Hear from our customers

We’re specialists in supporting people to live independently. We recognise that each person we support is an individual: they each have their own story to tell:

Sophie

Sophie is a volunteer in Metropolitan’s communications team and hopes to use the placement as a stepping stone to get back into paid employment.

“Volunteering is opening up possibilities for me, both in terms of doing something of value and also interacting with people I wouldn’t normally get to meet. I haven’t worked in an office environment for a number of years. Committing myself to coming in from 10am until 4pm, twice a week, means that I’m keeping occupied and focussing myself, building up my confidence layer by layer. The placement is helping me get back into a working mindset. I’m taking it step by step, but the long term goal is to get paid employment when I’m ready. For now I’m getting used to being in the office, re-building my confidence and learning new skills.”

Sophie is also a member of Vital Link – a group of customers and carers who influence how mental health services are delivered in Lambeth.

Andy

“I’m a visual artist and I have a learning disability. The artist bit is a bit bigger than the learning disability! I’ve been doing arts-based stuff with kids around issues like confidence building, getting information across.”

Mr and Mrs Hedges

Mr and Mrs Hedges live happily in a Retirement Living property in West Bridgford, Nottingham.

“We’ve lived in our bungalow for the last seven years, and for the last five years have had our little dog living here too. We’re really happy in our bungalow, our home. The area is just perfect; we have lots of friends here, a great sense of community. There are shops close by and a really good bus service, even a free one that goes to Morrisons. One of the great things about renting a Retirement Living property is that if something breaks somebody else has to fix it! Metropolitan have always been very good with repairs and they have really looked after us.”

John

“I’m now able to use a computer, which means I can put my photography skills to use. I’ve built up my confidence and I’ve made some new friends.”

Emmanuel

“I have a volunteer role in peer support. I use services myself, so I can use my experience to relate to other service users. It’s good to have the opportunity to contribute.”

Jefri

“I suddenly realised that: ‘Hey, I could do this. I could do this well!’ I hope that you all have your own ‘Hey, I can do this’ experience.”