Improving Lives is the local Nottingham charity offering an individualised service supporting adults with complex health and social needs. Put simply this means we aim to help people live independent, fulfilling lives. All of the people we support suffer with mental illness and or learning disabilities, many have long term physical health problems combined with issues such as debt, poverty, housing issues, substance misuse and offending. A large percentage of people we support don’t meet the thresholds for other services, either due to cuts, a change in the criteria for support or due to the complexity of their needs. A small number of people we work with have a package of care from Adult Social Care but this doesn’t always cover their full range of needs, such as housing, debt and benefits. In community mental health care, community psychiatric nurses are often only able to support with mental health needs so physical health issues, housing and finance problems may not be resolved. We are based and work in Nottingham City. We are managed by a board of eight trustees who include a local psychiatrist, a director of a local law firm, an accountant and a service user consultant. Our dedicated staff team includes three social workers and a BACP registered counsellor, all staff are professionals with a mix of voluntary and statutory service experience. We achieve our aims by providing individuals with a comprehensive, personalised service that meets their needs. Our service looks at the whole of the person’s needs and tries to resolve their basic needs whilst supporting them to engage with services at the same time. We initially meet people in their homes and talk to them about what changes they want to make in their life; together we form a plan and work through it. Once we have worked through a person’s action plan, they are offered a trained volunteer befriender if appropriate and to join in our fortnightly facilitated social groups.