New Living Skills programme for adults with learning disabilities

Topics to be covered by the Living Skills scheme:

Life management 

Friendships and leisure time FinancesTravel trainingHealthy eating (inc. Menu planning and shopping)Exercise Meaningful use of time (volunteering)EmploymentTechnology (including online skills)CreativityEvaluationFor over 30 years LinkAble has been supporting children and adults with learning disabilities in Woking and the surrounding area. In that time, it has not experienced a more challenging period than the 12 months that have passed since the start of the first national lockdown.

As an organisation known for providing face to face support through a variety of on and offsite groups and activities LinkAble has had to significantly adapt the way in which it operates. Groups and activities have been hosted online to allow remote access and when safe to do so some groups have run in person. Albeit at a reduced capacity and with changes to their traditional format.

Jamie Evans, LinkAble Head of Services says ‘Living skills are the building blocks that support all of us to lead more independent lives. For adults with a learning disability there can be challenges in accessing opportunities to develop these skills. The aim of this new group is to provide service users with the opportunities they need to develop these independent living skills, stay healthy, build confidence, and interact socially with their peer group in a welcoming and supportive environment.’

He adds, ‘The impact of Coronavirus has been huge, and we want our service users to feel valued and part of the community in which they live and to be confident to get back out into the world, particularly where they have been isolated. For people with a learning disability, social interactions can often be limited, and opportunities to build skills harder to engage with as a result. The concept of this new programme came about because of our services team speaking with the families of our service users and gathering their feedback. Many of those who responded supported the need for this programme and recognised the value it could bring to people’s lives, now and in the future.’

The new group is set to run for 12 weeks from late April through to July. If you are an adult with a learning disability or know someone who has and would be interested in taking part contact [email protected] or call 01483 770 037

The Living Skills pilot will also be a first approach by LinkAble to include a ‘buddying’ element in our sessions. This will ideally be provided by service users buddying their peers, and through volunteers who can specifically support individual service users and small groups of service users with engaging in the group topic(s).

Topics to be covered by the Living Skills programme will cover:

1. Life management 
2. Friendships and leisure time
3. Finances
4. Travel training
5. Healthy eating (inc. Menu planning and shopping)
6. Exercise 
7. Meaningful use of time (volunteering)
8. Employment
9. Technology (including online skills)
10. Creativity
11. Evaluation