WWW http://www.vamw.org

Services

• Potential Living
• VAMW House

Click on any of the links above to go directly to the information on that service.

Potential Living

Potential Living provides a service for people with learning disabilities based upon an idea which has come to be known as "Supported Living".

An important part of what we do is recognise that you are an individual with rights and choices and should be in charge of your own life.

We will do this by enabling you to live in a decent and safe home of your own. 

Also by recognising that the type and amount of help you need may vary up or down and acting on this. 

Our Obligations to You As a user of the service

We acknowledge that in order to assist you effectively we must earn your trust and the distinction of being your ally by...

• Treating you with respect and listening carefully to you so that we can keep getting to know you better
• Learning with you about your interests and preferences and working with you to ensure a safe decent base for your participation in community life
• Learning with you about the kind, amount and style of assistance you need to live successfully in your home and your community
• Recognise the social, financial and personal barriers to the kind of home life you want and assisting you to work to overcome them
• Understanding the vulnerabilities to your well-being and that result from your learning difficulty and your personal history and carefully negotiating safeguards with you that balance risk and safety in a responsible way
• Being flexible and creative with all the resources available to us to respond as your interests and needs changed
• Keeping responsibilities clear so that, in every area in which we work together, you and we know that you will contribute and what assistance and support we will contribute
• Minimising our intrusion in your life by periodically checking to make sure that we are not doing unnecessary things or doing necessary things in intrusive ways
• Following through on our commitments to you and not making promises that we can't keep
• Sticking with you in difficult times
• Learning from our mistakes

We recognise that social, legal and service developments open many new possibilities for people with learning difficulties and we accept responsibility to...

• Provide you with information
• Invite and encourage you to try new experiences
• Invite and encourage you to widen your circle of friends
• Hold high expectations for the quality of your life as a full citizen and community member
• Stretch our own awareness of the possibilities by actively seeking contacts

We know that you could find yourself in conflict with others; neighbours, landlords, other service providers, or the law; in these conflicts we recognise our responsibility...

• To be on your side, in the sense that we will assist you to achieve the best resolution of the conflict possible in the circumstances
• To assist you to understand the conflict and to consider alternative for its resolution
• To assist other parties to the conflict to understand your position
• To consider adjusting the kind or extent of the assistance we offer you if that adjustment will help to achieve a satisfactory resolution of the conflict

We realise that you may disagree with us or be dissatisfied with our assistance to you and we accept responsibility to...

• Negotiate openly with you in search of mutually satisfying outcomes
• Try new ways to assist you and then check to see if the new approach has good results
• Work hard to understand your communications about the adequacy and acceptability of assistance especially when you can express yourself better through your behaviour than in words
• Assist you to explore other sources of assistance available if you so wish

VAMW House

VAMW House is situated in the quiet residential area of North Lodge in Motherwell and only a short walk from most local amenities.  Local amenities such as the health centre which includes general practitioner, dental, chiropody and speech therapy services; the Fir Park Social Club and football grounds; transport services; hairdresser; churches; cafes; local shops and the shopping centre.   The local general hospital is only a 10 minute bus ride away.

We have 3 houses and 3 ground floor flats. The flats are located across the street from the houses and each one has a small front garden and car parking space at the back.  The houses have well maintained gardens with integrated seated patio areas, barbeque, drying area for the laundry and green houses.  Car parking space is available within the grounds and on the street.  Security and fire alarms have been installed in all buildings and maintenance contracts for alarm systems are in place.  Heating systems in all of the buildings may be adjusted as required and radiators are fixed in each bedroom and may be adjusted independently of the heating system.

Each flat has an entrance hallway; front and back door; one bedroom; bathroom; lounge and kitchen. 

A Tunstal telephone link has been installed in each of the flats.  The Tunstal telephone is linked to the first house and enables people to summon assistance when they need it.

The first house consists of an entrance porch and hallway; 7 bedrooms, 5 toilets; 2 shower rooms; 3 bathrooms; 1 utility room equipped with both domestic and commercial appliances; 1 open plan lounge and dining area; 1 modern fitted domestic kitchen.  A locker room for staff and a central office.

The second house has an entrance hall; 4 bedrooms; bathroom; modern fitted domestic kitchen; lounge with dining area and patio doors leading out to a seated courtyard with planted areas and separate plant pots. The staff sleepover room and toilet are situated within this house.  A telephone link with a speed dial facility is installed in this house.

The third house also has an entrance hallway; 3 bedrooms with en-suite  facilities; modern domestic fitted kitchen with dining area, multi purpose room and lounge with patio doors leading out to seated courtyard.  A telephone link with a speed dial facility is also installed in this house.

All 3 services are registered with the Care Commission and are subject to inspection twice per year. 

You can log onto the Care Commission's website to read our latest inspection reports, you can search using the service number which is listed below;

Project	Care Commission Service Number
Potential Living	CS2004069056 & CS2004069062
VAMW House	CS2003001218

Return to top

Registered Office: John Thomson House, Glencairn Street, Motherwell, ML1 1TT

Tel: 01698 244344    Fax: 01698 244345    Email: care@vamw.org    Web: www.vamw.org

Registered Company N^o 125649    Registered Charity N^o SC 008731