PART 3: PROVIDER SERVICES & RESOURCES ALS ...PART 3: PROVIDER SERVICES & RESOURCES ALS Training:...

PART 3: PROVIDER SERVICES & RESOURCES ALS Training: Daily Living Skills

Daily Living Skills is an outcome-based programme relevant to many Housing Related support providers With a focus on preventing homelessness, the aims of the programme are:

• to ensure that service recipients have the skills needed to manage and maintain a home safely on a minimal budget to enable a smooth transition to independent living and establishment in permanent accommodation

The Daily Living Skills programme fits with Supporting People National Key Performance Indicators in that: ‘Service users are supported to establish and maintain independent living and to move on in a planned way from temporary accommodation’

ALS Training was created in 1999 as a direct result of ten years working with vulnerable, and often disaffected, young people. Many were homeless and often struggled or failed in their first tenancies The objective was to fill the gap in existing specialist provisions, services and resources available to young people to develop their skills and knowledge to live as independently as possible Many of the young people had multiple and complex needs but the majority could be met by identifying and overcoming barriers to accessing existing specialist provision. E.g. the Benefit Agency, Careers Service, Jobcentre, Library, Adult Education centres, Mental Health Services, counselling services, alcohol and drug services, doctors, dentists, parenting classes, debt counsellors, CAB The exception to this were the generic home management skills that we called ‘Daily Living Skills’, which included healthy meal and menu planning on a budget; shopping and cooking skills; home cleaning and laundry; budgeting; managing tenancies, home energy management and home safety and security.

48 Support Solutions Ltd, Eaton House, 67 Valentine Road, Birmingham, B14 7AJ. T: 0121 444 6040; F: 0121 444 4988; E: [email protected] www.supportsolutions.co.uk ©Support Solutions Ltd 2006

This led to the development and implementation of the Daily Living Skills Programme The programme has proved to be transferable across a variety of tenancies e.g. pre-tenancy and resettlement projects, for people with mental health issues, people with learning disabilities, people in temporary accommodation due to move to permanent accommodation, and could be described as generic in tenancy support The Daily Living Skills Programme comprises twelve units that ‘fit within the overall approach to eligibility issues under Supporting People’ and will assist service providers to achieve the higher outcomes of economic well being, being healthy, and safety and security in the Supporting People draft outcome framework Support providers are supplied with the 12 unit ‘Daily Living Skills Programme’ Resource Pack in the form of a CD-Rom with a loose-leaf support copy. Each unit contains suggested outcomes for service users, underpinning knowledge for support workers, delivery resources, service user information sheets, monitoring materials and service user satisfaction sheets. This functions as a stand-alone programme, but additional in-house training for support workers is also available

and recommended, to maximise programme results. The training has also proved successful within staff induction programmes and links directly to Housing NVQ Level 2 Unit Y1 and Level 3 Unit Y5 The programme uses a self-assessment and planning process to consult and involve the service users. This develops some agreed indicators/identified areas of need, and SMART aims and objectives tailored to the needs of the individual that could be incorporated into the service recipient’s support plan to promote their health, safety and security. This empowers the service user and supports their independence Based on these measurable outcomes the Daily Living Skills programme is simple to deliver and can be easily monitored and evaluated by service users, support workers and other stakeholders and is a simple way to ensure that outcomes are collected and measured in a consistent fashion. Linking the service to measurable outcomes can help to ensure a more focussed and therefore cost effective delivery of services and, more importantly, achievement of outcomes improves service user focus and can help to build confidence and self-esteem


Involving service users in evaluations enables support workers to assess the success of the service in relation to service user satisfaction and to continually improve and develop the delivery and resources to tailor the programme to the specific needs of their service users Implementing the programme can ensure equality and quality of service to users and assist in a co-ordinated approach across agencies. It can assist service providers to meet Supporting People QAF core service objectives (England) and using the programme in Wales can assist providers to meet Supporting People Service Aims 3 and 4 New for September 2006, the Daily Living skills resource pack has been revised and updated to take account of updated advice and guidance as well as feedback from current resource pack users The resource pack is available now to improve the quality of services for all people who need to gather the skills required to live independently and to manage successful tenancies in our communities Pack price: £300 excluding VAT

