Cygnet Elms, on Streetly Road, is part of the Cygnet Health Care division and supports women with learning disabilities and complex needs, helping them to develop the skills needed to live independently in the community.
The event was organised by the staff to celebrate their different cultures, taking service users on a unique ‘trip around the world’. They began their journey in the ‘departure lounge’ where they were asked to look for their leaving flight. They were then met by security and passport control, who handed them their own passports to use for their special trip.
Overall, there were different cultures represented by staff from England, Ireland, India, the Caribbean, Poland and a number of African countries. Staff members from each culture were allocated to specific rooms and asked to decorate it themed to their own country. They also cooked food from their home country as well as dressing in traditional clothes.
In each passport, service users had questions to answer about each country they had visited. The answers could be found hidden around each room or by asking staff of that culture. Once they had completed all of their questions, they were given a stamp in their passport.
Jade Myatt, Assistant Psychologist at Cygnet Elms, said: “The service users were extremely engaged in the whole day, trying a variety of foods and learning about different cultures and experiences.
“The staff put in such an amazing effort, it was a huge success and everybody really enjoyed themselves.
“All of the service users were involved, asking questions, experimenting with different foods and learning so much about cultures they had never experienced.
“We feel so proud of all the work that both staff and service users put in to make this a fantastic day.”
Feedback from service users was positive with one saying: “The day was very interesting, I enjoyed learning about different ethnicities and trying different foods. It was also good to know where staff had come from.”
Another service user added: “It was very good, I enjoyed learning about the different countries as well as tasting different foods. I enjoyed seeing all the staff dressing up.”
Jade said the day was especially important for many of the service users who had never been on holiday before.
She said: “It was great for them to have a ‘practice’ run and for them to have a small sense of what an airport would be like. It also gave them the chance to learn about the different cultures of the staff who care for them.
“I really enjoyed planning the day with the whole team, it was so great to see such a collaborative piece of work come together and for the service users to have an amazing day.”