Eastleigh Borough and Romsey Mencap (EBRM) exists to support people who have learning disabilities and live in the Eastleigh and Romsey areas.
EBRM’s aim is to protect and enhance the lives of people with learning disabilities who live in Eastleigh or Romsey so that they can lead rich and fulfilling lives
Our belief is that people with learning disabilities should lead rich and fulfilling lives, through participation in enjoyable, challenging, and rewarding activities every day. This might be paid or unpaid work, a hobby or sport, or contributing to their community.
People with learning disabilities have in the past, and in some cases still do, led protected lives which often means that they have not had the chances to be as active or involved in community life as they should have been. We have worked to change this by ensuring that opportunities to try different activities are on offer. We have been careful not to duplicate services offered by Adult Services but work instead to extend the range of activities and to develop peoples’ skills and interests.
We provide a range of services for our members so that they can be active both physically and mentally which significantly helps with their well-being. Our work ensures that we can support them and stop them becoming isolated by giving them a routine and structure to their lives. Our services include an evening social club in a pub, a basketball club, citizenship, art and gardening groups.
One of the major challenges that people with learning disabilities face is the perception that their ability to achieve is severely limited. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of employment. So often people are rejected without any assessment of their capabilities. At the core of EBRM’s objectives is the determination to reverse this thinking, which we do through our clubs and various projects.
People with learning disabilities are at the core of our services all of which were set up through requests from them. We maintain registers of who attend each club and follow up absences to identify what the reasons for the absence are. We continually monitor our services to ensure that they are relevant and of value. We regularly ask for feedback and suggestions for new activities.
