Enter and View: Camphill

The purpose of this Enter and View programme was to engage with residents, their relatives, or carers, to explore their overall experience of living in Camphill working community. As well as building a picture of their general experience, we asked about experiences in relation to social isolation and physical activity.

Summary

This is a working community of 70 people, for adults with learning difficulties but sufficient independence to benefit from an urban situation. Partly integrated into the surrounding community, the eight households of Camphill Milton Keynes offer a secure and stimulating environment.

Care staff are a combination of live-in permanent staff who work on a twenty-four-hour rota and volunteers alongside a training team in a variety of disciplines to ensure that there is a structure and purpose to each day and that there is a practical relevant skill for each of the residents learn and enjoy.

The premises are set out over two sites Willen and Pennyland. This visit concentrated at Willen, which is the main site and houses 59 of the 70 residents currently in Milton Keynes

In respect of demographics:

• Participants were aged between 27 and 65 years of age with an average age of 48 years.
• Six were females and nine were males
• Four had been in residence for more than 30 years, six had been in residence between five and twenty-seven years, and one of the participants is a day client.
• All residents were spoken to in communal areas.

What we found:

Every aspect of daily living has been thought about, including IT, baking, weaving, and drama with the ability to have a balanced combination of these workshops to give a well-rounded vocational education which creates a creative environment to encourage growth, wellbeing, and positivity.

Staff had a good relationship with residents. They were trusted, and residents were happy to talk to them about all types of subjects, from their next activity to health issues and personal relationships. Staff were careful to have conversations in appropriate situations, but always giving time and support to residents. 

The quality of the workshops is outstanding; the equipment helps but the attention of the staff in helping residents achieve their goals is what makes the workshops so good

Our recommendations:

On the basis of this visit no issues were identified through interviews or observations.
We would like to congratulate Camphill on the culture within the Community as well as the physical environment.