For more information on the programme: See www.dailylivingskills.co.ukRing Alison Smith on 01446 749100


http://www.dailylivingskills.co.uk/

Action Housing & Support Ltd: A New Era of Support Services Rotherham-based Action Housing Association officially relaunched under its new identity this September, becoming Action Housing & Support and signalling the organisation’s commitment to expanding its array of support services. The relaunch neatly coincided with Action’s 25th birthday party and the birth of its sister company, Action Opportunities, a profit generating enterprise established to find new income streams and bolster the range of services provided across Yorkshire and the Midlands. Initial ventures under the Action Opportunities umbrella include the commercialisation of Action’s sector-leading staff training and development

programme and the creation of a new property lettings and maintenance service. Action Property Services will work in partnership with private landlords as a socially aware and ethical lettings agency, providing accommodation to service users where required as well as letting out properties on the open market. The project brings significant advantages to Action’s existing services, especially in terms of reducing the dependence of service users on limited housing association stock and often unscrupulous private landlords. In addition, Action Development and Personal Training (ADAPT) has been launched to provide a comprehensive training programme for staff across the housing related support sector and beyond. Covering a broad range of subjects and accredited by City & Guilds, OCN and the Chartered Institute of Housing, ADAPT is a commercial extension of Action’s award winning staff training scheme. Both in-house and external trainers are used to deliver the courses which range from presentation and communication


skills and project management to working with sex offenders and drug awareness. Plans for the future expansion of ADAPT include the provision of vocational training for service users and the development of a degree in supported housing. As with the property business, the project is expected to bring in added value to Action’s support services, adding extra layers to the resources that service users and staff are able to draw upon. The ventures are also expected to generate a significant new funding stream which will be reinvested directly back into the parent organisation and its support services. This will enable Action to diversify away from its reliance on Supporting People, as well as start providing other services that the fund cannot pay for. It is hoped that the project will eventually provide a vehicle for the development of numerous programmes including social enterprise schemes, medical treatment services and beyond. The creation of Action Opportunities was announced to a gathering of Action’s stakeholders and partners at the charity’s twenty-fifth birthday celebration on 26 September. Isobel Mills, a Director at the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, wished the

organisation well for the future and joined the guests in celebrating the achievements being made right across the sector. Speaking during the gathering, Action’s Chief Executive, Russell Ward, said: “I’m delighted to announce the birth of Action Opportunities and the future prospects for this exciting project. This is all about meeting our responsibility to find new and innovative ways to meet the changing needs of our service users and to ensure that organisations like ours have reliable and diverse income streams. “It’s also a fantastic way to bring extra value to the first rate services that we’re already providing. I envisage a time when we can deliver a seamless support package to our clients, incorporating the provision of accommodation, training programmes and job opportunities into our established specialist services. We’re looking forward to working in partnership with others so we can start developing these radical new ideas.”


NCH: Blackburn with Darwen Families Project Concern has grown over the past few years about the effect of anti-social behaviour on the community and the detrimental impact such behaviour can have within families, sometimes leading to complete family breakdown. NCH established a project in Blackburn with Darwen in 2003 with the purpose of working with families who are at risk of losing their tenancies through their behaviour. The project was set up with Twin Valley Homes but works closely with other landlords and agencies within the statutory, voluntary and community sectors. The aim of the project is to prevent tenancy breakdown, to enable families to fully participate in their community, to ensure that children and young people are able to live in their home and sustain a

positive lifestyle without causing distress or annoyance to others. We can support, challenge and resettle families in order to achieve a reduction in antisocial behaviour, to improve outcomes for children and families, an enhancement of the quality of life for communities. The project is funded to support up to twenty families at any one time often working with a family for up to 10 hours per week. Support for the family can last up to two years depending on need. This time scale is to give the family the best possible chance of sustaining changes. We have to date worked with 101 families resulting in only 5 of these finally having to be evicted. There are plans to expand the project to enable more families in Blackburn with Darwen to benefit. If anyone requires any further information about the service then please don’t hesitate to call 01254 583437 or e mail [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

Broadway: It’s Your Move It’s Your Move is a unique project run by Broadway. The project specialises in helping people successfully negotiate the journey from supported to more independent accommodation. We have developed a range of resources that promote effective resettlement and tenancy support for people at risk of homelessness. These have been developed in conjunction with partners from across the homelessness, education and voluntary sectors. The service provides a flexible platform for:

• pre-tenancy and life skills training; • staff training; • organisational development; • collaborative support planning; • service-user empowerment; • assessing need, progress and intervention.

