Supporting teenagers, young adults and their families

At Claire House, the young adult service recognises and appreciates that Adolescence is a unique and distinct developmental stage of life, and therefore we have a bespoke young adult team based at the hospice.

Our aim is to treat teenagers and young adults, who access our services, with the upmost respect and dignity, and ensure your voice and wishes are at the centre of your care.

Whether you have been under Claire House services for many years, or have a new diagnosis and are considering being referred, we aim to work with you and the people most important to you, to offer support, care and advice to help you achieve your goals and maximise life experience, whilst managing the uncertainty around your diagnosis.

Our mission is to promote individual choice and control, to support the young adult and their family in whatever way we can, we recognise that being a young adult in the modern world can be very difficult and overwhelming, we want to take away some of the stress and create a real focus on quality of life, making memories and creating plans to support you on your good days and bad days.

Part of the young adult service’s philosophy is based around creating sustainable support networks, creating resilience and confidence for our young adults to be clear about their own choices and to help their families make meaningful connections with key professionals or others going through similar situations. We know how valuable it can be to share your experiences with other who share your fears or concerns or to have people who have been through the situations and have come out the other side as experts by their experiences. There is nothing more powerful than hearing from another who has walked a similar path to the one you are about to take, whether you are a young adult, a parent or indeed a sibling we try and offer a holistic approach (looking after the whole person and not just the diagnosis). We are not a statutory service like the NHS or social care, but our offer of care is complementary, and we work closely with the key professionals involved in your care. We try to add value to the current care, by concentrating on the extra nice stuff that really makes a difference and helps our young adults through a difficult stage in their lives.

Social Group Offer  Young Adult Palliative Care   Transition 

The Young Adult Team

The young adult team consists a full time Young Adult Coordinator, Andy Curtis (RNLD), Palliative Care Nurse Specialist, Louise Smith (RCN), and Therapeutic Support Worker, Alex Wheeler.

“Hello, I’m Andy Curtis, I’m a learning disability nurse and I’ve been at Claire House since September 2014. I run the young adult service, this covers all transition work, my young adult caseload for the social offer and all adult safeguarding practice. I am deeply passionate about supporting young adults and their families, the world can be a scary place when you’re a young adult, add to that complex health needs and the world becomes even more difficult. I believe in helping people to make connections with others to promote resilience and create supportive networks, my job is to help in any way I can. That could be supporting your transition to an adult hospice, providing social opportunities’ for you to meet new likeminded people, ensuring your voice and your choices are heard as a young adult or parent or too just offer a friendly ear to listen to you, I can’t fix everything but I will do my best to help you and your family on your journey into the adult world.”

Contact:

You can contact Andy via email on Andrew.curtis@clairehouse.org.uk or Andrew.curtis1@nhs.net

Or by phone on 0151 334 4626, or 07860438036

“Hi I’m Lou, and I’m the Young Adult Palliative Care Nurse Specialist based at Claire House. My job involves both nurturing the transition process, and providing palliative and end of life care for young adults.

My role within transition includes liaising with medical teams, both in paediatrics and the adult world, and trying to help families create and meaningful team around their child. I’m an advocate for early advanced care planning and recognising the positive reassurance this can bring to young people and their families.

I also take referrals for young people who have a life limiting, or life threatening condition and need some extra support. This may be because their condition is progressing, or because their treatment isn’t working as well as they’d hoped, or it may be because they are considering potential end of life care options. We look to offer parallel plans, focussing on the things they want to achieve whilst they are well, or doing well on treatment, but also considering what would be important to them for if things change, treatment options fail or there are no more active treatment options left. We work closely with our adult colleagues and ensure the young person and their family are fully supported through all stages of their illness and beyond.”

You can contact Louise via email on Louise.smith@clairehouse.org.uk or Louisesmith146@nhs.net

Or by phone on 0151 334 9237, or 07950 002683

“Hi, I’m Alex, myself and Andy work for the young adult team at Claire House.  We organise and run a monthly social group for children and young adults aged 14-23.  The group is a fantastic opportunity for individuals with a life limiting conditions to make friends, have fun and share experiences to enhance or improve their day to day living.  We treat the group as a therapeutic experience and encourage them to share opinions and experiences with one another so that they see each other as a positive support network.  We hope this can help them through life and allow them to accomplish things they may have thought wouldn’t have been possible.”

You can contact Alex via email on Alex.wheeler@clairehouse.org.uk

Or by phone on 07710710976

“My name is Kellie, I currently work in the activities room in Claire house Wirral.

I started Claire House in 2003 as a health care support worker and although I loved my job doing clinical work my main passion was working with adolescence.

I feel that creating opportunities for them to thrive in a social setting is very important and to also achieve an enjoyable quality of life, not allowing their disability get in the way.

I’m now fortunate enough to work alongside the transitions team with Andy and Alex supporting the social group at Claire house Liverpool once a month.

These groups are something that I’ve been passionate about from the beginning of my Claire house journey, I really hope they continue because seeing the confidence of the young people grow is fantastic.

They have a WhatsApp group and even arrange their own social events through this.
I love to see the friendships develop and listening to them talk about what their futures are once they need to transition in to adult’s service, knowing they’re not alone and can continue the journey together.”