MyLife News

This festive season, our Christmas Wreath Making Workshops are back by popular demand!  

Always hugely popular, this year, you can once again get into the festive spirit by creating your very own handmade Christmas wreath with local artisan Birdie and Blossom.  Even better, you’ll be able to enjoy scrumptious festive drinks and treats from our Stable Door Café & Ice Cream Parlour as you work!

Now an integral part of Christmas, we will be using well-known festive foliage and Christmas decorations. All materials are supplied, but you may wish to bring personal decorations to add to your wreath.

What you need to bring…

• Strong pair of scissors
• Apron is advised
• Face mask

Each workshop will last around 2.5 hours.

Dates:

• Fri 26th Nov | 6pm -9pm
• Sun 28th Nov |10am-1pm
• Sat 4th Dec | 2pm-5pm

Location:

My Life, Thompson House Equestrian Centre, off Pepper Lane, Standish, WN6 0PP

Price:

£35 per person, price includes festive drinks and treats

Places are limited. Please pre-book yours early to avoid disappointment, on 01257 472900 or email info@my-life.org.uk.

Can’t make these dates? Make your own wreath at home, with our ‘kit in a box’ containing all you need to make a festive wreath, including instructions. Just £35 including local delivery. Please call or email to order.

Its nearly time for the summer holiday season and what a warm up we’re having with this beautiful weather! We’re delighted so many of our members and learners have managed to complete their expedition for their Duke of Edinburgh Award in the Lakes this week. They’ve had a great time  experiencing a wide range of new opportunities and challenges – we’re so proud of you all.

Who would have thought that way back in 2012, when a few families, including mine, sat around a kitchen table and dreamt of an organisation that would enable them to have more choice and control in their lives, to be able to live the best lives that they could, that we would be where we are now!

The recent BBC report which found that many disabled people have felt forgotten during the pandemic is a stark reminder that we must continue to listen to all members of our society and ensure that we keep important lines of support open, through even the hardest of times.

I know that this still feels like a very uncertain time for many of our families. As we continue to navigate our way through the pandemic we’re focused more than ever before on listening to your views and opinions. My Life has been built on the feedback of our community members, so please do keep it coming.

As the summer sun shines and the flowers and vegetables continue to blossom, I hope that you are all able to enjoy the holidays and do the things that make you happy!

I think we all knew it before, but for me, the incredible things that I have seen so many individuals do to support others during this unprecedented time, the things that people have done for me and my family, really do underline what we believe here at My Life. Together, we are better.

Enjoy the summer.

Caroline Tomlinson,

My Life Founder and CEO

Through My Life Support we provide personalised Care Quality Commission registered care and support to people with complex and enduring needs – and their families- who have personal budgets or direct payments.

We know that it can be daunting choosing and managing care and support, and always listen to the people we support, building deep relationships with them and making sure that the care they receive is tailored to their wants and needs.

So that we can better understand how our care is working for people, over the past few years we’ve been using the highly thought of Personal Outcomes Evaluation Tool (POET) to measure our impact on each person’s health and wellbeing, quality of life, feelings of choice and control and more.

After speaking with a variety of people, we were delighted to find that overall, they reported back an 80% increase in their quality of life, and 60% increase in wellbeing and self-esteem* compared with how they felt before we began to support them. It’s important to say that this data is compiled independently.

Among the people we spoke to were Linda and her daughter Nicola. Linda has a complex breathing issue, which would usually mean that she would be hospitalised with specialist care. However, with our support, Linda has been able to enjoy life with her family at home, with a consistent support team built around her needs. As Nicola says: “As soon as My Life Support got everyone in place to work for Mum, there was a moment where we all looked at each other and said ‘this is finally going to work, isn’t it?”

Another person we spoke to was Natalie, who has an acquired brain injury and requires 24/7 support. Previous to our care, Natalie was getting limited support and living in unsuitable housing, to the extent that she couldn’t even access her own kitchen.

After helping Natalie to secure her own, much more suitable home, managing her budget and recruiting a reliable team of PAs specifically matched to her needs, Natalie told us: “I can’t tell you where my life would have headed if I hadn’t had the help of My Life Support – because I daren’t think about it. It felt for the first time that I was getting care that was specific and targeted to me, from people who cared about the outcome, rather than the delivering the bare minimum for their standards.”

You can find out more about how the people we support feel about our care by requesting one of our case studies.

If you know someone who might benefit from My Life Support, they can discover more by clicking here, calling 01257 472 900 or emailing info@my-life.org.uk.

*Results from 2020 survey into My Life Support’s impact on individuals and their families.

Many people admit that when they signed up to our Equine Guided Learning sessions, they didn’t know what to expect. For anyone who thinks that they are going to immediately bound onto a steed, this is not the case!

So, how does Equine Guided Learning benefit us, and what is it?

Horses are ‘mirrors’ for our emotions – they sense what we are feeling and reflect this back. So it makes sense that through response and feedback, or, spending time with a horse and understanding how it responds to us, we are able to better understand our own and others’ emotions better and, very importantly, learn to slow down.

The pandemic has not been an easy time for anyone and many of the people who have participated in our courses have welcomed this chance to take time out, just for them.

At My Life we incorporate mindfulness and ‘being in the moment’ into our sessions. Course participant Lesley describes “laying in the field, looking up at the clouds (I find it difficult to relax)” being a stand out moment for her. Being aware of our surroundings and ourselves before spending time with the horses lays critical groundwork for our sessions.

