Good Practice by H&SA Members

In this area of the website you can all read about examples of Good Practice being undertaken by our members.

Housing brokerage service at United Response

United Reponse supports young people and adults find suitable housing by working through different options and securing the housing that best suits each individual's needs.

For details of their housing brokerage service, including the processes involved, how much it costs, and to review case studies, click here: Housing Solutions at United Response.pdf

Housing brokerage service in Essex

Dimensions housing brokerage service in Essex works with people with learning disabilities and physical impairments to find a home that is right for them.  Dimensions is working in partnership with Essex County Council and the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi). The housing brokerage service helps people with learning disabilities have more choice and control over where they live.

The  Housing Brokers meet with individuals and their families to discuss what they need and want from a new home. They provide advice and guidance to estate agents and landlords who are considering letting to individuals with a learning disability. They play an important role as mediator between all relevant parties, ensuring everyone is comfortable and understands each step along the way. They meet with estate agents and landlords to discuss any anxieties they may have, including agreeing to a tenant in receipt of housing benefit. They support individuals with viewings, ensuring relevant paperwork is completed, and support is in place when moving. They will provide support (sometimes remotely) until the time of moving in, and occasionally this advice will remain on-going.

For further information about the service see this link, and see the evaluation report which is available here.

Holly Lodge

Holly Lodge is a new supported living scheme in Kent for adults with learning disabilities. The scheme is a partnership between Kent County Council, mcch and Avenues Group. All three organisations are members of H&SA.
Holly Lodge opened on 17 April 2013, combining innovative bespoke design, technology and environmentally friendly features to make it one of a kind.  It is a new-build supported living scheme which will house and support 5 adults with behaviours that challenge services. The aim was to create state-of-the-art premises that maximised comfort, security and the personal development of the tenants. The need to demolish and build from new has offered unique opportunities to ensure the development of flexible accommodation which will suit the housing and supports needs of the current and future tenants.

A great deal of thought has been given to every design aspect of the site to ensure that it is robust but aesthetically pleasing. The aim was to create an environment which would be conducive to calm behaviour, assist staff to deliver less intrusive support and increase the tenants’ independence and confidence; in other words, to “design-out” some challenging behaviour. Packed with assistive technologies, this state of the art building includes unique design features that have been chosen to promote the safety of the tenants and to limit damage to the property.

The Project has involved co-production with future service users and their families, community building (and moving towards community-based support), a capabilities approach to disability (looking at people’s strengths and promoting what they can do), integrated services and Personalisation (as a foundation on which other strategies build).

For further information about the scheme, please see: this link to mcch website

To see mcch’s presentation on Holly Lodge from  the H&SA Away Day in June 2013, please see this page on our website

Sharing Excellence

See this link for our member CMG's (Care Management Group) Sharing Excellence book; real evidence of the care standards provided to the people they support.

Beyond Limits

Beyond Limits is facilitating person-centred planning and implementing delivery of support to 20 people with learning disabilities and mental health needs who all originated in Plymouth but are currently in Specialist Hospitals and Assessment & Treatment Units miles away from their homes and families. The aims of the project are to: Change Health commissioning in Plymouth to be person-centre; Develop indicative health budgets; Change the culture of provision for people who are perceived to challenge services; Provide person-centred support through detailed planning; and To completely stop the commissioning culture of placing people out of area and in specialist service

One person’s story : Emma is a 28 year old woman from Plymouth who has been involved with services since a young child. She had a chaotic, traumatic childhood and went into care at the age of 14. Since that time she has lived in 25 different care settings including care homes, specialist schools, and assessment and treatment units as far away as Wales, Norfolk, and Bristol taking her 350 miles away from her family. She began to experience physical intervention as a form of managing the ways she communicated her anger at age 17 and was restrained on a regular basis until aged 26.

Emma was vulnerable and abused in her community and went through the criminal justice system when the way she communicated her distress led her to be violent and hurt herself and others. Emma was on a Section of the Mental Health Act for six years. Emma and her family were described by others as a problem.

Beyond Limits started to plan with Emma when she was living in Bristol, but when the Winterbourne scandal happened Emma found camera men camping outside the Hospital she was in which made her frightened so she left on her own accord to return to Plymouth. The one thing Emma wanted more than anything was to be part of her family again.

Emma has been supported by Beyond Limits now for 11 months. She has a home of her own, furnished by her which she is proud of. She has a busy life which revolves around her family. There have been some real highs and equally some lows for Emma which is what happens in life. Emma has grown in confidence and now interviews for her team. Her support is flexible and adaptive so that if she is having a hard time staff can increase support, or take her away to diffuse things. She has a team that are committed to her. She has major health needs that are now stable and she is in control of them. She goes away regularly, and on the spur of the moment, to visit friends back in Bristol and Wales. She is well known in the hotel she stays in there. She has been to see Little Mix, JLS and Peter Andre and started ice skating lessons. Emma has just completed her CV and her next step is to get a job.

Please see this link for further information about Beyond Limits.

Include Me In

In July 2012 Progress Care Housing Association (PCHA) announced the findings of a major research project about independent living.  The ‘Include Me In’ project, which took place over a three year period, undertook research on the impact of moving residents (with a wide range of learning and physical disabilities, and mental health needs) from large hostels (housing up to 315 residents) into smaller, supported living accommodation in communities throughout Leeds. The research assessed the impact of the move on the residents’ independence, integration into their local community, their support needs, and their social opportunities. The concept of a housing provider working with a university research team on a major project is innovative.