About Shared Lives

Residents are matched with our Shared Lives carers, who are ordinary people from within the community who open their own family home to the person needing support. All our carers are assessed and trained.

Our Shared Lives aims 

• We aim for the person being supported to live the fullest life they can, to be part of their local community and maintain and promote new skills and confidence.
• We offer people the opportunity to be supported in a family environment and help them to develop meaningful friendships that enable them to live life to the full.
• Our Shared Lives carers can support people to develop travel skills, access the community, go on holiday and achieve goals such as going to college.
• We also support people to develop their independence and move on to greater things in the future.

How we choose your Shared Lives carers

• People who need some support are carefully matched with Shared Lives carers, who are local people with shared interests, or simply someone that they get on well with.
• Our Shared Lives carers are recruited from local communities, good people who want to make a difference and put something back into their local area.
• They are fully assessed and vetted before being able to provide support and are regularly monitored and reviewed by the Islington Shared Lives scheme.

Receiving the Shared Lives service

The Islington Shared Lives service is for Islington residents, aged 16 and over, who need support due to disability, age, illness or because they feel socially isolated. Referrals come to us from social workers or social care officers. Request care and support from us.

If you are eligible to receive this service, Islington Shared Lives can support you to:

• live independently from your own family while living in a family environment
• learn a new skill, access the community, and develop more independence
• build friendships and networks within your local and wider community
• take the occasional break from your family or stay with someone else while they go on holiday
• do interesting and fun activities during the day with someone who shares the same interests.

Find out more about Shared Lives nationally.