How did the project come about? The project started in 2000 and came about as a result of the impact of an influential report which revealed that 1 in 5 tenancies, held by former rough sleepers, ended in failure within the first year. (Making it Last, Broadway, 1998) Due to the increased demand for and interest in our work, the project has evolved from an in-house learning project to the above multi-faceted service. The project has come to be seen as one of the central hubs for good practice offering training to staff and service users across the country. It’s Your Move’s expertise and practical knowledge has led to Broadway securing contracts with two large Local Authorities, Leicester and Lambeth, who are both offering pre-tenancy training to people who are at risk of homelessness. We are also currently working with voluntary sector homeless agencies across London and have also been approached by researchers across the country working on the issues of homelessness, move-on and resettlement.


As well as providing training, we have developed the “It’s Your Move” website (www.itsyourmove.org.uk) and published the “It’s Your Own Home” Handbook. More recently, as a result of requests from partners and feedback from service-users, we are developing the “It’s Your Move 1:1 handbook” – a comprehensive ‘coursebook’ which will allow service-users to set their own agenda in support planning sessions. It’s Your Move Case Stories “When Broadway first introduced the scheme, the training workshops brought out skills that I didn’t know I had and it led me into an area of work that I had never considered before. I thought, “Oh, I can do this.” I went on to study a City and Guilds training qualification which I passed. I hadn’t studied since I was 16 and I surprised myself by what I could achieve by being involved in the move-on project. In terms of changes at work I would say the most important is definitely ‘confidence’, not just in work but in day to day things. Plus the knowledge that I’m able to put over to the residents. There were areas that I was shady on before I started to prepare to deliver the training sessions. The handouts proved to

be positive because they can revisit the areas covered in the training – you can’t remember everything. You do get good feedback from the residents and they comment on issues that they weren’t aware of – they’re confident to move and they’re not scared of the prospect of moving to independent accommodation. Other residents get together and ‘compare notes’ and share experiences. They think that they’re not the only ones in that situation. They don’t feel so isolated. I think all councils will benefit from this – service users are armed with information and we can work towards preventing the revolving door syndrome.” Jacquie Harrison, Hostel Officer, London Borough of Lambeth Empowerment “The viewing check list was really helpful. You could see the Housing Officer wanted me in and out in 5 minutes but I knew what I had to do because of the training and we stayed there as long as I wanted and went through the whole list”


http://www.itsyourmove.org.uk/

http://www.homehandbook.org/

This is the kind of success story that we enjoy the most - a woman from Lambeth who told us that the training had given her the confidence to deal with her viewing in an assertive manner. A successful viewing is just one of the factors in making ‘move-on’ a positive experience – instead of the cause of stress and a catalyst for future support needs. At Lambeth we now help the Local Authority provide popular sessions which are regularly attended by 15 - 20 people per session. Several Lambeth staff have used it as a springboard for development and have gone on to do further training qualifications. Cultural Change Many of the hostels we have worked with in London have told us about the ‘cultural change’ that the training has brought to their work. The Resettlement Co-ordinator at the Salvation Army Booth House hostel told us: “You could ask anybody here, staff or residents and they would say the pre-tenancy training is one of the most visible and significant things to have happened at Booth House.”

