service in Halifax, has led the Unsafe Swallow Project as part of a Queens Nursing Award, which we are very proud to announce has been nominated as a Finalist in the Royal College of Nursing Awards 2022.

The project aims to address health inequalities that result in a disproportionately high number of people with learning disabilities dying because of aspiration pneumonia caused by swallowing difficulties.

As the project started at the same time as the Covid pandemic, it initially provided webinar-based training to non-nursing services identified as supporting people with learning disabilities at risk of unsafe swallowing.

Free video learning resources were developed that have been used by hundreds of people globally. Webinar training has also been delivered to NHS trusts, nurse graduates and other organisations. Services have reported improved confidence of healthcare staff and improved health for the people they care for.

Gerard worked with clients from St Anne’s to develop the project including Robert Cooper and Michael Ludlum, and indeed the project is dedicated to the memory of Michael Ludlum

We are so proud of Gerrard Wainwright and Robert Cooper  and wish them well with the final awards.

You can discover more about the project here (please click on the image)

Welcoming our new Chair and Vice-Chair

One of the north’s leading charities, St. Anne’s Community Services (St. Anne’s), has appointed a new Chair and Vice Chair.

The new Chair is Anthea Sully, who is Chief Executive of White Ribbon UK, a charity that works to end domestic violence toward women. Anthea first joined the board of St Anne’s in early 2021 as Vice-Chair, will replace Ian McIntosh who has represented St Anne’s since 2019.

Anthea Sully said:

“I am delighted to become the new chair of St Anne’s. I’m really looking forward to working alongside everyone. I joined the Trustees in March this year and have been getting to know St Anne’s, but I am really hoping that I will be able to start meeting clients and staff in person soon which will help me learn more. There is a little more about me on the St Anne’s website.  Thank you to everyone who has already welcomed me.  I also need to thank Ian McIntosh, our outgoing Chair, for everything that he has done for St Anne’s for the last few years.”

Joining Anthea as Vice Chair is Bryan Machin, who is the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and has over 15 years’ experience as an NHS Finance Director. Bryan was elected to the St Anne’s board in 2020.

Bryan Machin said;

“I am delighted to have been asked to support Anthea as Vice-Chair.  I hope to be able to start visiting some of St Anne’s services as soon as circumstances allow.”

Azra Kirkby, Chief Executive Officer for St Anne’s said;

“I would like to extend my warmest thanks to Ian McIntosh, who has over seen many developments within St Anne’s and has provided a wealth of experience and insight. We wish him well for the future.

“I welcome our new Chair and Vice-Chair to their roles, who I am sure will bring their expertise and knowledge in abundance as we continue to lead the way in person-centred care.

“It is important for charity organisations to continually refresh as society and care needs change, and I look forward to working with both Anthea and Bryan as St Anne’s continues to grow and progress in the years to come”.

Making New Friends

The Kirklees Befriending Service supports clients with mild to moderate mental health issues and/ or those who may be socially isolated.

As part of our service, clients are matched with a volunteer befriender who will support them in working towards personal goals to improve their health and wellbeing. While clients are waiting to matched to a befriender, the service offers group sessions including the coffee drop-ins; these sessions enable clients to gain social support through a group in the community/ public space.

Many of our clients who attend the coffee drop-ins do not have many people around them and can, at times, feel very lonely. Coffee drop-in allows them to meet new people, talk about their mental health in a non-judgemental group where they can relate to each other, build confidence and take steps towards accessing other groups and activities in the community to improve their wellbeing.

Currently, we have a coffee drop-in session in North Kirklees (Dewsbury town centre) and South Kirklees (Huddersfield town centre) which take place every fortnight

If you would like to know more about the service, please email:KBS@st-annes.org.uk.  or call 07973 330424 / 01924 468344

 St Anne’s Community Service, a proud partner in Forward Leeds, the alcohol and drug service, is thrilled by the recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection rating of the service as “Outstanding”.

Detailed as ‘highly innovative’, the report goes on to state that the service “truly considered the needs of different groups of people using its service” and that the “staff treated clients with compassion and kindness and respect”.

Former user of the service Mathew Sharp said: “It is fantastic to see Forward Leeds recognised as an outstanding service. It was remarkable to have their support and help through my recovery. They are always there for you. The staff are amazing, they work with you, they understand what you’re going through and will help you understand yourself”.

