NEWS

beech avenue

Beech Avenue Guest House to Close

Independent Options, a local charity that provides support to people with a learning disability in Stockport, has announced the unfortunate closure of one of its respite guest houses in Gatley at the end of October 2017. Beech Avenue Guest House forms part of the charity’s Short Breaks service that provides respite breaks for adults with… Read more »

Support Worker

Ed Takes on Big Stockport Run 10k

Our Shared Lives Registered Manager, Ed, is taking on the Big Stockport Run in aid of Independent Options. Ed will be running the grueling 10k race, which makes its way around Stockport town from its starting point of St Petersgate on 17th September. While Ed is a seasoned pro at sports – he currently cycles… Read more »

Aukids

Oliver Stars in AuKids Magazine

 The lovely Oliver, who comes along to our Children and Family Centre, is the star of the latest edition of AuKids Magazine! We think the photo of Oliver and his fidget spinner is just fab, and can’t wait to get our hands on the mag to get reading! AuKids is an award-winning quarterly print magazine… Read more »

siblings climb on wall in sunshine

Eleanor 's Climbing to New Heights for Independent Options!

Eleanor is 10 years old and is taking on the Independent Options Climbing Challenge, which will see our intrepid climber scale a lofty 554ft – the equivalent to Manchester’s tallest building, Beetham Tower! Eleanor comes to Independent Options’ Children and Family Centre along with her brother, Jamie (4), and her sister, Poppy (6), who has… Read more »

How The Centre Helped Us: Sarah and Jacob's Story

Jacob is 7 and has autism and speech and language delays, he has been coming to the Children and Family Centre with his Mum, Sarah, for the past two years. Sarah explains why she found coming to the Centre helpful for both her and Jacob: “I discovered the Centre a couple of years ago before… Read more »

Anne and John: Our Shared Lives Story So Far

Anne and John are Shared Lives Carers with Independent Options, after transitioning from foster caring when they met Aaron. Here’s their story. “Aaron had been in foster care for ten years when he first came to us as a foster placement aged 14, having lived at 27 different addresses in that time. Straight away Aaron… Read more »

Life's a Beach! Jennie's Holiday

Jennie had a fantastic holiday in Anglesey, where she spent the week in the sunshine with her support worker, Sarah. When they arrived, the first thing Jennie wanted to do was to go to the Sea Zoo, where Jennie had the opportunity to do some colouring in and have a look at lots of fascinating… Read more »

Ben is Full of the Joys of Spring!

Ben was full of the joys of spring and recently took a trip to Etherow Park to feed the ducks! Ben has autism and ADHD, so he has a tendency to rush off, but Ben loved spending time at the pond. Ben had an information leaflet from the visitors centre that helped him to identify which… Read more »

Jason's Story

Jason, a Shared Lives Service User: “Shared Lives is a place you can go to get help. You can make and meet new friends, and they have good carers. You get to go on holiday and share your life with someone else. My life is better because of Shared Lives because I have a home that is safe, calm and easy to live in. Shared Lives is helping me to be more independent and gain skills for the future. I am being helped to be a part of my community and I am supported when I am faced with challenges. Talking with my carer helps me to meet those challenges and it gives me confidence.”

Shared Lives Carer: “I have worked in care services for many years, but there is nothing more rewarding than welcoming someone into your own home, and sharing everything in your lives. The relationship that builds between you is something special. No amount of money could buy that.”

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