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GROUND-BREAKING 'LIFE AFTER STROKE' SERVICES GET IMPORTANT FUNDING BOOST
The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia and the Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust have granted Connect – the communication disability network £430,000 for the second phase of their Access to Life project which is a strategic part of Connect’s work in supporting people living with aphasia (communication disability following stroke or accident).
This grant will help the organisation promote and develop tried and tested Connect services across England, giving people living with aphasia the opportunity to access the support they need to reconnect with life. Crucially, these services meet many of the important ‘Life after Stroke’ quality markers identified in The National Stroke Strategy.
Connect led the successful three year pilot Access to Life Project in Cornwall. By partnering with people living with aphasia, local NHS trusts, speech and language therapy departments, the Directorate of Social Care and with input from other voluntary and charitable organisations, the ‘Access to Life’ model has developed a unique range of peer-led services to support people living with aphasia. The pilot was so successful that it led to the joint commissioning of the services by Cornwall County Council and the Cornwall and Scilly Isles NHS Trust for a further two years.
This ground-breaking project is the blueprint for the extension of services country-wide that will be supported by the grant. These services centre on people living with aphasia using their knowledge and experience to support others with aphasia.
Key to the success of this unique project is that people with aphasia are supported to deliver and develop services themselves. These include services such as conversation groups which help to increase confidence and self esteem. Also, important hospital and home befriending services, which give much-needed emotional and practical support to people with aphasia and their families.
Connect will work to ensure that Local Authorities and NHS trusts across England are aware of the benefits of the Access to Life programme and will seek to provide on a commissioned basis these much-needed services to support the many thousands of people living with aphasia to reconnect with life.
To find out more about how Connect services can help in your area call David Williams, Director of Business Development on 020 7367 0870.
What people say about the project:
‘Since Connect there is nothing I can’t do. Connect has changed my life. I am so different now and it’s great’. John Humfryes, who has aphasia and was involved in the Access to Life Project in Cornwall.
‘Connect has helped me to find my voice and given me a purpose – it’s been a lifeline’. Nigel Stephens, who has aphasia.
‘Access to Life was really effective and transmogrified into a social movement beyond just health. It gave us a solution for peer-led services’. Service Commissioner
‘The achievements of Access to Life are incredible. This should be available to everyone across the UK’. Stroke Consultant, Cornwall.
Additional information
- Aphasia is a communication disability usually caused by stroke or head injury.
- Every 15 minutes in the UK 3 people will have a stroke. One-of these will lose the ability to communicate. This is aphasia.
- Aphasia can lead to isolation, frustration, depression and family breakdown.
- There are 50,000 new cases of aphasia a year, more than multiple sclerosis and breast cancer combined.
- Connect: Find out more about aphasia, the work that Connect does and how to support it by visiting www.ukconnect.org
- The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, founded in 1992, works to improve the quality of life for those with aphasia, their families and carers. It is the only grant-giving trust devoted solely to supporting aphasia.
- The Access to Life pilot project in Cornwall was funded by The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, The Duchy of Cornwall, The Lanvern Foundation and David Robins.
For more information on this press release, please call:
Phyllis Campbell-McRae
Chief Executive
Connect – the communication disability network
16-18 Marshalsea Road
London SE1 1HL
Telephone 020 7367 0840
THE TAVISTOCK TRUST