Shared Lives (Adult Placement)

Long Term Arrangements

We offer people a home with approved carers and the support and care to provide a solid foundation from which to develop independence. Shared Lives arrangements commonly last for many years and allow people to enjoy the opportunities and experiences that family and home life can bring. 

Short Term Arrangements

These arrangements offer focused support over shorter periods of between 1-6 months and are ideal for helping:

• build people’s confidence and skills for independent living.
• assess people’s strengths and needs
• allow people time to recover from changes in their health. 

Short breaks
We can provide planned breaks to adults at risk, their families, and carers.   We can arrange short breaks in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and Ceredigion and some of our approved carers are happy to provide a holiday experience, with others providing support so that people can continue with their usual routines. 
 
Urgent Arrangements  

We can provide support in an emergency. Sometimes a person may require accommodation, support and care at short notice, perhaps in the event of illness or family crisis. 
 
Sessional Support

We can provide support and care on an hourly basis. The support starts and finishes from the approved carers home and can be in the daytime or evening, weekdays, and weekends.

The service is available in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion.

We select and train carers through a rigorous process of assessment and approval. This is because being a carer is both a rewarding job and a responsible one. Carers work independently without direct supervision and need to be resourceful, resilient, and responsible. To make sure that carers can meet our requirements we visit, interview, assess and train each person, reviewing their work with our independent panel.

To receive support from us, you will require a needs assessment. This is where a social services or health professional looks at what help and support you need - like healthcare, equipment, help in your home or other kinds of housing with support or perhaps short breaks to give you and your carer a rest. If you are eligible, your assessment will state what kind of support you need and help to organise funding.  If you think that you need a service and have not been assessed, you can request an assessment.   Request an assessment

After requesting an assessment, you will be allocated a worker to assess your needs.   Your Social Worker or Care Coordinator can then contact us and we will send out a referral form.

or

If you have already received a needs assessment you can request a Shared Lives referral form by calling 01267 246890 or emailing sharedlivesduty@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

We will then use the referral and assessment to help find a suitable match amongst our Shared Lives carers and discuss the options available with you.

We will provide you with information about the match and if you are happy, we arrange a visit where you can meet them and see where you may be staying. We call this an ‘introduction’. You may have more than one introduction and with more than one carer.

If you and the Shared Lives Carer agree to go ahead with the arrangement a start date will be identified, and your Shared Lives Support Worker will draw up an agreement with you and the Shared Lives Carer detailing how you would like to be supported and/or receive care.

Your Shared Lives Support Worker will coordinate an initial review of the service you receive to find out how things are going. At any point in the process, you and your Shared Lives Carer can request a review of your service, raise any issues, decline a service or ask for a new match.