As part of the inspection, the CQC spoke to ten clients and one carer. Everyone they spoke to provided positive feedback about the service. Clients stated that the staff were really supportive and caring and went above and beyond and had really helped them to move forward with their lives. They added they were told that the service felt like a safe place and that clients felt respected and not judged.

Azra Kirkby, Chief Executive Officer for St Anne’s Community Services said: “We are truly proud to be part of the Forward Leeds partnership.

“The inspection stated, Forward Leeds worked extremely effectively with its partner organisations… enabling highly effective collaboration.

“The commitment and dedication of all the teams working so effectively together, to support individuals and communities across Leeds is outstanding. The report is a testament to their hard work and truly person-centred approach.”

Forward Leeds Director, Lee Wilson said: “This is fantastic news for our service and the city. If the report highlights one thing above anything else, it’s that we are a caring service whose staff always do the best for the people they support. The report shows the level of commitment our teams have to deliver the best possible service and outcomes for people using our service as well as their families and loved ones.”

The full report is available to read online from the CQC website www.cqc.org.uk

Alcohol Services and International Nurses’ Day.

At St Anne’s Alcohol Services we are celebrating International Nurses’ Day by thanking our Nurses for their work. Nurses play an integral role in the success of our residential alcohol treatment services.

In 2021-2022, our Nurses admitted nearly 200 clients for an alcohol detoxification programme, and despite all the challenges that managing Covid-19 has meant, 93% of the clients went on to complete their programmes.

As well being responsible for the safe admission of clients to the programme, Nurses monitor and manage the withdrawal symptoms of clients, administer a range of medications, provide emotional support, complete support plans and risk assessments, facilitate group sessions…

Covid-19 has meant additional responsibilities, with testing to be done and supporting new clients during periods of self-isolation.

Being a Nurse at Alcohol Services means being able to respond to quickly changing circumstances, with the challenge of being able to identify and deal with the rapidly deteriorating client, being balanced with the pleasure in observing clients make great progress in the days and weeks that they are with us. Nurses lead our shifts, and our ably helped by our team of Alcohol Support Workers.

So, this International Nurses’ Day, we thank Juliet, Laura, Helen, Maria, Farah, Mary & Christina for your hard work, your dedication, your willingness to rise to the challenges that you are faced with, and the positive outcomes that you enable clients to reach.

A charity, dedicated to supporting the most vulnerable in society, has planted a new sensory garden in the heart of Leeds, close to where it was founded in 1971.

St Anne’s Community Services (St Anne’s) which this year is celebrating its golden anniversary, has a proud heritage of supporting homeless people, those with learning disabilities, people requiring substance rehabilitation and aiding people with mental health needs.

Working with Leeds City Council’s Parks Team, staff and clients at St Anne’s planted the unique sensory garden with plants which support; taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound, in Queen’s Square, Leeds (by the Merrion Centre).

Clients from some of St Anne’s Leeds services, planted the garden last week, whilst a commemorative plaque and bench were installed. The garden was formally unveiled on Friday the 13^th August by St Anne’s Deputy CEO and Director of Operations, Shona Beaton.

Jacqueline Carver, Learning and Development Co-ordinator from St Anne’s, who has led on the project, said:

“St Anne’s is dedicated to inclusion, we wanted to create an accessible space everyone can enjoy. It was wonderful to see some of the people we support enjoy planting and taking part in the unveiling”.

Azra Kirkby, Chief Executive Officer for St Anne’s said:

“Queens Square is a stone throw from where the St Anne’s journey began back in 1971, where we were set up to support homeless people. The last 50 years has been a journey of developing new services to enable people to have better life outcomes.

“We hope the garden will be enjoyed by everyone, and we are committed to keeping accessible and colourful for the local community to enjoy.”

Pictured; Paul and Melanie (L to R), two of the people St Anne’s supports.

Without Limits

Welcome to the twice yearly St Anne’s client update, ‘Without Limits’.

2021 has been a difficult year with Covid, but our clients have enjoyed many experiences, events, day’s out and celebrations.

We are dedicated and proud to supporting all our clients to live life without limits. Click the image to discover more.

A life without limits.

We have great pride in sharing with you our new five-year strategic plan, “A life without limits”.

“A life without limits”, showcases our future direction which puts the people we support and our staff at the heart of everything we do. Our strategy is a roadmap as to how we will make our new vision, real.

As we celebrate our 50th year in 2021, we reassert our commitment to ‘making a difference’ by empowering our staff to work creatively and collaboratively, developing new partnerships and ways of working that will enable the people we support to lead fulfilled lives.

