Saying Good-bye: Stories of Separation between Care Staff and People with Learning Disabilities

"I knew that Keith wouldn't be affected emotionally". "Keith became really quiet... He completely withdrew from what was going on. It was unbelievable... He was unhappy all the time. He wouldn't eat at the dinner table. He would throw his plate on the floor. We couldn't believe it. People with learning disabilities living in residential care regularly experience separation and loss when their key workers move away. Clinical experience suggest that these transitions are critical for the emotional well-being of clients, for whom supportive relationships with staff are essential. In Saying Good-bye the authors aim to raise awareness of some of the processes that occur when key worker relationships end, in the hope that such endings can become less painful for both staff and clients. Specific recommendations of how to plan the end of staff client relationships are included. The book draws upon a qualitative research study which involved in-depth interviews with both clients and staff in residential settings for people with learning disabilities. It draws extensively on the words of the participants themselves, looking at parallel accounts of loss and change. People with learning disabilities are rarely asked about their experience of care and this is the first study to examine how these clients, as well as staff, experience the end of key working relationships.