About Us

We are a local charity started by parents of people with disabilities. We provide personalised services for people with disabilities and their families & carers.

As a not-for-profit, user-led organisation we believe in providing people with services of the highest quality. We try our best to keep the costs as low as possible to give our clients the maximum scope of support possible and as a Charity any surplus income is reinvested into our services.

We employ relief support workers to help us support our daytime and domiciliary services for adults and our evening and holiday clubs for children and young people across Ipswich, and volunteers and fundraisers are also vital to the work we do.

Services and more

Our Genesis services, based at our extensive site at Wright Road Ipswich, include daytime support services, support in the home and community, social enterprises, Domiciliary Services, supported living and a social club in the evening.

Social enterprise projects include Genesis Garden Furniture, the Green Bike project, soft fabric crafts, pottery and glass craft. These projects offer the chance to learn employment and life skills and experience working as a part of a team.

Orwell Mencap first opened 1993 as Orwell Patterns for Living, providing work based training through the manufacture of garden furniture. We moved to our current site in 1999 and have continued to adapt the site to meet customers' needs, but we also run many activities out in the community.

By listening to our customers we have become one of the largest providers of services to people with disabilities in the region. We also make sure wherever possible that we team up with other Charities and organisations to create services through strong partnerships.

Our main site at Wright Road is well-equipped to cater for people with a wide range of abilities including complex needs. The emphasis is on developing independence, providing stimulating activities and work experience training.

We are affiliated to the national Mencap society and actively share and support their vision, mission and core values.

Volunteering and Fundraising

Volunteers and Fundraisers are vital to the work of most charities and we are no different.

Join our volunteer and fundraising projects and make a difference, whilst having fun!

Voluntary work requires time and commitment, but it can bring many rewards, such as new friends, satisfaction, confidence, and work experience.

What can you do for us?

There are a wide variety of volunteering/fundraising opportunities, ranging from volunteering for parties and discos making them go with a swing, to helping run fetes, to helping in the Green Bike Project or the Garden furniture workshop or even to keep our gardens an enjoyable place.

If your talents are of a less practical nature then we are currently looking for volunteer trustees. Please see our jobs page for more details.

Just a little of your time can make a big difference to someone’s life.

It is Orwell Mencap policy that all our staff, trustees and volunteers are DBS checked and must provide suitable references.

Find out more

If you are interested in finding out more please call us 01473 723888 or email us at: info@orwellmencap.co.uk

A career with Genesis

We work to meet individual expectations and dreams.

Our values are our strength.

We believe in being people-centred. This means supporting people to do what they want and encouraging them to set and achieve new goals and reach out to achieve their full potential.

We believe in empowering, including and respecting all people. Genesis supports people from all walks of life. We expect our staff to treat everyone with respect and to value the differences between people.

We believe in challenging wrong ways of thinking about learning disability.  Some people think that people with a learning disability are less important than other people. We challenge these assumptions every day in our work.

We believe in transforming lives. Some people with a learning disability haven't been given the same opportunities as other people because of assumptions about what they can and can't do. We believe in challenging and developing new ideas. We don't stop at 'good enough', we want to drive up our standards, push out our boundaries and constantly strive to improve the way we support people. 

• We are looking for relief support workers to help us support our daytime and domiciliary services for adults and our evening and holiday clubs for children and young people across Ipswich.

Before you apply for a job with us, ask yourself the following questions.

• Is it important to you to help other people achieve what they want in life?
• Do you feel strongly about equality in society?
• Are you willing to speak out to challenge assumptions?
• Would you be good at seeing the potential opportunities for others?
• Do you like change?
• Are you a creative thinker?

If you answered yes to these questions, your values are the same as ours!

Download "Working at Genesis"

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