While you or your carer has a short break (Shared Lives Short Breaks)
Short Breaks
As a carer, or somebody being supported by a carer (or a family member or friend who supports you), you’ll sometimes need a little break. We offer a service called Short Breaks, where both carers and the people they support can enjoy a bit of a change and some time apart for a short time.
Short Breaks for carers in England and Wales
Supporting another person comes with lots of responsibility and we all need a break from time-to-time to recharge our batteries and remind ourselves how rewarding our job really is.
Whether it’s a seaside stroll, some retail therapy, or just catching up on the soaps; a change of scenery can do the world of good for carers and those being supported, too!
With our Short Breaks service, if you’re based in Staffordshire, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Merseyside, Manchester, Wirral, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk or North Wales, we can provide support to the person you care for, while you have a rest.
We have a service called Shared Lives, where our fully-trained Shared Lives carers support people in their family homes. With Short Breaks, one of those Shared Lives carers will step in and provide fantastic support to the person you care for when you’re feeling a bit pooped, or want some time to yourself. The person you support will go to stay with them in their home for a short period, and they will be supported as much or as little as they want or need, to a really high standard.
The person being supported will be treated with kindness and respect, and they’ll be given as much choice as possible about how they’re supported, what they get up to and how they spend their days – it’ll be as much of a break for them as it is for you.
Our Shared Lives carers are trained and monitored by us to do a fantastic job, and we’ll make sure their home is suited to the person you support.
If you’re in Merseyside, we also have another option for the person you support: a short break in one of our fantastic Supported Living houses. We’ve got a number of places dotted across Merseyside were the person you care for can come and stay in a house where they’ll live as independently as they want to, and be supported by a fully-trained, experienced member of our team.
Are you someone who is being supported who needs a Short Break?
Short Breaks are like little holidays, where you can go and stay with someone for a while, have a change of scenery, meet new people and still be supported to live your life how you want to. Who knows, the sun might even come out!
You’ll go and stay with one of our lovely Shared Lives carers in their house, where they will give you as much or as little support as you want or need. They’re fully trained to support you in exactly the same way as your usual carer does, and they’ll always listen to you and respect you.
We have carers in England (in the Midlands, in Nofolk/Suffolk, in Manchester, Merseyside, Wirral and Lincolnshire) and we have carers in lovely North Wales, too. Some of our carers live in gorgeous countryside locations, where you can get a big gulp of fresh air, and some of them live in towns and cities just bursting with culture and things to do and see. We’ll show you which of our Shared Lives carers can support you in the way you’d like to be supported and show you and where they live. It’s then up to you which person you stay with.
Or, if you’re based in Merseyside and want to live with other people who need some support (who knows, you might make a gang of new friends?), you might like to live in one of our Supported Living houses, and experience life in a Merseyside community. If you choose to go and stay in one of our Supported Living houses, you’ll get support from our lovely team, who will stay in the house with you. You’ll have your own room, and you’ll be supported as much or as little as you want or need.
Find out more
Whether you’re a carer or someone being supported by a carer, if you want to know more about Short Breaks, call the team in your local area for a chat:
Merseyside
Call: 0151 702 5571
Email: sharedlivesmerseyside@pss.org.uk
Manchester
Call: 0161 209 3143
Email: sharedlivesmanchester@pss.org.uk
Wirral
Call: 0151 702 5599
Email: sharedliveswirral@pss.org.uk
Midlands
Call: 01543 448380
Email: sharedlivesmidlands@pss.org.uk
East England
Call: 01379 644423
Email: sharedliveseast@pss.org.uk
Lincolnshire
Call: 01529 400765
Email: sharedliveslincolnshire@pss.org.uk
North Wales
Call: 01745 828000
Email: wales@pss.org.uk