Michelle Conway, CEO of small charity Keira’s Kingdom, talks us through a week in her life which included everything from advocating for clients to helping fill out benefits forms.

Monday

I begin the week by attending a home visit and advocating for a client, who we have offered ongoing support to for some time. The client was having a home assessment from the neuro rehab team and had been previously seen and assessed by this team but this support stopped.

This particular client struggles to vocalise their struggles. I assisted with the assessment and thoroughly made sure that the lady who visited had noted all of the clients struggles and needs, finishing by washing pots and pans as the client was unable to.

Drove to the next client, who suffers with COPD, psychosis, anxiety and depression. I support this client to continue to take medication, try to get them out for a weekly walk and general health and well-being activities in addition to filling the client’s dosette box, otherwise they may not take their medication, then I left to go to the next client.

The next client had ADHD, ASD, anxiety, depression and has previously had a severe suicide attempt. I was helping them to complete their PIP review form, which are not easy to do or face. The anxiety caused by the DWP and these forms is unreal.

They then told me how they had received a letter to say there was a six-year wait for the adult ADHD service. They had failed to contact the service due to the length of time they would have to wait for an appointment, after which I discussed with client the importance of being seen, regardless of the wait. I was then asked to email their GP to send another referral and we agreed I would be with the client once the service made the first initial phone contact.

The final thing for Monday was to set up a Zoom and music for the weekly guided meditation group I run. I guided a group of seven ladies, all ladies that we currently support, with a progressive muscle relaxation guided meditation.

Tuesday

As I was leaving to reach my first client, one of my support workers arrived with donations for our online raffles. I thanked her for the items and put them in my home before heading off.

This client has early onset Alzheimer's, anxiety and depression. I assist them weekly with general well-being, bits of pruning plants, ordering medication, keeping on top of medication, sorting out and throwing food that is out of date, shopping and making phone calls.

At the next client, I assist them on a walk with the family dog. This client has BPD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, PCOS, thyroid issues and binge eating disorder. This client is also self-harming and at high risk of suicide. Whilst walking the dog we had a chat about how their week had been, and we also talked about the importance of eating routinely. After walking the dog I took the client food shopping so that they could buy meals in, we then went to the local hospital pharmacy to collect medication. This client is finally under a psychiatrist after a very long fight through PALS.

Being a trained counsellor has helped me so much when supporting clients with severe mental health, because I am able to use some of the therapeutic techniques I’ve been trained in.

Wednesday

I left home to meet my business development lady, who I have contracted in, with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund and the National Lottery Players.

I have several long-term chronic health illnesses which require me to take regular pain relief medications, I had stupidly forgotten to bring them with me, so I sat through this whole meeting in significant pain. But we discussed how the plans were going. Together, we have developed well-being packages to offer to businesses, for a fee, to help towards creating some sustainability for Keira's Kingdom. We are currently funding dependent, which isn’t easy to obtain at present.

At 2pm I was starting a new ladies disability walking football group. I’ve run a ladies walking football group in collaboration with Age UK, for the past 12 months.

I had always voiced that the session was advertised wrongly so had a real mix of women with different capabilities attending. Slowly but surely the women that struggled with physical and mental illnesses stopped attending, due to the session ending up to fast paced for them.

I had set up this new session for disabilities to encourage these ladies to come back to the sessions. Well, it turned out to be a very cold day, and with the snow the tun-out today was poor.

Thursday

I left home to attend a meeting with the manager of the local authority fund. We had successfully received funding from them for our staff core running costs. We discussed a zoom meeting that she had set up for me with another organisation, in this zoom meeting it was suggested that I use volunteers to carry out the support delivered by Keira's Kingdom.

However, our support is delivered via community support, we currently do not have premises, plus our support is specialised, the skills and training that my support workers possess would not come for free anywhere.

Keira's Kingdom is also a keen disabilities employer, we take on support workers that have lived experience of mental or physical disabilities, due to this some of our support workers are unable to work a lot of hours. I was angered at the fact that they were disregarding pay for disabled people, disabled people that are highly trained and highly skilled. I myself fall into that category.

The lady I was having the meeting with totally agreed that with the unique holistic support that we currently provide, using volunteers would be an absolute nightmare, especially in the respects of supervising and managing volunteers.

We discussed ways that Keira's Kingdom could save money, by liaising with more local businesses and utilising warm spaces for meet ups.

In the afternoon I went to see a lady that runs a small community group within the area. I’ve been assisting the group with getting constituted, applying for a bank account and passing on donations from Keira's Kingdom that her group could use better.

I arrived home and listed some second hand donations on Keira's Kingdom eBay page, created a Linkedin introduction post, filed away receipts and invoices and responded and sent some emails, finally finishing at 6pm.

Friday

Today I left home to collect a client for a 9.45am GP appointment. This client has received ongoing support from our service for some time. This client has COPD, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, spondylolysis of the neck and shoulders, significant wear and tear of the knee joints and a hernia in their groin. I went into the appointment with this client.

In the afternoon I arrived at my next client who has just had surgery for breast cancer and is awaiting to find out if they need chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Initially I supported this client with their partner who has early onset Frontemperal dementia, Epilepsy, Parkinson's and past surgery for a brain tumour.

Throughout my time supporting this family I have helped them to access the correct benefits, connected them with additional services and provided practical and emotional support. Unfortunately, the client was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, which changed their support needs significantly. Once the client was diagnosed with breast cancer I hired a PA for the other client, so that the client was safe whilst I took their partner to endless lengthy hospital appointments.

As you can see, every week varies and differs in terms of client's needs, but our main aim is to fight for equity and fight inequalities for our clients.

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