Hmmmmm!

I realise, having just re read my previous blogs, that it was only a little over two years since The Cherry Lane Trust started. Feels like longer! So the last post should read Two Years Later! However, it is three years since I first activated this blog, so with a large dose of Poetic Licence, I will leave the blog as is... with this short addendum for the record!

Three Years Later

It is a strange feeling to realise that I have avoided this blog for three years. Yet here it is, waiting for me and, even more strange, bang on subject! Cherry's Trust has been running for all of those three years and has been a real success. Part of the joy of it has been the way in which I continually learn how to manage it better, for Cherry and for us. Having a vision has meant that the function of the Trust has had a purpose to grow in to and I am now at the stage of reinventing the Trust for the next three years. Moving over to Continuing Health Care (CHC) created a unique opportunity for us. Paid for by NHS, but remaining in the Social Care form and allowed to continue. No one else has been allowed to do this and I expect to have to move towards a normalising position as soon as we are ready. But striking up a conversation with the PCT about it has been difficult (where IS everybody?) so I am happy to say that we have finally begun the discussions. Only this time, I am experienced and with a good reputation from within the NHS (having worked with Sussex Partnership for the past year and a half) and my approach is less naive and, I hope, more valuable to what is known as the 'Personalisation Strategy'. A whole new atmosphere exists in the country since the general election. No one is sure what we will end up with after all the cuts and abandonments have taken place, but I feel we are in the best position we could possibly be in. The problems will be of the kind that we are excellent at managing. Finding great solutions will be our trademark! So the next Trustees meeting will be crucial and that means that I am in exactly the same excited and ready to leap position I was in three years ago, at the time of my last post. Plus ca change... or something like that!

Writing A Job Description

On Friday, Brett came round and we wrote the job description for Cherry's Personal Assistant. I had already worked on the qualities I did and did not want, based on experience of how Cherry responds to people working with her. Brett wanted me to put them into the form they usually use and, as usual, that triggered some strong discussion about 'fitting into boxes'. Actually, most of what I wanted went in and Brett understood my thinking, even though he advised keeping the parameters of the ad open to attract more people. I feel that to attract the right people the ad has to repel the wrong ones. But I agree that you can't limit the field too much as people come in complicated combinations and who knows which combination is going to turn out to be a winner!

We discussed whether to insist on a CRB and he gave me the wording that covers it without going to the expense and palaver for a dubious result. We wouldn't be able to see the results anyway and there are other safety mechanisms that can be employed which are more effective. 

Brett has sent me the Trust Paperwork and I have read it. It's not as scary as I thought it would be. My personal nightmare is paperwork, Official Forms and Legal Documents. But these are relatively simple to understand and, as A4E will be doing the payroll, I don't think there is going to be anything for me to manage that I don't already have to do. Negotiating changes in shift, keeping and signing a work log, dealing with unreliability or sudden illness; all these things are headaches already. Hopefully, by being the ones who choose the employee, we will improve things in these troublesome areas.

Running the Trust is more about getting the trustees involved appropriately for their abilities. I have chosen to have 9 - 10 Trustees as I want there to be a circle of people involved in helping Cherry plan her life. Then it is not just me and I will be able to step back from the dominant role and trust that others can continue without me. If this sounds too ambitious for most people, then you will be pleased to learn that a minimum of 3 Trustees is all that is required; one to be independent of the family.

I also discovered that Holly will only be able to do PA work with Cherry if she doesn't live with us. Awkward, but understandable. As it was only a thought for later in the year, should she come back from Vancouver, I will leave it for now. It does make me wonder how Cherry would get round-the-clock support if she wasn't living at home. 

The final note I want to make is about the weird way this thing is coming together. Until we have an employee, we can't activate the trust cos we can't have money going into the account, building up unused. So getting the PA is the first step!! Then everything will happen at once! I've given Brett a deadline of end of April. He laughed, but said he's try. 

Already this process is evolving the way I think about Cherry's future. It's not trouble free, but it is creative and exciting and it has Cherry firmly at the centre. She doesn't have to become service shaped to fit into what's available, and she doesn't have to make life easier for Managers who think person centred  means putting themselves in the middle and having everyone dance around their needs!

Is This The Blog?

I have just noticed that Google have done an upgrade on their googlemail site and I am snagged! So I'm back at the blogger to see if I can summon the interest to use it as my blog on the Independent Living Trust process. 

Seeing Brett this Friday morning and that might well be the time to let rip. For now, I have selected my Trustees; rowed with Barry over how many there should be and established just who is in charge of this process. Today, I started planning the job description for Cherry's PA who will be going to Project Art Works with her. After all this time, we now need to swing this baby into top gear within three weeks. Tomorrow I must find the bank card to activate the joint account for Cherry so the Trust has an account to use. 

Apart from rowing with barry, the process so far has not been arduous. Getting the money was Fay's part of the job and we practiced on the Independent Living Trust process. That was, unfortunately, not as useful to Cherry as this route has been, but it gave us the chance to work out what Cherry actually needed to start getting a life of her own. I don't regret the time it's taken. I feel more certain about doing this and I have more allies to help me make sure it really works for Cherry.

So, next time I write it will be about 'stuff happening!!' Angels xx

Try a bigger font

So this is large and may make it easier to read. And this is courier. Georgia. Lucida Grande. Times. Trebuchet. Verdana. Webdings. Now that's an interesting font!! And what is this? I'm really lost now, this is not the original font and it's none of the above. But I like it!! Post Blog!

Might I use this blog for something else?

Haven't been here for a while, but thinking of using it to record diary/journal of all meetings I attend as parent rep. So leaving this as a reminder to myself!!

Ciao!

Jo and Maria's Wedding Day

Although it's raining and cold. despite being the end of June, I'm sure Jo and Maria have woken to a glorious and exciting day. We were all going to share this day with them, but now it looks like it will only be me. We knew Cherry wasn't likely to be fit to go and she confirmed it this morning by throwing up her feed! She knows we need VERY CLEAR AND VERY LOUD answers. So now there is no doubt. In fact, I am finding it hard to tap into any enthusiasm for the day as I contemplate the cold, wet, hanging around ahead. But for Jo I will dig very deep. He deserves a bright and radiant day. Later tonight I will write of the happiness and love, which the day will be full of, and honour our friendship.