Importance of friendship when working with people with learning disabilities

During Learning Disability Week, we want to highlight the importance of friendship when caring for people with learning disabilities and supporting their development.

An Australian study followed nearly 1,500 older people for ten years and found that those with a large network of friends outlived those with the fewest friends by 22%. For people with learning disabilities, lockdown created many challenges, including feelings of isolation and loneliness.

We spoke to some of our fantastic healthcare workers to learn how they foster friendships and overcome challenges within learning disability services, including those presented by Covid-19.

Meet our colleagues who work with people with learning disabilities:

• Lorna works for Search Health & Social Care, most recently as an interim registered manager for a learning disabilities service in Shropshire. Her role is to ensure all the needs of the residents are identified and met while ensuring the staff provide truly person-centred care and support.
• Rosemary is a learning disability support worker in Rochdale and has worked with Search Health & Social Care for five years within a variety of different settings. As a support worker, she helps people to live their lives as independently as they can.
• As a specialist nurse, Ron has taken multiple assignments with Search Health & Social Care in multiple hospitals and services for more than ten years. He provides nursing care to people with learning, physical and sensory disabilities.

The power of friendship when working with people with learning disabilities.

Why is it important to develop strong bonds when working with people with learning disabilities?

Lorna: “Having friendships is a basic human need and right. We all should be able to benefit from genuine, positive, strong, and lasting friendships that make us feel valued and respected.

It is crucial that we actively encourage the people we care for to maintain the bonds that they have with family and friends. Equally, it is also of paramount importance that as a Manager, I provide staff with a work environment that makes them feel valued and respected. There is the old saying, ‘You cannot give out what you have not got.’

If staff do not feel valued and respected, it will be harder for them to deliver the care and support that reflects these qualities.”

How has lockdown affected people with learning disabilities?

Rosemary: “Lockdown has revealed new skills and has driven some people to be more creative, but others have been affected mentally by the lack of activities and change to routine. Emotionally checking in with everyone has never been so important.”

Ron: “Lockdown has really affected learning disability services as usual routines have been broken. The skill has been to find different activities for the individuals that they enjoy. We have also adapted previous activities so that they can be managed under the circumstances.

The lack of social contact that our service users get through the outside world such as visiting shops and being involved in social activities has meant that everyone in lockdown had to strengthen those bonds of friendship in other ways together.”

Lorna: “We have all learnt not to underestimate the abilities of those we support and our staff, who have all been remarkable. We have reinforced friendship by initiating lots of different activities from games, sing-along sessions, arts and crafts and spending time in the garden. Our people have also enjoyed regular drives in the car so that they can get a change of scenery and don’t feel confined to four walls. 

We have learnt that as a team we can achieve great things and keep the people we support safe during such difficult times, adapting well to the changes in support techniques such as frequent hand washing, sanitizing, and wearing masks. Showing extreme resilience and remaining positive and upbeat.”

How do you build friendships when working with people with learning disabilities?

Ron: “In our capacity as nurses and support workers we must maintain professional relationships with service users and professionals. Encouraging friendships is done via normalisation and empowerment. Normalisation is to create normal life opportunities for the client through community, personal or service-based contacts. Empowerment is about individuals determining what they want to do in the service provision or independently hence they have complete control of their schedule. This is how contact friendships are established.”

Rosemary: “We encourage them to do what they are good at, and what they are happy doing. Friendships are formed with others who share their love of those activities. We also make sure family contact is regular, positive, open, and honest. The key to all this is listening and re-enforcing that their opinions are valid, heard and considered.”

Could you make a difference to the care of people with learning disabilities?

Search Health & Social Care recognise the hard work of those who care for others and provide friendship to prevent social isolation. If you want to know more about working with our incredibly compassionate and professional team of service managers, support workers, social workers and nurses, please do not hesitate to get in touch or browse our current Health & Social Care opportunities.