Elizabeth House specialises in adults under 65 with dementia relating to alcohol abuse, particularly Korsakov's and similar conditions

About Roberta House and Elizabeth House - providers of specialist residential care and reablement facilities.
Elizabeth House - provider of residential care and reablement services for individuals with a diagnosis of Wernicke-Korsakov's syndrome
Roberta House - provider of residential care and reablement services for individuals with a diagnosis of Wernicke-Korsakov's syndrome
Care provision for adults under 65 with conditions relating to dementia, particularly with alcohol-related brain damage
Our active therapy team and activities for successful rehabilitation of clients with Wernicke-Korsakov's syndrome and acquired brain injury
Who we care for - adults under 65 with dementia and related condition, including acquired brain injury and korsakov's syndrome.
Contact us if you would like advice about Korsakov's syndrome care and rehabilitation
Join our specialist team at Roberta and Elizabeth House, Upstreet, CT3 4DD

The Upstreet Project: Elizabeth House & Roberta House, Upstreet

Residential care and re-ablement for adults with Wernicke-Korsakoff's Syndrome, acquired brain injury, ARBD (Alcohol-Related Brain Damage) and other related conditions.

Useful links to other websites with information about Korsakov's syndrome and related conditions
Useful links related to Korsakov's syndrome and other organic dementia-related conditions:

Wikipedia: Korsakov's syndrome

Wikipedia: Definition of dementia

The Alzheimers Society

Alcohol Concern

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Mind (National Association for Mental Health)

Mind,org:
Factsheet about Dementia

Mental Health Foundation

Huntington's Disease Association

Alcohol & addiction services in Kent & Medway

Alcoholics Anonymous

Please note that these are links to external sites and we have no control over their content. They are offered purely as an information resource to you. If you know of any additional information sources that may be of use, please let us know. Thank you.


Active Therapy & Client Development

Alongside the specialist care and support provided at Roberta & Elizabeth House for our clients, many of whom have a diagnosis of Korsakoff's Syndrome, we take an holistic approach, with strong leanings towards physical activity and fresh air as the best therapy for many of our clients.

We use reablement techniques to work towards rehabilitation with each and every client, regardless of their initial ability. This gives everyone the optimism that there is something to look forward to (even though the reality may be that they will remain in closely supported care/accommodation for the rest of their life) and ensures that as a team we work towards reskilling and encouraging independence.

Our Client Development Manager is responsible for supporting each of our clients to develop their own plans of Care & Support. As part of their overall plan, our clients are encouraged to identify areas of their life they would like to develop or refresh and to set goals by which to measure their progress. For many of our clients, drinking had become their whole life and we encourage them to replace this with a wide range of hobby-type activities and plenty of outings to broaden their horizons and develop other pastimes.

Some of our clients taking part in gardening therapy.
Roberta & Elizabeth House have extensive grounds across several sites. All our clients are encouraged to participate and take responsibility for our gardens. We believe that the process of growing plants and vegetables from seed is very therapeutic and we also supply our own kitchen throughout the summer, so our clients are involved in the provenance of some of the food we all eat.

One of our clients improving their numeracy skills with specialist software on one of our PCsOur team coaches, encourages and enables our clients with development of work-based skills, life skills development including numeracy and literacy, as well as personal development including fitness.

We have multiple PCs and laptops available to our clients and we coach computer literacy in all forms, from using Facebook and other social networking sites, to using Skype to stay in touch with family. There is also wired broadband access throughout both homes for clients with their own computer equipment.

Most of our clients state that they would eventually like to return to the wider community and be living more independently. As a result of this, our balance of activities and practising of work-based skills reflects this. We are continually investing in facilities to meet our clients' needs.

Throwing balls against a wall is a simple but effective way to improve hand-eye coordination
Our clients are encouraged to take plenty of exercise and work on their coordination skills. In addition to two exercise and stretching classes on site each week, a number of clients also go to the gym in nearby Canterbury. Many clients also choose to go out for an afternoon walk every day, accompanied by staff and sometimes staff dogs too!

Work-based skills development with the team at Roberta & Elizabeth House ranges from painting and decorating, DIY, catering and kitchen skills to working at our Furniture Renovation Workshop.

Group discussion therapy is good for improving social confidence. We have several groups like this every week.We encourage all our clients to keep exercising their grey matter - from board games to prepared debates, it's good to keep your brain moving.

We also offer a full and complete rehabilitation programme for clients who are ready to move out of Roberta or Elizabeth House and back into independent or supported living accommodation. Our Pathways Units adjacent to Roberta House are available for clients who are ready to be more independent but wish to remain part of our extended community until they are ready to go back to their own home or on into other accommodation.

Life skills development covers issues such as budgeting and planning, shopping and personal care. We encourage all our clients to take responsibility for keeping their own rooms clean and tidy, do their own laundry and ironing if appropriate, and participating in community household duties such as helping in the kitchen. We have weekly shopping trips both into Canterbury and to supermarkets and we encourage our clients to make their own choices regarding clothing and footwear as well as to choose their own treats and snacks.

There are several in-house sessions to help clients improve their numeracy and literacy. These range from Book Group meetings, Current Affairs debating and discussion with extracts from newspapers, Scrabble tournaments, interactive group budgeting exercises and basic literacy sessions. We also organise for clients to attend classes and activity groups outside the home, some of which also reinforce these skills.

Our planning and budgeting sessions are very interactive and our clients are strongly encouraged to contribute in as many ways as they feel able. We aim to help all our clients develop or relearn living skills that will support them if and when they return to more independent living. Current clients who for various reasons are less likely to live independently in the future also find these exercises very stimulating and our budgeting and planning sessions often lead to healthy debate about lifestyle choices and the economy as a whole.

However, it's not all work either and our clients have a full social schedule as well. We find that long term alcohol abuse can often lead to social withdrawal so we encourage all our clients to be part of the in-house community as well as to make friends outside of the home through clubs, volunteering, classes and the church. We also strongly encourage and often assist our clients with staying in touch with, or getting back in contact with, their families and old friends. Visitors are made very welcome and often join us for lunch.

Many of our clients have a diagnosis of Korsakoff's syndrome, which often leads to social withdrawal. We strongly encourage group outings to reinforce a sense of community without erring towards institutionalisation.
While many of our activities are in smaller groups, we organise large group outings at least once a week, to go for lunch or to an event. All outings are shown on the large Activities Board in the dining room, so there's always something to look forward to.

Some of our clients really enjoying filling in the gaps, so we paint designs in black and white and they choose the colours to use for the design. This improves their coordination and teaches them about colour matching and blending. We also  make and paint other items such as, in this photo, bird boxes to put up around the grounds.
Daily Arts & Crafts sessions mean that our clients are involved in a variety of projects; painting, creating collages and mosaics, making jewellery and a wide variety of other projects. Many of our clients find this very relaxing and therapeutic.

Our Active Therapy programme is constantly evolving to meet the personal development needs of each of our clients. If you would like to know more about Roberta & Elizabeth House and whether we might be able to help you, your relative or your client, please click here to find out how to get in touch with us.