The Upstreet Project - Elizabeth House & Artichoak Cottage

25/09/2025

Blog: Help make social care better – share your thoughts

Hear from our CEO, Oonagh Smyth, about why your responses to the Adult Social Care Workforce Survey matter.

Find out more about the survey and how you can share your experiences to help shape social care policy.

https://bit.ly/4mnvoG0

23/09/2025

Do you work in the care sector already?
Strong evidence is needed to help policymakers in government understand and meet the needs of people working in care.
Collecting as many responses as possible ensures decisions truly support the sector.
📢 Add your voice to the workforce survey today and help shape the future
👉 https://bit.ly/3HjKU7g

26/05/2025

🌞🔥 Bank Holiday BBQ Fun at Elizabeth House! 🔥🌞

Our amazing clients took charge of the grill this Bank Holiday Monday, cooking up a delicious BBQ feast! 🍔🌭🍗

It was a wonderful day filled with laughter, teamwork, and tasty treats, as we celebrated togetherness and increasing independence. A huge thank you to all our fantastic clients who made the day so special!

22/05/2025

Our clients thoroughly enjoyed the thrills and laughter (despite the changeable weather - this is England, after all 🤣) during our recent trip to Thorpe Park. Supporting individuals with ARBD (Alcohol-Related Brain Damage) means not only providing specialist care but also ensuring meaningful engagement with mainstream activities and events.

Trips like these help build confidence, promote inclusion, and bring joy to everyone involved. Seeing our clients experience the rides, share smiles, and create new memories truly highlighted how important it is for everyone to have access to fun and fulfilling experiences.

A massive well done to the members of the care & support team who organised this and made it happen. It was a huge success!

We're already looking forward to our next adventure! 🎉

20/05/2025

We're ready for the summer - and some of our clients are looking forward to their trip to Thorpe Park tomorrow - not so much the rain that is forecast though! Please keep your fingers crossed for them that it doesn't bucket down!

11/03/2025

Elizabeth House lounge is getting a makeover! Even though the clients will have the final say (as it's their home), all input is very welcome. Do you have any thoughts on colours?

10/02/2025

💡 Paying Fairly, Valuing Great People 💡

We have just announced another pay rise for our team. We believe that paying at least the Real Living Wage isn't just the right thing to do—it’s essential. But we don’t stop there.

💰 We pay above the Real Living Wage because our hard-working, dedicated team absolutely deserves it.
😊 Our team stays with us—just 3% staff turnover in the last 12 months! (in case you're wondering, that is VERY unusual in this industry!)
🙌 Happy, valued employees = much better care and support for our clients. If we can reduce one more stress for them out there in the real world, our clients benefit from happier, undistracted, thriving team support.

Fair pay isn’t a cost—it’s an investment in people. And when people feel valued, they stick around. 💙

19/08/2024

A new study, published in The Lancet by the Lancet Commission on Dementia, estimates that close to 50% of cases of dementia worldwide can be prevented or delayed by improving 14 modifiable risk factors.

This is paradigm-shifting because dementia is often perceived as an inevitable consequence of the aging process, with a major genetic component. But this study suggests that modifying these risk factors can benefit everyone, irrespective of genetic risk, and that it's important to have a life-course approach. It's never too early or too late to start to modify these factors.

We've known for a long time that many chronic diseases are highly preventable and modifiable. Some that come to mind are type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and even certain forms of cancer. Modifiable risk factors include cigarette smoking, diet, physical activity, and maintaining a healthy weight. This study suggests that many of the same risk factors and more are relevant to reducing risk for dementia.

Newly identified modifiable risk factors add to what we already know about preventing or delaying dementia.

12/08/2024

So many exciting things coming up in the next 12 months, not least that Helen, our wonderful manager at Elizabeth House, is going to have a baby!

We are knitting already :) - and also looking for a suitable interim manager to cover her maternity leave, and then get involved in a really exciting *new project setting up a new service*.

Interested? or know someone who might be?
Please email Helen or Emma or call us on 01227 860516
helenjohnson@theupstreetproject.org.uk
emmatarry@theupstreetproject.org.uk

Call now to connect with business.

28/05/2024

We are adding a person to the day team in Upstreet...

This is not your usual care role so if that's what you're looking for, please scroll on by...
Looking for something different? this might be perfect.

Elizabeth House and Artichoak Cottage support 22 individuals who need 24 hour support to lead as independent a life as possible. Based in different kinds of accommodation on the same site in Upstreet, CT3 4DD, these are individuals who used to lead completely 'normal' lives but have sustained brain damage, mostly as a result of heavy drinking (Wernicke-Korsakoff's Syndrome).

The people we support don't drink alcohol anymore. Their biggest challenge is poor short term recall. With our support, our clients are working on daily living skills, improving their general health and training life hacks to live more independently again.

Our clients' mobility is good and people mostly only need prompting to attend to their self care. This is a calm, friendly and welcoming environment.

Our existing team are:

- Motivated, energetic, kind, friendly, compassionate, and making a difference every day.
- Really good communicators and comfortable using technology for notes and medication administration.
- Driven to deliver the best outcomes for each individual we support.

Your day will involve:

Prompting and supporting individuals with their self care
Supporting people to attend appointments and go out for social purposes
Supporting people to prepare light meals and around mealtimes
Supporting people to take responsibility for and clean their own space
Liaising with healthcare professionals, social workers, family, RPRs and other advocates.
Keeping accurate written daily care notes

After your induction is complete, your training will also include medication administration, more complex Mental Capacity assessments, care planning with the clients and completing risk assessments.

Does this sound like you might be a good fit?

You will need to have:
- a full UK driving licence (manual or automatic)
- good written and spoken English (ideally as a mother tongue or very strong 2nd language)
- a background in a service environment, not necessarily in care
- a patient and kind attitude
- It also helps to have a good sense of humour :)

Are you right for this job?

If this sounds like your cup of tea/can of Red Bull, please give Helen Johnson a call on 01227 860516 ext 222 between 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday for a preliminary chat. We look forward to hearing from you!

24/05/2024

https://youtu.be/FZc-Y9gqjHI?si=DDvmyG_zrpVcCFb7

Discover how alcohol impacts your body’s processes and causes hangovers, and find out what causes the most common hangover symptoms.--The molecule responsibl...

18/04/2024

Ever wondered what confabulation is? Here's our quick guide to when people with Korsakoff's Syndrome or any other kind of Alcohol-Related Brain Damage tell you things you don't believe can be true...

Confabulation – what is it? Confabulation is a thing that happens when a person can’t remember something but is unaware that they can’t remember it. A person who cannot remember, …