A Friend for Life
A Friend For Life was founded in 2007 by Jane Taylor and Rob Kay. Jane and Rob originally met in 1992 whilst working together on a major project in Ayrshire to help 90 people with long-term mental health problems move from hospital to their own homes in the community. At that time Rob was strategic planning manager for Ayrshire and Arran Health Board and Jane was a development specialist with the Richmond Fellowship, Scotland. The project was widely regarded as an outstanding success.
Rob moved to Kilsyth in late 1999 to work at nearby Forth Valley Primary Care NHS Trust. Now reunited as neighbours and friends, Rob and Jane continued their separate careers in the public and voluntary sector.
Rob became acting director of the RNID Scotland, managing counselling, information and advocacy projects for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. He later worked for West Lothian Council and Lothian NHS as joint projects officer, where he was responsible for training nurses, social workers, GPs and the police in the protection of vulnerable adults.
Rob became self employed in 2006, working with a range of projects to improve the quality of life and develop choices for people with disabilities. He had the idea for A Friend For Life when he noticed that as his older children moved on to university and jobs away from home, his son - now aged 13 - was becoming increasingly socially isolated from his peers due to his disability. At the same time, Jane left the Richmond Fellowship to become a self-employed trainer and consultant in the housing and care field and the two met up regularly to compare notes and ideas.
A Friend For Life flowed from these informal discussions. The two got together and carried out detailed research and development, exploring a wide range of possible service delivery and funding options before deciding on the present partnership format and systems.
The future is wide open, but Rob and Jane are very open to suggestions from parents, young people, and professionals and regard the project as action learning in that changes to the service model will be made according to your feedback .
Qualifications
Jane is a chartered member of the institution of occupational safety and health (CMIOSH) She has a BA(Hons) from Stirling University and a Certificate in Management in the Voluntary Sector from Caledonian University and a Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health from Strathclyde University.
Rob took a BA(Hons) at Sheffield University, and took a two year postgraduate course of studies in Public Health Management at Manchester Business School.