Celebrating Shared Lives Week: Connection, Community and Care in Southend

Shared Lives week is a time to honour and celebrate the extraordinary work of Shared Lives carers and the relationships they develop and nurture with the individuals they support. This year’s theme continues the successful #WeAreSharedLives campaign, highlighting how Shared Lives carers and the people they support form strong, lasting relationships, made possible through a careful and person-centred matching process.

Shared Lives Week 2025: “The people we support aren’t ‘strangers’ – they’re part of the family”

In Southend, we marked this special week with several events, including Angela’s allotment gathering, a tour of Southend United Football Stadium, and a special afternoon tea at Porters, the official residence of the Mayor of Southend. Southend United Football Club very kindly welcomed our Shared Lives service users and carers for an exclusive tour of Roots Hall. We got to see everything from the players’ tunnel to their changing room, including the exact seat Cristiano Ronaldo sat in when Southend played against Manchester United. Later in the week, we hosted our tea party at Porters. The event brought together Shared Lives carers, the people they support, and members of the local community for an afternoon of tea, cakes, and celebration. Shared Lives Week gives us a chance to celebrate the extraordinary people and the relationships they build within our community.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Adventure Island, Asda, Caddies, Yoga4All, Southend United, the Mayor of Southend, and Southend Care for their very kind donations and for helping us make this week so memorable.