We know Shared Lives as a form of community care that many need throughout their life. But Shared Lives can act as a temporary form of support that can ready the people we support to go on to live even more independent lives, away from their carers. We recently congratulated Iwan on making the move from Shared Lives to more independent living.
Iwan's story
Iwan was fostered when he was younger but when he turned 18, he knew he wasn’t ready to move out alone, as is the normal pathway for anyone approaching legal adulthood from children’s social service. Using our Move On Together service, Iwan’s foster carers, Cherie and Richard, became Iwan’s Shared Lives carers and continued to support Blake towards full independence.
As Iwan’s course at Kings Lynn College was coming to an end in June he was thinking about what he wanted to do next. Iwan was told about the Pathway Project, which provides supported internships at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn. He thought ‘why not?’ and applied.
When Iwan was offered an interview, he was ready thanks to the work he’d been doing in his college course, which covered everything from what to wear at an interview to body language.
The interview was like any other – a true grilling about Iwan’s interests, his college course and his future aspirations for the internship and beyond. Iwan was brilliant and was offered a place on the internship. He said: ‘I was relieved, I did not expect it, I thought that I would fail.’
During the internship, Iwan spent time working in different parts of the hospital. Iwan said: ‘I am looking forward to trying new things.’.
Personal growth
Over the last year, Iwan has been working on travelling and had already learned to use the bus independently to get to college. This new internship meant conquering a new bus route, which he felt confident in doing so that he could make his way to work independently.
When asked about how he felt about his intership, he said: ‘ it feels like moving on to adulthood. It’s an exciting time, when I moved here I never thought I would be in this position now’
Since September, Iwan not only started his internship at the hospital, he’d built enough confidence to take the next step for himself and moves into his independent living accommodation in December.
Well done, Iwan!