This is your chance. Applicants will have to have a desire to work through our assessment process, which usually takes between 6-8 weeks. Contact us by calling our office or use our ‘Contact Us’ form on the website and we will send you an information pack and application form.

• Once you’ve completed the application form we’ll make contact with you and arrange an initial visit with one of our Shared Lives Coordinator.

• The focus of the initial visit is to ensure you and your home are suitable.

• Once we have your application form, you will be assessed by a Shared Lives Coordinator (SLC) and you will receive an Initial Visit from one of our team to make sure you and your home is suitable.

• A SLC will visit your home to chat to you and find out more about you and ask you questions about your role.

• We’re looking to get a very clear picture of who you and members of your household are and what you would bring to the role of SLSW Carer. We will also make sure your home is suitable.

• There will be video calls/Skype calls after to answer any questions you may have or our team have about you.

• You will be allocated an ‘Assessing SLC’ who will be your main point of contact throughout your assessment. You will have about 6 sessions with your Assessing SLC, usually over 6 weeks and each 2-3 hours long. Most of these sessions will be online video calls but at least one of these will be at your home. The focus of these sessions is really getting to know you, talking through your experiences in reflective discussion, and for you to ask any questions too.

• You will have some work to do independently. You will receive a ‘workbook’ to give you a chance to reflect and evidence some of your values, skills and experiences. It’s quite long, but please do try and complete this as soon as you can as we will refer to it in our assessment sessions and it generally feeds into your assessment report.

You will receive comprehensive mandatory training, this will give you an insight into the role ahead.
• You will be allocated a ‘Training SLC’. They will be in touch to book 2 or 3 training discussions with you (usually over the phone) after you have completed your online training to discuss how it applies to Shared Lives, and check your understanding and current knowledge and skills.
• Your workbook, assessment and training will all explore similar topics. We take this in-depth and thorough approach due to the nature of the Shared Lives Carer’s role. We want to ensure we are providing a quality service for all individuals. We openly address any concerns with you throughout the assessment process, and we welcome your feedback too.

• Your Assessing SLC will summarise your discussions and pull all of the above into an ‘Assessment Report’ which you’ll have a chance to read and check you’re happy with. This is then shared with our Leadership Team and an Independent Panel at least 2 weeks before the ‘Approval Panel’ date.
• The final stage is ‘Approval Panel’. Panels are held monthly. You and your Assessing SLC will attend a virtual ‘Panel meeting’ (over video call) with a few of our Independent Panel Volunteers. Following this meeting you would be officially approved as a Shared Lives Carer!

We will match you with someone who is looking to use our services. Carers who are approved following their assessment will be able to support up to three people in their home. SLSW Carers are supported by a Shared Lives Coordinator, they carry out a variety of tasks including:
• Working with the SLSW Carer and the person they are supporting to write a person centred plan.
• Our coordinators are there to monitor, support, give advice and offer guidance.
• Help with training, social events and carer meetings.
• Keeping in touch with social care teams to let them know how the placements are going.
Our Funding and Benefits Team can support you by:
• Making sure the people who use our services have claimed all the welfare benefits they are entitled to.
• Calculating what fees are due for the service.
• Making sure SLSW Carers get paid the correct amount.
• Helping people who use our services to manage their benefit income through our money management support service.
• Assisting with queries about mileage payments, holiday costs and arranging respite breaks.

Applicants will have to be willing and committed to the assessment process and have basic ICT knowledge and equipment.