IT'S PERSONAL
Personalisation is about developing services to meet people's needs, which is exactly what we're doing,
The recognition of each person as an individual has always been part of the Camphill ethos with the emphasis on supporting each community member to realise his or her full potential in life.
In recent years the Camphill Village Trust has been involved in the development of the Camphill Advocacy Project and the Camphill Social Work Advisory Team to assist communities in understanding the needs and aspirations of those we support. We've supported community members' inclusion in the organisation of self-advocacy conferences and everyone we support has helped in the development of our communities' five-year plans.
Person-centred planning is central in our approach to meeting people's needs. It allows us to understand the support that each person needs and allows individuals to make clear choices about their lives. As a result, many of our community members are taking steps forward in their lives through education and training and gaining greater independence.
The Camphill Village Trust believes that personalisation is such an important topic that we have funded a Camphill Personalisation Project Manager to help our communities and those we support have a clearer understanding of personalisation. Since the beginning of 2010, project manager Phil Gibson has led workshops in our communities to help them deliver and develop community support which is more responsive to individual choice.
There have also been workshops for our community members under the title My Life, My Choice. This has allowed those involved to say clearly which aspects of Camphill life they enjoy and new areas where they would like support.
Our picture shows Mark, who joined our Larchfield Community a year ago. Since then he's achieved a lot, including his Riding Grade 1 certificate from Riding for the Disabled.