A History of Guideposts Trust – Chapter 5
2022 is the 50th anniversary of Guideposts. To mark this special anniversary, we’d like to share the story of our charity: where we started from, the journey we have travelled so far, and a vision for the future of Guideposts Trust.
Although the way we deliver our work has changed over the years, the ethos and values remain the same: helping people build on their strengths, maintain their independence, achieve their aspirations, develop supportive connections and avert isolation and loneliness.
Catch up with previous chapters:
- Chapter 1: How it All Began
- Chapter 2: Making the Vision a Reality
- Chapter 3: Supporting People with Dementia
- Chapter 4: Meeting needs for Carers, and children
5. Fast-track Innovation of 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2020, while bringing challenges and detriment to many people’s health, also brought opportunity to fast-track some innovations in Guideposts’ work. While many of our existing groups moved to meeting online during the worst of the pandemic, it was the catalyst to introduce several new innovations. Guideposts developed tools to reach more people in their own homes, reducing the barriers of geographical location and mobility.
Better Connected
The combination of moving existing groups online and seeing the need for a safe space for people with learning disabilities to socialise made us re-design the remote service experience. Better Connected was developed during 2020 and formally launched in 2021. The service brought together a wide range of online social and activity sessions together with regular telephone calls, a monthly magazine, and, when it became possible, local meet-ups and the opportunity to take part in larger events as well.
Radio Shows
The 2020 pandemic also inspired the birth of the Guideposts Radio Show: a weekly radio show made up of requests from all the Guideposts community. At a time when we were all kept physically apart, in the spirit of the charity it brought us all together, improving our mood with music and the feeling of community. On the back of this success, 2021 saw the introduction of a second radio show, Lights Up, for people living with dementia or enjoying music from an earlier era to make requests of songs familiar to them.
Guideposts Information & Support
The pandemic has also played an important part in transformation our Information and Support service. The service rapidly adapted to provide a helpline for people feeling anxious about the situation and needing practical help and a range of online resources. As the need for practical help decreased, the service moved to providing a support line for to those needing emotional support and coaching. It proved a an extremely a useful space for many people, from carers to people living with mental health conditions, and some dealing with complex needs and life challenges and inspired the development of a unique Coaching approach which is now being rolled out through a new dedicated Coaching Service.
Without the right information, knowledge, and support – both practical and emotional – the reality for many can be a life of great stress and struggle, leaving people feeling unable to manage, socially isolated and marginalised; adversely impacting their wellbeing, health, reliance on services, but also their safety and can have a significant knock-on effect for family carers.
For this reason, personalised information and support provision has always been at the centre of Guideposts’ support intervention. Our Hints & Tips booklets have also proved a valued resource for people, carers, as well as professionals; used by GPs and social care support providers in their daily work. And, over the years, our dedicated information and support services, such as DISC (2002-2006), Dementia Web (2006-2014), Guideposts Carers Information Café (2006-2014) and the Oxfordshire Independent Living Centre (2007-2016), and HERE (2018-2021) have been respected sources of local knowledge and support.
Guideposts Coaching Services continue to follow in the footstep on our past provision and echo the same qualities, offering an easily accessible, trusted community service, empowering people to live the best life possible.
The Future of Guideposts
The charity is continuing on its firm foundation, and as we look to the next 50 years we remain committed to the belief that nobody in society should be left behind, regardless of needs.
As well as our commitment to our existing support, we plan to develop our respite camping service into a state-of-the-art facility. Our 50th anniversary appeal is dedicated to securing the key equipment and site works we need to deliver this service.
