Headshot of Rachel Barber

Rachel Barber

Rachel Barber is the Founder of Living 4 Moments. She has been nominated by Anna Simmonds, her Support Worker/PA at Living 4 Moments Ltd. Living 4 Moments strives to improve residents’ quality of life in care homes. As a former care home manager, Rachel saw too many residents’ interests and aspirations overlooked. All residents have stories and experiences to share which we nurture to develop new opportunities for them. Living 4 Moments does this through our detailed mapping exercise and extensive partnerships.

Anna says “is an incredible organisation that is working to achieve optimum quality of life and wellbeing fulfillment for residents in care homes. This is done by facilitating meaningful relationships and magical moments between residents, staff and relatives.”

Our 2020 Igniting Inspiration Campaign is proudly sponsored by

Who has she helped/who will she help?

Rachel says “We are committed to helping everyone under the roof of the care home. Staff, management, and residents alike will feel the impact of our work. From staff supervision to mapping exercises, stress will be relieved in difficult times and isolation of residents will be overcome.

We work with partners to make sure as many social needs are met through different activities (e.g. theatre work and lectures).”

What’s worked?

Anna says “As a team, Rachel and I work brilliantly. With previous experience in care, we really know what is needed to provide the best service and really create social change. The care sector is struggling and we really want to help.

Rachel is very passionate about the wellbeing of residents and has a variety of examples within her previous role as a care home manager as to how she can successfully achieve the ultimate goal of quality of life for residents and staff.”

What has she learned? Any challenges?

“The company was started earlier this year but the limitations of the pandemic caused Rachel to rethink her business plan. Bringing on a Support Worker (Rachel has a severe hearing impairment) means that she can now do all of her work virtually without face to face contact.

This has been a great learning curve, with highs and lows. Rachel has overcome all the necessary requirements to be able to provide phenomenal service.”

What’s next?

“In all honesty, our main problem is getting ‘through the door’ of the care homes. They are in crisis mode and even though our service could save them time and money, that bit of time we’d need at the beginning is often perceived as being impossible.

Rachel is very talented at what she does and needs the opportunity to provide the service and prove her obvious capabilities.”

What advice, contacts, or resources would help her?

“We would love to hear from any care homes that believe they require assistance, or from staff and relatives that believe the care provider needs an extra pair of hands.

I believe that we need some advice to tighten up our sales pitch to really be able to reach our full potential, as well as needing a bit of help with marketing (e.g. a video).

I may be biased but Rachel is an incredible, inspirational woman who has worked so hard (especially with her disability) to overcome hurdles some people would never come close to.

The service she can provide is astonishing and could change so many lives for the better. Our twilight years are the most precious, they are the storytelling generation who need their lives to be appreciated and enjoyed to the fullest.”

Why we’re sharing these stories

Each year, an individual or organisation from each of our five categories plus one exceptional judges’ choice individual is recognised at our annual Igniting Inspiration celebration event.

We publish each and every nomination to raise awareness of all the positive work that goes on in the North. While, this year, our physical event had to be deferred, our campaign to spread stories of positive social impact continues – good news is needed!