We have helped Leicester City Council to set up a citywide programme for service users from supported accommodation and floating support services. Staff and service users from 8 agencies have gone from having little or no training experience to designing and delivering tenancy training modules within a period of 3 months. For more information on about Its Your Move contact the team on 020 7089 9524 or by email: Peter Dobbs – Manager [email protected] Bostock – Co-ordinator [email protected]’s Your Move www.itsyourmove,org.uk




http://www.itsyourmove,org.uk/

Family Mosaic: Reflections by Service Users on Life & Being Supported…… As a supported housing provider, we often found that people using our services wanted to tell us their story. They wanted us to understand their journey. Some wanted to prevent other people from making the same mistakes that they had. We wanted to listen and learn from these experiences. We asked our service users, and their families in the case of those with profound disabilities, to put forward their stories with a view to publishing a book. The idea of producing the book was the result of staff hearing the ways service users would like to be listened to, involved and included in the organisation that provides them with support. To ensure the book was inclusive of all the people we support, contributions were invited in a variety of formats – life stories, poems, photographs and single quotes. The people who contributed had a wide range of different

backgrounds, needs and abilities. They included adults with learning disabilities, mental health problems, or acquired brain injuries, as well as young vulnerable people and families who had been homeless. We hoped that such a book could be used to raise awareness amongst staff and stakeholders. We felt that if we all better understood where people came from and what helped them most successfully then we could all provide better services and support. The book is too large to include within The Briefing but you can download it here. You’ll be glad you did. You can also view some photographs here and here.


http://www.supportsolutions.co.uk/docs/briefing3/reflections.pdf

http://www.supportsolutions.co.uk/docs/briefing3/suffolk.jpg

http://www.supportsolutions.co.uk/docs/briefing3/nancy.jpg

All the stories were so inspiring that we started to think about how the book could be launched and finally a Conference for service users was decided upon. The Conference was a drop in event and, like the book, was based on service user’s lives. Many of our service users cannot use speech, so in the months preceding the Conference, art and photography projects were set up to support people to express reflections on their life in alternative ways. A video was also made of service users talking about their lives. The results of all this hard work were on display at the Conference. Over 500 people dropped in to view the exhibitions and the photo competition entries. There was an opportunity to hear some short talks and dramas, given by contributors to the book about their experiences. The background music for the day was a compilation of our service user’s favourite songs and all the guests were invited to place a piece in a giant mosaic that will be displayed in our offices. Those attending could also pick up useful information and advice, have an aromatherapy massage, have a go on funfair stalls, marvel at a magician, try out the mobile gym and sample a chocolate fountain amongst other things.

The feedback from those who visited has been fantastic and the book and conference have been a platform for some of our service users to get more involved, both within the organisation and the wider community, e.g. service users have become involved in staff training and contributed to our tenders for new contracts. The outcomes and benefits for those service users involved have been numerous, including:


• Very genuine gains in personal confidence and

self esteem. • The opportunity to reflect on far they have come

in resolving and dealing with their issues. • Feeling they are important and listened to by all

levels of service providers and commissioners, and that they can show how Supported Housing really works for people and can impact on future service delivery.

The book and conference have raised awareness of the different groups of people Family Mosaic support and has made people feel part of the Association, as one service user says “It’s made us feel part of everything and not just a number”.

Herefordshire Supported Housing for Young People Project: Ticking Boxes or Genuine Service User Involvement? Getting service users genuinely involved, making meaningful decision at the appropriate level is an ongoing challenge. Expectations from our funders and Boards are increasing as are the expectations of service users themselves – rightly so in our view! At the Herefordshire Supported Housing for Young People Project (SHYPP), we constantly wrestle with our general desire to effectively involve service users at every level possible with the need to evidence this work by ‘ticking the boxes’ of service user involvement criteria set by organisations that monitor and review us (Supporting People, Audit Commission etc). In an ideal world these 2 aims are compatible but the danger often is the more the focus on ‘getting


the boxes ticked’ the more tokenistic or unsatisfactory the involvement seems to be for the service users. We are sure that your organisation never experiences these tensions (!). At SHYPP, we have by no means ‘cracked’ service user involvement but we do have a staff team that have developed some good tools for involving service users and will not rest until their involvement is genuine and effective. The bar is set very high for us – higher than the targets set for us by funders. We are our own worst critics and we aim to keep it that way. The framework for engagement within the SHYPP’s service is our ‘15 ways to get involved’ document. The range and variety of these ‘ways’ is important when working with young people. We aim to provide something for every level of involvement that a service user wishes to engage with. Some ‘ways’ are naturally more popular than others with involvement in interviewing new staff and ‘mystery shopping’ being amongst the leaders: Interviewing: We need staff who can work with young people. The best way to test this is at the interview stage. Currently the interview is split in two with an interview with ‘managers’ followed by a group

