At Shaftesbury, we want to give the best gift we can – the gift of outstanding care and a fun Christmas, to children, young people and adults with disabilities. If you’re a professional carer, family member or friend of someone with disabilities, we want to give you a special gift too – our Inspiration for Carers at Christmas booklet. You’ll find fun ideas to bring a sparkle to Christmas, because sometimes it’s great to add in something new alongside much-loved traditions.
Care at Christmas
The inspiration behind this booklet comes from our amazing staff teams at Shaftesbury services across the UK. They sent in dozens of tried and tested ideas for making Christmas extra-special for people they support. Our staff pull out all the stops every year to make Christmas magical; one of our high-dependency residential homes sets up 24 – yes, 24! – Christmas trees, one for each person’s room and a few more around the ho-ho-home for good measure.
But it’s not just the grand gestures that make Christmas special – you’ll find many ideas in the booklet for ways to celebrate cosy time together, something that’s so valuable for anyone who might feel lonely or perhaps unable to travel to see family during the season. One of our services enables Stephen to invite his mum to his home, where he cooks a meal for her, supported by Shaftesbury staff and other family members. People at another service love a Christmas story, where they choose stories for staff to read, with hot chocolate and mince pies, of course. You’ll find Inspiration for Carers at Christmas is packed with ways for individuals and groups to celebrate inclusively, with care in mind.
We’re proud of the extra care and effort Shaftesbury staff put in to make happy Christmas memories for the people they support. New staff member Mayowa Adedeji is struck by what she’s finding at the Bournemouth service where she works: ‘Shaftesbury is great at supporting people and is quite different to other facilities I’ve come across. They support each person to make choices of their own and a person’s wellbeing is paramount – what everyone is always looking out for. And that includes staff wellbeing. They consider your work/life balance, and this makes things good for the people we support, because happy staff treat people well!’
Knowing that you’re cared for by people who are not only professional and dedicated, but want the very best in life for you, has opened doors to greater independence and fulfilment for disabled people in our services around the UK. Shaftesbury’s 2024 survey found that 93% of those we support are extremely happy or happy to say they received ‘considerate support delivered by competent people’. Becki is one such person; read here about her remarkable progress with Shaftesbury since she experienced a life-changing brain injury, and what she’s hoping for this Christmas.
We’d love to hear what you do with some of the ideas from Inspiration for Carers at Christmas. You can register here to receive your copy and please send photos and stories about how Shaftesbury’s ideas helped to inspire your Christmas fun to communications@shaftesburygroup.org Wishing you the best from Shaftesbury as you start the Christmas countdown!
