The History of UR First
History
UR First was set up with help from the Big Lottery Fund (which was then called the Community Fund). This meant we could put a team of specialists in place to work with the people we support and our staff so that people can have more say and be at the centre of their own lives.
This also meant people could be involved at the heart of decisions affecting both their individual lives and how we run the organisation.
Real Choices
More than half of the people we support have a communication impairment. Many do not speak, read or write. Others may not understand the spoken word and written language.
People may communicate in other ways, using pictures, signs or body language.
We provide people with practical day-to-day support so they can take as much control of their lives as possible.
UR First and the Inclusion team working in it was set up to help us do this.
Our UR First project means we can really support people to have more influence over what happens in their lives.
Communication
Over the past four years the Inclusion team has worked with each person we support to:
- find out how they like to communicate
- put together action plans to improve communication
- develop communication aids
- train staff in communication skills
- share knowledge and skills within the organisation.
Now people we support have their own communication profile. This identifies how they like to communicate, what their support needs are and what specialist equipment they might need.
We are constantly making sure people have not only the tools they need to communicate in the way they want, but that our staff are trained too. This means we can really listen to the people we support and communicate with them in the way they want us to.