task with service users. The two groups of interviewers then meet to discuss the candidates and an agreement is reached together. The ultimate say in the event of a split decision (which interestingly has rarely occurred) remains with the main interview (staff) panel as we are not yet ready to relinquish the total responsibility and decision making process to the service users. Maybe we will one day…? Mystery shopping: Striving for continuous improvement means meeting the needs of our service users and therefore who better to test our service than the young people themselves? Mystery shopping is one way that is fun and engaging and produces excellent information about how well we serve our clients in services and the quality of service the staff provide. Other ‘ways’ include a ‘your view’ email address which goes straight through to SHYPP’s project manager. Resident’s meetings at foyers which are crucial for hearing views and feeding back action. We are trialling giving these groups a budget to manage and involve all residents at the Foyers. Service users sit on our management group and represent the views of other young people. Our aim to have them involved at this level of governance is enshrined in the group’s


terms of reference to ensure this always happens. We also encourage staff shadowing (where appropriate) to help young people gain a better understanding of what staff do and allow them to comment on how they could perform better. We have set up a number of other groups including:

• Focus groups with specific responsibilities for helping us review our policies and get input on new developments etc

• A virtual (emailable) ‘web site review panel’ group to give us feedback on what does and doesn’t work on our web site,

• A telephone panel (where service users are called and asked specific questions about the service),

• Communications group (to help us review all our PR material),

• Involvement in our parent Group’s equality & diversity and a group to monitor sustainability and one off areas of focus.

We carry out regular confidential satisfaction surveys and exit surveys when leaving the service. We give an incentive (CD voucher) to our young people to get these back to us as their feedback is crucial to us.

Having said all of this, we would never see ourselves as ‘a model of excellence’. As stated previously the bar we have set ourselves is very high. It would also be wrong to make out that all our service users are fully engaged in the opportunities we offer. Forcing service users to get involved certainly doesn’t work and therefore we work hard to think of incentives as ‘carrots’ ranging from prize draws, to providing food to days out. One the most important lessons we have learnt centres around capturing the work we have done and informing the staff and young people that things have been changed and promoting opportunities. The ‘SHYPPing forecast’ is produced every 6 weeks and used for this purpose; naturally young people take part in the design and production of the newsletter. Feeding back real life examples of genuine change caused by service user involvement is often the catalyst for bigger and better involvement in the future. There is no doubt that agencies reading this will think ‘we do better than that’ and we are sure you do. We will watch how you do it and ask if we can learn from that if we can. Maybe you can do that too? If this


article helps in your service user involvement journey then it will have been worth writing it…… The SHYP project aims to provide an integrated approach to meeting the housing, training and employment needs of young people through the provision of housing, outreach support work, a ‘Nightstop’ project and preventative education. For more information on SHYPP and some of the tools we use in involving young people e mail [email protected] or call 01432 374323 or go to www.herefordshireshypp.org

Making Space: Kirklees Floating Support Project Is Launched Making Space, one of England’s leading Mental Health Charities, has set up a Floating Support Project based in Batley West Yorkshire. The services aims to support people aged between 18 and 65 with mental health and housing related support needs, living in the North Kirklees area. As service users support needs will vary, the service, which is person centred, will respond accordingly to an individual’s need but the average level of contact with a client will be three hours each week.



http://www.herefordshireshypp.org/

An experienced support worker will visit the service users, usually in their own homes, and will assist with a wide range of independent living skills such as maintaining tenancy conditions, household budgeting, life and social skills and access to leisure, employment and education opportunities. The service aims to promote independence through providing support in maintaining an individual’s mental health and general well-being and reducing social exclusion. A similar scheme is underway in the South Leeds area providing support to people living in Belle Isle, Middleton, Beeston and Hunslet. Making Space, which is a national organisation, offers a variety of services including Family Support, Employment Support, Befriending, Carer Breaks, Supported Accommodation and Clinical Services. For further information please contact : Shane Parnell, Supported Housing Manager, Yorkshire Angela Linden / Claire Wheeler, Tenant Support Workers, Kirklees

Tel: 01924 359595 or Tony Johnson, Tenant Support Worker, Leeds Telephone 0113 276 1421


Independent Housing Opportunities (Tandridge) Registered Charity No. 1058275

Diana Francis House Caterham on the Hill Diana Francis House is a scheme designed to equip people between the ages of 19 and 45, and who have a physical impairment and/or mild learning disability with the skills to enable them to move on to the future accommodation and lifestyle of their choice.