Our new strategy, developed with our greatest asset – our staff, will ensure St Anne’s is a great place to work. It details how all our staff will be supported and nurtured through our values framework, it showcases our commitment to digital transformation, housing and delivering homes to be proud of, and how we will become more sustainable and grow through investment and the development of
new and existing partnerships.

Our message is simple, we want everyone St Anne’s supports now and in the future to have the opportunity to live their best life, and we invite you to join us on this journey.

Strategic Plan 2021_26 A life without limits

Our staff from Heatherstones did a wonderful walk on the canal towpath which runs from Copley to Sowerby Bridge. There were six of our clients and seven members of staff on the outing. This had to be carefully planned as Calderdale is very hilly and it can be difficult to support our clients in their wheelchairs outdoors. But we do all we can to ensure they have safe access to the local community and are able to get the most from spending time in green open spaces.

All of us are becoming aware of the benefits of nature. But often take access for granted and assume if there are paths or pavements these will be accessible to all. For many of our clients with larger wheelchairs this is not the case, the camber of the surface can cause the chair to lean to the left or right making it difficult to push adapted wheelchairs, curbs are often too high to manoeuvre the wheelchair from curb to road or road to curb, many surfaces are uneven, cobbled or hazardous in other ways and steep hills or even gentle slopes can present a significant challenge.

The journey from Heatherstones to the canal involves a very steep hill as we’re located at the top of the valley and the canal is in the valley bottom; pushing chairs downhill can be difficult as the chairs start to pick up momentum and need to be held back. If we had individually driven all our clients to the canal that would have involved six separate journeys’ there and back; they would have also missed out on a significant part of the whole experience and sense of adventure.

We believe it’s important for our clients to experience different sensations and terrains in a safe way as it’s all too easy to shelter people with profound and multiple learning disabilities from certain aspects of life because the potential challenges appear too difficult. There are so many sensory and other opportunities outdoors that we feel our clients would miss out without making the effort to support these experiences. The canal is a haven for wildlife and we saw a crane and many other water birds. For people with profound and multiple learning disabilities the physical sensation of sunlight reflected on the water and passing through the leaves of overhanging trees, the smells of wildflowers and the sound of birdsong offer immediate benefits and reward to spending time outdoors.

After so long spent shielding our clients in order to keep them safe throughout the pandemic being out in natural surroundings has had a significant positive benefit.  It’s a great opportunity to be outdoors, feel the elements and spend some time in a different environment. Mental Health Awareness Week is an opportunity to reflect on our own and our clients mental health and take opportunities to enjoy green spaces in our local community. We are aiming to plan regular accessible walks in the countryside in and around Calderdale, although it can be a challenge supporting clients in wheelchairs the benefits are well worth the effort

Celebrating and commemorating our 50^th Anniversary in 2021-22, our teams from Gateshead and Dewsbury have planted 30 fruit trees as a lasting legacy of our golden anniversary during spring 2022.

In Gateshead our team planted 25 fruit trees in Dunston Park, undertaken in partnership with Gateshead Council. Whilst in Dewsbury (West Yokshire), a grove of five fruit trees was planted in Crowsnest Park, in conjunction with The Friends of Crowsnest Park Community Group .

Azra Kirkby, Chief Executive of St Anne’s, who unveiled the orchard in Dunston Park, Gateshead said;

“We wanted to create a living legacy for our 50^th Anniversary which our clients can come and enjoy. The planting is a great opportunity for our clients, staff, commissioners, and the community to come together to support one another in planting these trees.

“These past two years have taught us all how much we need one another, and we are so delighted to be celebrating our 50 years with a lasting reminder of that.”

Dot Burnett, Lord Mayor of Gateshead, who attended the event with local ward councillors said: 

“I am very happy to help plant the orchard. I’d like to thank you St Anne’s very much for the contribution that you are making to the Dunston Teams Ward, it’s absolutely fabulous”.

Attending the planting and unveiling of the grove in Dewbury, Shona Beaton, Deputy Chief Executive of St Anne’s said: 

“Outdoor spaces have proven so important to all of use in the last two years and we are so pleased to be adding to this beautiful park and to be giving back to the community”

To see more about both events,  please see the videos below:

Dunston Park – Gatehead

Crowsnest Park – Dewsbury

People-focused, passionate, and committed are just some of the words we would use to describe St Anne’s Community Services, as they encompass many of the aspects which make us so special. We are an organisation that is for people, by people.

