Blog – Karrek Community
Karrek Community’s co-founder Geeta Ashton gives an update of how Karrek has managed to continue to provide its much needed services during the COVID-19 pandemic
2020 has proved to be an eventful year for Karrek Community. During the lockdown we continued to remain active and provided support for people for whom, like for so many across the country, this was a very difficult and challenging time. Many of the people we support missed out on their regular activities, and often a visit from a member of support staff was the only social activity they had. As the need for support grew dramatically during the pandemic, we took the opportunity to increase our domiciliary provision within the St Austell area, providing a total of 392 hours domiciliary care per week for a total of 59 individuals, as opposed to 220 hours for 50 individuals prior to lockdown.
One such individual that we worked hard over the last three months to support, is a young man who had been placed outside of the county due to his complex needs. We are delighted to report that he has now returned to his home in Cornwall and we are supporting him on a 24/7 basis. His quality of life has improved immeasurably, due to face-to-face contact with his family and enabling him to enjoy his home environment. Whilst posing a number of challenges, we feel that the support provided for this young man has greatly enriched his quality of life and supports our values within Karrek of empowerment, inclusion, dignity and spirituality.
It is those same values that we want to instil through the new property in Redruth that has been purchased on our behalf by Mustard Seed Property (MSP). This house will provide supported, co-living accommodation for six of Karrek’s supported individuals. We are so grateful to those who have already invested in the community share offer that is helping fund our goal to fully refurbish the house to include all the adaptations the individuals need, as well as making it as comfortable and homely as possible.
We are aware of the growing need for this type of resource and following the success of MSP’s first supported living arrangement, we recognise the skills and qualities required to enable people to maintain their independence, whilst receiving support in the community. Our partnership with MSP enables us to tap into those skills. And in addition to being able to do more social good through supporting a larger number of people, this expansion also makes us stronger commercially.
We are looking forward to the new challenges we face in 2021 and as Karrek continues to grow, we know we will need additional staff members. Our recruitment campaign will gather pace in the coming months and we hope to find new employees from across the community to join us. We will be looking for individuals that share our values of providing a caring and supportive service to all our clients.
