Shared Lives

I was first interested in a caring role back in the late 1980s when I was a Post Mistress in Hounslow, which had become particularly challenging for reasons most people are aware of.

I eventually took the plunge properly in 1996, through an advert in the local paper. A company called Lifeways were managing Shared Lives at the time. The experience has enriched my life, and I have some lovely memories, with hopefully many more to come.

Among my clients have been siblings who I looked after for a long time and they were in their forties when they came to me. We had a wonderful relationship and became very close. They stayed both with me and in a bungalow local to where we live in Hounslow. They were estranged from their family but through their social worker we found out where some of their family were.  I took them both down to Kent and we managed to reunite them with a brother and then eventually the wider family and bridges were built.  

Every family have disputes, so it was lovely to help, and we have become a big extended family!

One eventually moved to a nursing home while the other lived with me until 2018 when she sadly passed away.

When you look after people in this way, you regard them as your family. If not, I could not look after them. I look at them as my own. Not every placement has worked, but that’s normal.  I have four children, and currently have two elderly women in my care.

I guess I’m a born carer!

Contact

If you are interested in a paid role as a Shared Lives carer, you can contact us to find out more or or just to have an informal chat:

• email: katie.forder@hounslow.gov.uk