About Sahara Lodge

Sahara Lodge opened in 2000 and provides residential care with 24-hour staffing for eight adults with learning disabilities in a two-storey home and adjoining, one-bedroom basement flat in Forest Gate, East London.

The Sahara Lodge approach

We listen to and work with service users to identify goals and areas for development, putting in place a personalised support plan designed to help them prepare for the future and achieve positive outcomes.

Our inclusive approach includes using communication techniques based on residents’ needs and supporting people to maintain and develop skills to help them reach their full potential.

Service users are at the heart of the running of the home and activities provided and are invited to take part in monthly meetings where we share information, discuss issues about Sahara Lodge and life there and make decisions together.

Our service users are also supported to access the community and build up social networks outside the home.

Inside our home

The main house has four ground floor bedrooms and a shower room, all with wheelchair access. The first floor has four bedrooms, a shower room and a bathroom. All rooms are fully furnished and residents are encouraged to decorate and personalise their rooms to their own taste.

The spacious lounge/dining room is ideal for shared meals, social gatherings or relaxing while watching the flat screen TV. The room leads onto the landscaped garden, where we hold summer barbeques and has a large trampoline for more active service users.

We have a fully equipped kitchen, where we prepare a choice of nutritious meals and service users are supported to cook their own meals. As part of this policy of empowerment and inclusion, service users are supported to use our laundry room to do their own washing.

The neighbouring flat is designed for someone who may wish to lead a more independent lifestyle or is preparing to move out of residential care – or who simply likes to have more time on their own – while also providing easy access to company and activities at the main house and plenty of space for entertaining friends and family.

It has a fully furnished bedroom, bathroom, living area, kitchen, laundry facilities and its own landscaped garden, making it ideal for someone who enjoys gardening or likes to be outside.