My Conference 2023

On Wednesday 1st November staff, and people we support made the journey to Dunfermline to attend ‘My Conference’.

The conference by people we support, for people we support was the first event of its kind and gave attendees the opportunity to join together to share personal stories and experience of being supported by the Real Life Options Group. People took to the stage to share how Real Life Options supports them in their daily lives. It was incredible to listen to people’s stories and hear some of the fantastic things people have achieved and will achieve in the future.

Throughout the day, conversations and group discussions took place with the aim to provide invaluable insights to managers and staff so we can better understand what we do well, what we can do differently, and what changes can be implemented to enable us to be even more person centred. The responses from these discussions are invaluable and will ultimately help shape future support and enable us to further our understanding of providing high quality person centred support. Enabling people we support to take an active lead in their life enables them to live it to the fullest.

Feedback from people we support who were involved in the event was very positive, with people saying they were proud to be involved. Fiona who we support in Portlethen said, “It was great to come today and it’s good to network and mix.”

Jean Trench, Managing Director at Real Life Options says, “The 1st November session was the first of many from a calendar of events planned for the coming months and years as part of Real Life Option’s My Voice programme. The event not only brought everyone together in this way for the first time but it also raised the spirits of everyone involved, providing them with a platform to be at the centre of the day and listened to by all others in the room. We now have two people we support joining the My Voice working group and this will ensure that we are kept on track with new ideas and feedback from those who know best.”