Friday late with a mate!

There’s something quietly magical about staying out late with your mates on a Friday night. The laughter, the shared stories over greasy chips, the sense that the weekend has really begun. For many, it’s a weekly ritual. But for people supported by social care services, it’s not always so simple.

Often, those in supported living are expected to be home by 10pm—not because they want to be, but due to staffing constraints and rigid rotas. Nights out are cut short. Plans are made with curfews in mind. But isn’t the freedom to stay out late one of life’s most ordinary pleasures?

Being a creative collaborator means thinking outside the box and reimagining what support can look like. It’s about working together – with the people we support, with families, and with each other – to try new approaches that make space for spontaneity, fun, and freedom. Whether that’s flexing a rota, finding new community partnerships, or simply asking “why not?” instead of “why?”, creative collaboration helps us break free from limiting assumptions and design support that fits real lives, not the other way around.

At Options, we believe in the beauty of gloriously ordinary lives. That means helping people do the things most of us take for granted—like catching a late film, dancing to bad 90s pop in a local pub, or getting a kebab at midnight with mates. We believe that everyone deserves the chance to live a full, ordinary life on their terms, not one shaped by shift patterns.

That’s why we’re working to build support around the lives people want to live, not the other way around. Because ordinary doesn’t mean boring—it means belonging. It means freedom. And sometimes, it just means staying out a little later on a Friday night.

After all, the best stories rarely start with “I was home by ten.”