Once with the horses, by using guided observation, touching, stroking and grooming them, we can begin to understand how they respond to each other and to humans. By building a trusting relationship, and guiding a horse in a way that prompts them to willingly follow their instruction, we receive instant feedback and gain confidence as the horse responds to us in the way we intended it to.

Cate, a busy full time working mum explains “the time spent observing the horses and just being with them was very powerful and unbelievably relaxing. I am usually a person that thrives on busyness and ‘doing’ and I hadn’t quite realised how hard it was for me to switch off and relax until after the first session. After each experience I felt calm and less stressed about all the usual things that actually really don’t matter such as shoes being left on the stairs or the lid off the toothpaste…somehow the whole experience for me helped to put things into perspective.”

In fact, being with horses in this way is often a catalyst to release emotions many don’t realise they’re holding in. Course attendee Steph describes this as “a timely reminder of the importance of creating space to acknowledge my thoughts and feelings but also being willing/able to let them pass.”

There are laughs along the way too! Maxine, who took the course to spend some time with a friend and experience some ‘me time’ after the isolation of lockdown, describes it as being “about taking back what I had lost through Covid…Enjoying life and laughing over the silly things. Feeling really relaxed, comfortable in the other ladies’ company, sharing everyone’s special moments and personal triumphs.”

And what do people take away from their time spent with our lovely horses? It’s different for everyone, but we like these wise words from Lesley: “It’s not where you finish, it’s about the journey to get there.”

We run regular Equine Guided Learning sessions throughout the year, on a one-off basis and as full courses, for teams and individuals. Whoever you are, whatever you do, you are very welcome! Please follow our Facebook page for details of future sessions.

My Life now has its own football team and sponsor!

After being inspired by our football skills sessions with Wigan Athletic Community Trust, members and students leapt at the chance to show what they were made of at Wigan Athletic Community Trust’s recent Football Festival. We even featured in the Wigan Post and Observer!

As My Life founder and Chief Executive Caroline Tomlinson explains: “Up until three weeks before, when Wigan Athletic Community Trust came onsite to give our students and members a course in football skills, many of them had never played the game. From that first session, they’ve absolutely loved it and were delighted to get the opportunity to play against other teams, where the Wigan players train.”

As part of the festival, students and members were given football skills sessions by Wigan coaches and played in a mini tournament.

Chris Jordan, team captain, describes the passion and drive the team showed during the tournament:

“At the end of the day, we had three wins, one draw and one loss. As team captain I just want to reiterate that with ONLY two or three training sessions under our belt I am in awe of how well we all played on the day, I am proud of every single one on the team as they played remarkably and I cannot wait to show the rest of My Life how well we play as a team at some point!”

The team’s success has led to us finding a sponsor. We’d like to say a big thank you to Stuart and the team at National Risk Solutions, a commercial insurance brokers, who are not only sponsoring the team kit, but enabling us to provide members and learners with equipment for sporting activities too.  

My Life staff member Karen Platt, instrumental in building the relationship with Wigan and herself an ex-Manchester United Ladies player, underlines the many benefits of playing sport:

“The number of students and members who have put themselves forward to play and enjoy this new experience has been fantastic. Sport isn’t just about the game, it’s about raising confidence levels, increasing your own aspirations and working as a team – skills that set you up for life. When you see the smiles on their faces – one member even did a forward roll in goal celebration, it makes your day! This just shows how sport can unite people.”

If you’re a My Life member or student and you’d like to get involved in our sports activities, please do let us know – everyone is welcome!

What kind of people are part of the My Life community? From members to learners, staff, visitors and volunteers, we’re a very diverse bunch, which is what makes My Life what it is! We met with Robert, 21, a student at My Life Learning, our Ofsted Registered specialist further education college, to find out about his experience of My Life.

So, Robert, how long have you been at My Life?

I’ve been at My Life Learning for two years now and I’ve just had my third year here approved.

What do you like about My Life Learning?

I’m quite an adventurous person and I like to keep busy, so I like the variety of fun activities, like woodwork, art, Duke of Edinburgh, gardening and cooking. I’ve been offsite gardening too.

I’ve been very interested in railways from a very young age. I volunteered to run My Life’s miniature railway completely solo at our Easter Picnic Weekends this year – I had to stop a few little kids putting their heads on the track! I told them not to give me a headache – we had a laugh.

What do you hope to do in the future?

Because I’m big on woodwork at My Life, I want to do woodwork on a heritage railway, I’d like to fix and make it and drive the steam engines from time to time.

Any memorable moments whilst at My Life?

One day, we were taking waste from the field and the male black pig tried to follow us, I had to get a wheelbarrow and chase it away! It was really funny – my friends couldn’t stop reminding me about it – but I took it on the chin – I can take it. Another time, I was feeding the animals and I was swarmed by chickens – you’d have thought they were a group of fans surrounding a celebrity, that’s how it felt!

Sum up what My Life means to you in three words

Fun, cool and creative because it’s such an open space and lots of fun with different activities, even if some of them can get you in a pickle at times, like those farm animals. And the friends I’ve made at My Life are the coolest dudes – we like TikToking together – sometimes we do whistling and beat boxing, like I did at My Life’s talent show ‘My Life, My Moment.’ It’s such a cool place.

To find out more about studying at My Life Learning, click here, call 01257 472 900 or email info@my-life.org.uk