Oxford,
06
October
2017
|
15:25
Europe/London

Calum thanks council’s social care teams for all their help

Calum Greenfield is adamant that he couldn’t have completed a degree, a Masters and a year at Oklahoma State University without the help of Oxfordshire County Council’s adult social care team.

The 23-year-old from Shillingford has cerebral palsy and has received care from both the council’s children’s and adult’s social care team from a young age.

A combination of Calum’s own determination, his family’s support and the council’s help has seen him study at Keele University in Staffordshire to gain a degree in English and American Literature and Warwick University to achieve a Masters degree in English and Comparative Literature.

He spent the second year of his degree studies in 2015 as an exchange student at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, USA.

“All the support from my family and from the adult social care team at the council gave me the confidence to go to University and then to go for the year studying abroad.

“That year in Oklahoma was great fun. It was a bit of a challenge at first but there were quite a lot of other exchange students. I became a real fan of American football and I made so many friends. I’m still in touch with many of them.

“My care and support has been great. I haven’t had to worry about funding my care and that’s just been an ease on my mind. I couldn’t have done this without the support of the council and specifically, Nicki Lovelock from adult social care.

“I knew throughout my time in Oklahoma that I was covered and could find help if I needed it. The council were great in helping set all that up.”

Nicki Lovelock, Practice Supervisor from the county council has worked very closely with Calum. She said: “Social workers and occupational therapists were involved right from the start in putting Calum’s plan to go to university in to action with a Direct Payment to employ a carer alongside his teaching assistant.

“He went to Keele for his first degree and this included the year on the scholarship in the US. Via a Direct Payment he was then able to complete his Masters.

“It’s been a pleasure to work with Calum to help him achieve his ambitions and keep safe and well.”

Calum’s studies were completed in September and he is now considering his next move. He said: “I am now actively looking for work and applying for jobs. I’m interested in quite a few different career paths. Publishing is one area I have looked at.”