Your Success is Our Success
This year, we are celebrating 25 years of helping stroke survivors and we are building for the next 25 years so that we can help more people, more of the time, with more services.
In June 2021 SAS won ‘The Queen’s Award For Voluntary Service’ which was presented by The Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk. This is known as ‘the MBE for charities’ and is a wonderful recognition of our mantra ‘your success is our success’.
Our range of therapies and activities offer hope and support to our members.
It is our aim to work on the individual needs of each of our members, all of whom are stroke survivors, and to support the members’ loved ones with the philosophy a ‘problem shared is a problem halved’.
SAS has grown over the years and continues to expand. We have Physiotherapists, Speech and Language Therapists and Well-Being Therapists available to our members twice a week. We provide nail care which is vital for people with clenched fists as a result of stroke induced muscle nerve damage. In addition we offer weekly art therapy and group singing sessions. The art therapy produces amazing results which go towards our BrushStroke Festival of Art Exhibition.
Social activities are a vital part of stroke survivor recovery. We provide a reassuring environment for these activities which include garden trips, pub lunches, croquet matches, barbecues, theatre trips, Christmas party, sailing days, and a day trip to the seaside with a fish and chip lunch.
We still have good brains but have to adapt it differently. We laugh and enjoy the companionship
KenMember
Wellbeing
Having a stroke is a traumatic experience. Our Wellbeing Therapists provide in-person one to one sessions to Members and their Carers as and when they need it. These sessions aim to help people adjust to their changed circumstances and deal with on-going mental and emotional issues that may come after a stroke.
We offer members and carers 1:1 emotional and psychological support. We aid members with the impact of having a stroke through empathetic listening, gentle suggestions and, where appropriate, goal setting. We help them live in the present, rather than look back at what might have been, which in turn will help them to cope with the future. Our Well Being Therapists have regular meetings with our SAS Physio and Speech and Language Therapists and Staff to highlight any areas of concern that might need addressing confidentially.
Pam Lawrence
Wellbeing Therapist
SAS Carers Meetings
SAS also recognises the impact that having a stroke has on the survivor’s nearest and dearest – husband, wife, partner, relative or friend. Some stroke survivors will need more assistance than others with a number of ‘nearest and dearest’ taking on, to various degrees, some aspect of the role of a carer.
On a monthly basis we have a Carers Meeting to provide a place and space where people can come together over a cup of tea or coffee (and a biscuit or two!) to share their day-to-day experiences or just listen.
These meetings are informal and are a place to simply to have a chat with others who understand what the carer is going through. It’s also a great opportunity to make new friends and to talk and laugh about things that are totally unrelated to strokes.
It’s been the highlight of my mother’s week since she suffered her stroke – and an immense source of practical help, support and community to me too as her primary carer
Miranda,Daughter of a member
Physiotherapy at SAS
Over 100,000 people a year in the UK have a stroke. The symptoms experienced vary from person to person depending on the type, location and severity of their individual stroke.
The Physiotherapy team at Success After Stroke (SAS) understand that every member is an individual with a unique set of needs:
- Physical – Strength, balance, co-ordination.
- Social – Carers, family members, house set up.
- Psychological – Confusion, mood, understanding.
Nick Marson
Physiotherapist
Jeanette de Vries-Wobbes
Physiotherapist
To help members achieve their rehabilitation goals, we provide a range of tailored activities.
Group exercise sessions twice per week:
Exercise is so important for stroke recovery, what better way to do this than with fellow SAS members in a fun and interactive class. Run by one of the Physiotherapy team and supported by a team of amazing volunteers, the group exercise class is always a great combination of a workout and social interaction.
Games sessions that can focus on specific elements of recovery in an invigorating way:
The Physio team at SAS will always strive to make your rehabilitation as invigorating and interactive as we can. As can be seen in the pictures, there is an ever-expanding number of games that have been designed to help promote strength, sensation, coordination and enjoyment of movement.
Group walking sessions:
For those members who have goals involving walking there is a walking group once a week, inside or out depending upon the weather and always supported by the physiotherapy team.
Courses, workshops and education for family/carers to focus on a specific element of recovery:
Recovery after a stroke can be positively impacted by your loved ones and carers who support you. The Physiotherapy team will be always happy to give advice and education to those who help you through your journey – either through one-to-one sessions or in one of the more formal courses that run regularly during the term.
One-To-One physio resulting in a targeted and bespoke Physiotherapy management program:
The best place to get a comprehensive assessment and management program from a physiotherapy team with over 40 years of combined experience. A detailed history will be taken followed by a physical examination to guide how we can help achieve your goals.
Speech and language
Approximately half of stroke survivors have difficulty with communication. Many of our members have aphasia, a term used to describe language impairment following a stroke and others have dysarthria, a difficulty with speech affecting rate, volume or clarity.
We assess communication, looking at how well a person can understand information, both spoken and written and how well they can express themselves, including all ways of communicating, such as drawing and gesture. We use this information to work towards individual goals in the group setting and advise how to make communication most effective.
Where else could I get Speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and wellbeing therapy all under the same roof?
Chris Clark
Speech & Language Therapist
Clare Keohane
Speech & Language Therapist
Living with Aphasia in the Community and how SAS helps
Aphasia is a long term condition and while some people do make a full recovery of speech the Stroke Association estimates that 30-43% of people with aphasia will remain severely affected in the long term. Research has shown that confidence, opportunities to communicate and supportive conversation partners have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life post stroke (Kagan et al 2001).
What we do
Communication is the key word of our work at SAS.
The conversation group at SAS provides members with the opportunity and optimal environment for developing and maintaining communication. By establishing friendships with other group members, building confidence and self-esteem through participation this assists our members to adjust to life post stroke.
We use our specialist skills to observe, listen and adjust our communication styles to enable all members to understand and participate in the group. We ensure when planning our groups that information is accessible and provided in multiple formats to support each individual’s understanding.
We encourage members to use written key words, pictures, gesture and drawing to support speech and understanding, which is known as supported conversation.
Aims of our conversation group
- To provide an opportunity for supported conversation
- To provide time for members to contribute to everyday interactions through optimising their communication skills
- To provide an opportunity for members to increase their confidence in interactions with others
- To monitor interaction and maintenance of communication skills
Aims of our discussion group
- To involve every group member in seeking and giving opinions
- To provide an opportunity for members to hear others points of view and increase confidence in communicating their own thoughts and feelings
- To provide opportunities for those members with communication impairments to be supported in interacting within a larger group
Art classes
We offer a weekly Art Class that is open to all members.
Individuals often join the class having never painted before. Additionally, members often have to learn to use their non-dominant hand as a result of suffering a stroke.
Even in the first weeks we are always amazed by what can be achieved.
The class has a friendly and warm atmosphere that is filled with laughter. The art class is not only about the members creative work, it is also about development of their confidence which generally blossoms in the art lesson.
Members are often surprised by the quality of their own paintings and are delighted with what they are able to achieve. This is followed by an abundance of support and encouragement by friends in the class.
Marnie Bragg
Art Leader
Every two years we hold our BrushStokeFestival of Art Exhibition where we are joined by other artists presenting their work at Sudbury Arts Centre in St Peters Church, Sudbury, Suffolk. The work exhibited comes from all the SAS members and is an ideal opportunity for the class to showcase the brilliant art they’ve been working on. This event is a key fund raiser for SAS.
We have some wonderful and committed volunteers that support the class every week, always there to lend a helping hand, a cup of tea and of course a biscuit.
If you feel like joining the class, we would love to have you. Come along and pick up a paint brush, you’ll never know what you can achieve until you try it!