Kelly Evans

Kelly joins ELCAP to give voice to the individuals ELCAP supports

Kelly Evans, an experienced Speech and Language Therapist, has joined ELCAP on secondment from NHS Lothian.  Kelly will work on the innovative Our Voice, Our Choice project, which aims to improve communication between ELCAP staff and the individuals they support.

Kelly will work with Katie Cunningham, another experienced Speech and Language Therapist on secondment from the NHS

Many of the people ELCAP supports have some level of difficulty with communication and use a variety of Augmentative and Alternative Communication to meet their communication needs.

The partnership with NHS Lothian’s Speech and Language Therapy service will enable ELCAP’s Support Practitioners to use The Five Good Communication Standards.  The Standards will enable ELCAP staff to:

  • Know what good communication looks like
  • Know whether good communication is happening
  • Know about resources which can enable good communication

Following her arrival at ELCAP last month, Kelly said:

“I’m really looking forward to the being part of Our Voice, Our Choice with Katie.  I have fond memories of working with many service users and staff from ELCAP in the past, whilst in the East and Midlothian Community Learning Disability Team.

The project is a great opportunity to get to know ELCAP better and really focus on helping staff to develop and promote good communication with the individuals they support.  I will hopefully get the chance to work with more people in ELCAP over the next few months.”

Welcoming her appointment, ELCAP Chief Executive, Paul White, said:

“We are delighted to have Kelly on board.  She will form a great partnership with Katie and will help us make more of a difference to the lives of the individuals we support.”

Between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021, Our Voice, Our Choice will benefit:

  • 40 individuals who receive support from ELCAP.
  • 100 Support Practitioners who work with those individuals.
  • Seven Operational Leads.
  • 320 staff.

The project is supported by funding from the Scottish Government and a generous £10,000 donation from the family of an individual ELCAP supports.

ELCAP recently purchased a licence for Boardmaker, a symbols-based communication resource.  The purchase was enabled by the charity’s participation in the Edinburgh Kiltwalk.