I qualified as a Mental Health Nurse in 2014, and worked in many private and public sectors of mental health over the years. I joined Next Steps in 2020 as the Bolton Home manager, and since that time, I have always praised this organisation for how service user focused the leaders and staff members are. I work across all the homes in Next Steps and work with the organisation’s community centre. The community centre was set up during Covid lockdown to safely allow residents from all the homes to attend a central point where they could partake in many activities such as arts and crafts, movie and music days, games and competitions, and celebrate festivals, cultures, and diversity. These activities helped to minimise mental stress and minimise isolation for our residents. As Covid restrictions allowed, these activities progressed to community activities, such as, outings to Alton Towers, museums, bowling, swimming, walking activities and picnics, pantomimes, VR activities, boating trips, and cinema. Our residents partake in a holiday every year to a chosen destination. This centre is an important part of the care package Next Steps provide and continues to run twice per week for our residents. Within the Bolton Home, we strive to support independence and least restrictive practice. I have been witnessed to a person who experienced difficulty engaging in his daily life routines and was verbally mute and isolative when he arrived to us, to now being a highly present, very active and supportive resident in the home, who loves sports and making drinks for others, who accesses the community every day, and chats and sings, and has an amazing sense of humour. We support a resident who has spent most of his life in mental health settings, and is now as independent as he can be, accessing the community every day, enjoying meeting up with his friends, loves to be around people, has a brilliant sense of humour and is an amazing magician. All our residents enjoy a much freedom and independence as possible, and see The Elms as their home, and each other as their family. This is testament to all the residents and staff across the other homes in Next Steps, where supporting Independence is the organisation’s ethos, allowing our residents to maintain their daily routines, meet their goals and wishes, and enjoy their lives. We work closely with resident’s families, so they are continually involved in their loved one’s lives. This is why I am a Next Steps staff member and why I will continually advocate for the Next Steps organisation.