We are proud to support people experiencing learning disabilities, mental health, substance misuse, and homelessness and deliver a high quality of care which is reflected in 95% of our services being rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Our 1,350 staff are committed to supporting over 1,600 clients and their families across Yorkshire and the North-East, making a huge difference to their lives and supporting their aspirations and individual outcomes.

As we look to deliver our exciting 5 year plan “Life Without Limits”, we are recruiting new Board members, to help us make sure our voice is heard, and that we continue to inspire our communities.

We are looking to extend our board-level experience with a focus on social care, quality, health and safety, people, and housing. We are seeking candidates who will be able to add their experiences to the Quality & Safeguarding, Health & Safety, and Audit & Risk committees in addition to being a Board member.

As we seek to increase the diversity of our Board, we particularly welcome applications from people seeking their first Board opportunity, women, and from the BAME/LBGT+
community. We actively encourage people with disabilities or lived experiences to apply.

If you are looking for a rewarding role that will also stretch you, and you have the skills, experience, and motivation to help us deliver our business strategy, we would like to hear from you.

If you are interested please see the pack attached.

Trustee Recruitment Pack

To celebrate and commemorate St Anne’s Community Services, 50^th Anniversary on Wednesday 15^th September, a special time capsule was buried in Temple Newsam Park, Leeds.

Organised by the St Anne’s Shared Lives Team, who support adult support placements with families, the time capsule captures life in 2021 and includes; letters from the Lord Mayor of Leeds Councillor Ashghar Khan and St Anne’s Chief Executive Officer Azra Kirkby and mementos from daily life, including photos and artwork from Shared Lives clients, coins, recordings from Shared Lives carers and a current newspaper.

Debbie Lewis, Shared Lives Lead said.

“We wanted to create a legacy from our 50^th Anniversary, something which captured the essence of St Anne’s and the Shared Lives carers and the amazing work they do. Our time capsule is a moment in time, highlighting the amazing work our carers undertake, which we hope in 2071 will be a little part of our 100^th Anniversary. We will be registering the capsule on a special website which keeps a record of all time capsules.”

Azra Kirkby, Chief Executive Officer for St Anne’s said,

“It was wonderful to meet so many of our carers, and the people we support at the time capsule burial. It is very humbling to be sending a message into the future, people I will most likely never meet, but I hope the contents of the capsule are inspiring and showcase the legacy we leave for future generations.”

Pictured above Barbara (carer), Alan Murphy (client) and Sheridan (support carer), Councilor Mohammed Rafique, Azra Kirkby (Chief Executive Officer St Anne’s)

Leading Charity Appoints New Vice-Chair and Trustees

One of the north’s leading charities, St. Anne’s Community Services (St. Anne’s), has appointed fours new Trustees including one to the position of Vice-Chair.

A not-for-profit organisation supporting over 1600 people across the north of England, St Anne’s has a leading reputation for developing and providing services for people with: complex care, learning disabilities, mental health problems, homelessness, and drug or alcohol misuse. St Anne’s also supports over 550 people in supported living and housing tenancies.

Wishing to expand its services and draw on the depth and wealth of knowledge and skills that Trustees bring from their careers, St Anne’s is very pleased to welcome; Oliver Laird, Alison Leech, Ian Currell and Anthea Sully.

Oliver Laird joins St Anne’s as a Trustee and Chair of the Audit and Risk Sub-Committee. Oliver has held variety of senior finance director roles in regulated financial services businesses. He is also an experienced Trustee having held roles within the British Council and Leeds Student Union. Oliver is eager to support the on-going development of St Anne’s.

Alison Leech is a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has been in the profession for over 25 years, working for Housing Associations and Local Authorities across Yorkshire in both front-line and strategic roles. With a strong belief in the importance of affordable, quality social housing and housing education, Alison joins St Anne’s as a Trustee and member of the Finance & Performance Sub-Committee.

Ian Currell has over 30-years NHS experience and has been a Director of Finance for 13 years, he has stated he is keen to support the charity sector and apply the skills and experience he has built up. Ian is to be a Trustee and member of the Audit & Risk Sub-Committee.

Joining St Anne’s as a Trustee and Vice-Chair, Anthea Sully is Chief Executive of White Ribbon UK, a charity that works to end male violence against women. In 1994 Anthea founded the ground-breaking Goldhay Arts, for artists and performers with learning disabilities. Anthea is an experienced Trustee and Chair and has worked for several charities and voluntary organisations. Anthea will also be a member of the Remuneration, Nominations & Governance Sub-Committee.

