Glyn Meredith, Cartrefi Cymru’s new CEO, outlines the organisation’s role in advocating for individuals with learning disabilities and highlights opportunities to work together to achieve shared goals.
My name is Glyn Meredith, and I am the new CEO for Cartrefi Cymru. Having joined the organisation a little over two months ago I have been astounded by the breadth of support we are delivering to individuals with Learning Disabilities across Wales working in 17 of the 22 local authorities. We provide support to individuals to develop independence and inclusion in their own home and in local communities across Wales.
TIME FOR CHANGE
I am working on a new strategy with the organisation around further strengthening of the communities in which the people we support live, and this is uncovering a tremendous amount of amazing work that is happening that needs to be talked about.
Individuals with learning disabilities that we support tell us they want to be active citizens in their communities just like all of us and are keen to support and strengthen the community in which they live. This leads to real opportunities in working with other third sector organisations and to develop collaboration and cooperative working.
We want to increase our offer beyond the people we support in their own homes, to collaborate with other providers and those in our communities that are in need of support but have had no formal assessment.
SUPPORTING INCLUSIVITY
One part of the developing strategy at Cartrefi is a tailored approach where we can support other organisations to be more inclusive and more confident in collaborating with individuals with learning disabilities and unleash the amazing potential in the people we support and others who are disabled in our communities.
This is not only to build a more inclusive society but also to help build more resilient communities. We are keen to develop a training and consultancy offer with other organisations to enable inclusion for all disabled individuals and work together on further innovative projects.
BUILDING A FUTURE
Some examples of what we are currently doing as an organisation and in cooperation with others:
- Litter picking on beaches
- Developing new nature reserves in unused forestry areas
- Growing vegetables and plants on allotments for others to benefit from free produce to support communities with healthy food when money is tighter than ever with the cost-of-living crisis
- Making and selling garden furniture and ornaments. Reinvesting profits to develop the enterprise further and allow others in the community to take part and learn new skills. We have developed innovative wellbeing programmes around dance for our staff in collaboration with National Dance Company
- Holding a large number of fundraising events to raise money for other charities to deliver great work in our communities
- Developing social enterprises and enabling people to volunteer and learn new skills and increase opportunities for employment
- The people we support deliver a tremendous amount of volunteer hours that we are capturing across our communities
This list is not exhaustive and our call to action is for organisations that want to be more inclusive, strengthen communities and help us to promote the independence of the people we support, to get in touch with us so we can work together. We would love to hear from you and work with you in the future.
We are doing this through the use of technology and tailored support plans for the people we support. Only today I have talked to a young man who is starting travel training so he is equipped to travel to a factory he wants to work in and hearing the excitement in his conversation with me only reinforces how individuals want to be active citizens in our communities.
We aim to do more to strengthen local communities by partnering with other providers and third sector organisations that share our strategic aims.
SUPPORTING THE UNPAID CARERS
Another key area we are developing is how we can support local care in communities, helping local unpaid carers and complementing their support for a loved one. This may just be taking the rubbish out or getting some shopping but the people we support want to help others in their streets and the local community.
This could make a real difference to unpaid carers’ daily tasks. Unpaid carers make up 96% of care in Wales and we need to support each other as paid and unpaid carers to tackle the crisis we are facing in funding social care going forward, with shrinking budgets and an ageing population. We want to talk more on this topic with other organisations.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Thank you for reading this blog and I hope you will get in touch with us on contacttheceo@cartrefi.coop.
Find out more about Cartrefi Cymru at https://www.cartrefi.coop.