Everyone needs a bit of ‘me time’ occasionally. But for someone with a learning disability, planning a break is rarely as simple as checking availability at the hotels in the area you want to stay in, and then simply setting off on your travels.  And for families who are looking for respite care, finding somewhere with staff that have the specialist skills required to cater for the individual needs of their loved one can often be easier said than done.
That’s why Hft has set up specific respite services in some of our service locations.  But even in those locations where this hasn’t yet been possible, we can also normally accommodate ‘short breaks’.  This might mean a person with a learning disability being supported to stay at one of our local services for the weekend on a mini-break, or that we provide domiciliary care for a person in their home while the parents or family carers take a short break themselves. We can also support people to go on a longer holiday.
Such short breaks work well for all involved, giving people the opportunity to make friends, try new activities or learn new skills. We work with other local organisations to try and offer as many different opportunities as possible, tailoring what’s on offer to what people want to do.
But, the whole point of taking a break is to enjoy yourself, so while activities might include cooking, swimming, learning a musical instrument or playing on a games console, if people would prefer to spend some time relaxing in front of the TV, watching a movie, or to pop out for a drink – that’s exactly what we’ll support them to do!