Meet the Leeds Shared Lives carer who's been invited to the King's Coronation

The carer, who has been awarded an OBE and invited to the King’s Coronation, opens up her Leeds home to provide respite care and day support to adults through the council-run scheme.

While she now works with adults, Rowenna’s lifetime of caring for others began when she first stepped into childcare and nursery nursing almost two decades ago. Within a year, she had been approached to support children with learning difficulties at a school. Four years later, she became a parent advisor of children with additional needs – a role that she enjoyed for 14 years.

“I loved it,” Rowenna said. “And I loved it in the whole 18 years that I was doing it. Education was changing somewhat. I think it was all round actually, and you could see that the vocational side of things was being being trampled on a little bit with more of a tick boxing exercise. I wanted to do something that I wanted rather than continuing a job that wasn't the same as it used to be.”

Rowenna started working with another school but took redundancy soon after as her heart was more set on fostering. Rowenna said: “That was the goal. But then a lot of unfortunate things happened. Off the back of each other as well. My dad died in 2013, my youngest son became very, very ill and me and my long-term partner split up. I was on my own.

"My oldest son lived up in Durham at the time, so I didn't feel stable enough, or I didn't feel that this was a stable enough environment at that time to continue with foster care, which I wanted to do.”

It was a conversation with her sister, who had previously been a foster carer, that first got Rowenna thinking about caring for adults, as opposed to children.

Rowenna said: “I never thought of adults, and I still kick myself for being so ignorant because I was. You know the sell-by date doesn't end at 18, I just hadn’t seen beyond that. She set me on a route that I don't want to return from.”

Now, Rowenna lives with two clients, three dogs, three cats and three goldfish in her home in Seacroft as she works with Leeds Shared Lives and St Anne’s Community Services. The 55-year-old said: “It’s a fantastic job in many respects. I do love the work, and I can do all the things that I used to do in education with clients today.”

While day-to-day activities with her clients can differ, Rowenna finds it is more about ensuring they are happy and well-equipped for doing their daily tasks. She added: “When you're actually living with other people, you have to give them that responsibility. If they make a mess they need to clean up and many clients they don't think in the same straight lines as we thinking, they're thinking in very different ways, and you've got to try and interpret that. It's very, very different living with them. Each day can be fantastic. But you’ve got to have the patience of a saint.”

Rowenna was awarded an OBE for her work during the Covid-19 pandemic – a time which had its separate difficulties but more positive moments thanks to “no outside influences”. She added: “Excitement and happiness actually, I felt, was much more apparent with everyone, because sometimes clients may go out and they may have a altercation with another service user and that can affect how they come home. You see, none of that was taking place. It was just us, and the rules. It was a very good time.”

For her tireless work during this time, Rowenna has been invited to the King’s Coronation on May 6. When she received the email a few weeks ago, Rowenna said she screamed and her male client walked through the door at the same time. “I just couldn’t believe what I was reading”, she said. “I just let out the scream. And he's saying, ‘What's wrong? What's wrong? What's the matter?’ It was just amazing. I have not got the words to say."

Pondering on it a little longer, the 55-year-old said she finds herself feeling a little emotional. She added: “I suppose it's a bit overwhelming, and I mean I'm gonna be in such a magnificent place on such a day and it's historical. The fact that my name will be on a list somewhere that will go down in history. Can you imagine that happening? It's just mind-boggling. The whole thing is just out there. It's just beyond belief.”

Visit the Leeds Shared Lives and St Anne’s Shared Lives websites to find out more about becoming a carer or accessing support.