Smithsfield, in Colchester, provides accommodation, care and support for adults with learning and physical disabilities.

Accommodation is split across two four-bedroomed bungalows, with each service user having their own personal bedroom decorated to their own personal taste.

Our service users insist that staff who work with them must be happy, helpful, cheerful, like swimming, cooking, coffee and chat, football and going shopping, as well as having a good sense of humour – and we like to think we manage this and more.

Service users are encouraged to take ownership of their own support and we adapt iur approach to ensure we are meeting the needs of the people we support, rather than the needs of the service.

Activities our service users enjoy include swimming, trampolining, nights out, holidays, attending church services and day centres to name but a few.

We strive to support our service users to achieve their goals – with a recent notable success story was supporting someone to go on their dream holiday to Florida to swim with dolphins. This involved a lot of planning and hard work – including a journey to the Virgin Atlantic training rig to ensure the plane journey was viable and the service user knew what to expect during their first time on an aeroplane. The end result was a very happy service user who had fulfilled their dream.

“May I say a big thank you to you and all of your staff for working so hard to make A’s dream to swim with dolphins come true. I can only imagine how much organisation with enquiries and phone calls it took to make everything run smoothly. She had a brilliant time and will never forget her beloved dolphins and your kindness. I am forever in your debt.” – Parent of service user