This is National Safeguarding Adults Week during which a number of themes are being highlighted.
Today the topic is self-neglect which covers a wide range of behaviour including neglecting to care for one’s personal hygiene, health or surroundings. In response, we wanted to highlight the importance of self-care for our customers and share a positive example.
This is Gayle, she's keeping mindful of her health and fitness as she approaches 40!
Gayle is a shared owner with two shared owner housemates. Gayle has Down's syndrome and receives 24/7 support. She moved out of her parents’ 16 years ago, loves her own house and is proud to be a home owner.
Despite always having been a healthy weight Gayle found a few years ago that she was packing on the pounds. With the help of her family and a new support team, her routine was adjusted to include more exercise, activities less focused around food and to include home cooked nutritious food instead of takeaways.
In order to encourage Gayle to live a healthier life, her mum bought her a Fitbit. She can monitor how many steps she does each day and celebrate when she reaches her daily target of 2000.
She recently went to seaside for the weekend with her parents and did plenty of walking – reaching 10,000 steps on one day!