Anthea Sully said:

“I am tremendously excited to be joining St Anne’s at this time. I am committed to ensuring people have the support and housing they need to live their best life, and as Vice Chair I want to ensure that I play my part in enabling St Anne’s to do just that. As we emerge from the pandemic, and the challenges that everyone has faced, I am looking forward to meeting the people we support and our staff to find out their aspirations for the future.”

Chief Officer of St Anne’s Azra Kirkby said:

“I wholeheartedly welcome our new Trustees to St Anne’s, who I am sure will bring their expertise and knowledge in abundance as we continue to lead the way in person-centred care.

“It is important for charity organisations to continually refresh as society and care needs change. Reaching out for new Trustees ensures St Anne’s continues to evolve and build on the collective wealth of experience our new Trustees bring.”

Notes to Editors:

St. Anne’s Community Services (St. Anne’s) is a not-for-profit organisation which has been developing and providing services for people with learning disabilities, people with mental health problems, homeless people, and people with drug or alcohol misuse since 1971.

St. Anne’s believes in making a difference, to provided quality care and support to enable people to lead fulfilled lives.

Ends

For further information please email:

Antony.Rider@st-annes.org.uk

We are proud to announce in our 50^th Year we are opening a new supported living scheme in Hull later this year.

Bridlington House is an exciting development designed in collaboration with a specialist housing developer, the local commissioning team, St Anne’s and most importantly its new tenants.  The scheme will enable people with complex mental health needs to achieve greater independence and live in a home that they can make and call their own.

Based in the north side of the city centre, close to Liddle Street Park, Bridlington House will contain nine high specification self-contained apartments offering superb facilities for residents.

As part of the establishment of this scheme, we are looking to recruit local high-quality support workers to deliver high quality active support that St Anne’s is known for. We believe support workers are a special kind of people, with unique skills and qualities which we highly value. To support this, we offer:

• An excellent remuneration package with pay at or above the Real Living Wage Foundation rate
• First rate training,
• 24-hour employee assistance programme,
• Employee health and wellbeing group,
• Flexible working opportunities,
• Life Assurance Cover,
• Group pension and much more.

If you want to discover more about the opportunities at Bridlington House, Hull, and working with St Anne’s please email info@st-annes.org.uk, to arrange a discussion with our Recruitment Team.

St. Anne’s Community Services (St Anne’s), one of the North’s leading person-centred charities is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary with a fund-raising, online cycle ride in support of homeless people.

Set up in 1971 to support homeless people in Leeds, St Anne’s has grown to provide multiple services supporting over 1600 people with learning disabilities, mental health needs, substance abuse support and homelessness.

The online cycle ride, which will involve interactive meetings with St Anne’s specialist services, is being undertaken by St Anne’s Service Manager Nicky Lyall. Nicky will be covering an amazing 50 services and over 500 miles on her exercise bike at home, which will be virtually tracked on a map covering geographically the services she visits.

A dedicated cyclist, Nicky has suffered from recent health issues, including most recently arthritis in her knees. Despite this she remains keen and dedicated to completing her ride and helping raise funds for and spread awareness of homelessness in Leeds.

Nicky said:

“I feel passion toward towards supporting the homeless and ensuring they have opportunities to have great life opportunities. I am doing this fund raising as a way of joining this passion with my other passion of cycling.

“Although my arthritis stops me from doing things like running, cycling is non weight bearing, so it is great for fitness and I hope will inspire the people we support in our services to take part too.”

As part of the ride, Nicky will undertake blogs, videos and have online calls to some of the people St Anne’s supports, encouraging them to undertake activities to promote health, fitness, and wellbeing

Nicky continued:

“Sometimes it doesn’t matter what fitness you do as long as you do something”.

Azra Kirkby, Chief Executive of St Anne’s said:

“We are so proud of Nicky, to undertake this with her arthritis really shows her amazing commitment to the people we support and to St Anne’s.

“We would love to encourage people to see our social media over the coming months, message Nicky and of course donate to supporting the homeless in Leeds.

“The pandemic has made celebrating our 50^th year in a more distanced way, but we are still determined to make a difference to the lives of the people we support to ensure they have a life without limits. Nicky is a credit to us”.

To donate to support the homeless in Leeds and Nicky, please visit:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/StAnnesResourceCentre