Residents can stay at the house for up to 2 years whilst learning how to live independently. Prospective tenants must be on a Council Housing Register. Diana Francis House is a purpose built fully accessible house, which was completed in April 2003. It is designed for 5 people who each have their own bedroom with an adjacent bathroom and share the large kitchen, dining room and lounge. There is a lift as well as a garden, carport and parking area for use by residents. The scheme is positioned adjacent to the new Caterham Village development with easy access to leisure facilities, local shops and a large supermarket. An accessible bus service passes the door and links with Caterham town centre and railway station. Housing Support Workers are employed Monday – Friday during stated office hours and will give assistance in learning about housekeeping, budgeting, managing direct payments, directing their own care and generally living and sharing with other people. Additionally there is an emergency call system, although there is no on site care or support during the evenings or weekends enabling residents to put their newly acquired skills into practice.


TENANTS COMMENTS ‘The house is a valuable stepping stone towards gaining your own independence and has been a lifeline for me, helping me to get my life together, helping me to get my life together.’ ‘The house is my home.’ ‘I feel safe and secure in the house.’ To find out more contact the IHOT office on 01883 337218.

New NCB Resources to Improve the Health of Young People in Supported Housing It is well established that young people who live in supported housing are amongst the most disadvantaged in society and are vulnerable to a range of physical, mental and emotional health problems. The National Children's Bureau has published two new resources that aim to help providers of supported housing and their key partners build positive approaches to promote the health and well-being of this vulnerable group. Promoting the Health and Well-being of Young People in Supported Housing - A practical guide for providers of supported housing and health services and Promoting the Health and Well-being of Young People


in Supported Housing - A training manual for staff and managers are available from NCB Book Sales priced £16.00 (£13.00 for NCB members). NCB, c/o Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN Or contact tel: 0845 458 9910; fax: 0845 458 9912; email: [email protected] NCB publications can also be ordered online at www.ncb-books.org.uk.

Letters Hi Michael, I find your website really invaluable and most informative. I am in the London Borough of Enfield and I have accessed the Forum website to seek clarification on the many grey areas under the Supporting People Initiative. Excellent, many thanks, Patricia Shanahan Manager De Bohun Care Ltd Dear Briefing It’s refreshing to have a source of information which is current and well-informed, a fresh approach for agencies and people in supported housing and none of this “toe the line” stuff we keep getting shoved down our throats. Keep it up! John Bowler Manchester



http://www.ncb-books.org.uk/

Hello Michael, Whilst I have enjoyed reading the first two Briefings, and gained some valuable insights and information regarding what is happening around England in the Supported Living field, much of the detail is of limited relevance to us here in Wales. You will be aware that much of our operational and regulatory system is somewhat different to that across the border. Might you consider a section of the briefing addressing the Welsh (and why not the Scottish and Irish) dimension? Regards,

Alun Nutt

Dear Briefing

Could you address the issue of the current preoccupation with commissioning floating support services? I’m getting concerned about the possibility that we will lose the funding for accommodation-based services to this dash for floating support. Once gone they’ll be hard to replace.

Michael Maynard London E13 Hi Michael, we’ll be writing an article on this for issue 4. You might want to visit the Forum on

www.supportsolutions.co.uk/forum where there is an active thread on this issue.


http://www.supportsolutions.co.uk/forum

PART 3: PROVIDER SERVICES & RESOURCES ALS ...PART 3: PROVIDER SERVICES & RESOURCES ALS Training:...

Documents

Transcript of PART 3: PROVIDER SERVICES & RESOURCES ALS ...PART 3: PROVIDER SERVICES & RESOURCES ALS Training:...