Social care, health and families
In Liaise our partnerships are built around the needs of each person we support. This commences from the point of referral, through an assessment process, transitional support, placement and beyond. At the heart of our partnership work is the individual who we are supporting and their needs, wishes and aspirations are the foundation upon which positive outcomes are achieved. In this brief report we would like to share with you some examples of the bespoke support we have provided and the partnerships that have enabled us to make a profound, positive and lasting difference to people’s lives. All names in the case studies have been changed.
Creative, positive approaches make people happy and enrich their daily lives.
Natalia’s story
Natalia is a young lady from Slovakia. She came to England in 2019. She has mild learning difficulties, some mental health needs and also very limited English language skills.
She is very vulnerable and has been exposed to very serious situations whilst in the community during her first 6 months in England. We assessed Natalia and offered her a placement at one of our residential services near London.
Prior to her placement our Speech and Language Team worked with the existing provider and produced a detailed communication plan to support her transition and move to her new home. Staff and Natalia worked with visual aids and Google translate on ipads to help in her communication. Dual wording in both Slovakian and English was used to help both the staff team and Natalia understand each other’s language. Interpreting services were also accessed. The home provided the nurturing and safe environment that Natalia required after a very traumatic period in her life and with support she is developing her skills and communication with the overall aim of moving to one of our supported living services and achieving greater independence.
Graham used to spend countless days in the community wandering unescorted and turning up at his social service office presenting as unsettled and distressed. Graham wasn’t happy where he was living, he needed a balance between some independence and some close and directed support to focus each of his days in a positive direction.
Graham was referred to us and we invited him to visit and look around one of our shared supported living services in London.
He enjoyed his visit so much that she went home and immediately started to pack in preparation for his move, even though at that point we had not offered him a placement. Thankfully for Graham and all involved we did offer him a placement and his life has been transformed. He no longer turns up at the social services office, instead with his permission we have shared with them the range of meaningful activities he now participates in, all built upon the nurturing partnership working undertaken by the staff supporting him.
Maureen lived in her own accommodation within the grounds of a hospital as a long term patient on section 3 of the Mental Health Act. Her hospital was closing and she need to be supported to make the huge step of moving into the community. Her support levels were high, 2:1 both day and night and the nature of her environment needed to be very bespoke.
She didn’t want to live with anyone else, but needed to have access to others as required for her social needs. She had very specific ideas about who should support her in terms of age and gender. Maureen was able to clearly advocate for her own needs but she required very complex support and often presented with a high level of anxiety and behaviour that challenged her and others. In preparation for her move an intensive period of partnership working was initiated with our staff spending considerable time working alongside her existing team.
Our Positive Behaviour Support Team and our Occupational Therapy Team spent time undertaking detailed assessment work which informed training for the staff very specific to Maureen’s needs. The hospital provided training to the staff team to aid their understanding of Maureen’s needs and the approaches to her that proved most helpful and supportive. The exceptional preparation undertaken lead to Maureen moving into her own two bedded supported living apartment and declaring to all upon her arrival that’ this is perfect and I will live here for the rest of my life’! There can be no better comment received to indicate a positive transition outcome.
Sarah’s move to supported living to prepare for adulthood Liaise not only provide services for adults we also provide services to younger people from 16+ in our very bespoke young peoples services. One such service supported Sarah’s move from a secure provision into the community to take her first positive steps towards living more independently. Sarah is 16 years old with high functioning autism and mental health needs. The enabling care pathway provided to Sarah not only meets her Autistic and mental health needs but provides her with a platform to develop a range of home, community and social skills which are helping her prepare for adulthood. Strong partnerships with her family, her allocated social worker, the local CAMHS team and educational support have enabled us to provide a very balanced provision of support that allows Sarah the freedom to explore the development of her own independence, whilst learning the responsibilities that come with nearing adulthood. The service will enable Sarah to use her time in the home as a stepping stone to more independent living in the near future.
Hazel is a lady in her 50’s with a learning difficulty and some mental health needs. She was living in supported living and maintained a reasonable level of independence, until she fell one day and fractured her hip. This fall had a significant impact on her mental health and she refused to participate in rehabilitative work, choosing to spend significant time in her bed, except for when she wanted to have a cigarette! Hazel has a very colourful character, and rather expressive and equally colourful language. During her hospital stay over 30 providers were in some capacity consulted over the possibility of Hazel moving into a community provision, all declined the opportunity to support her. Liaise was contacted and we sent out an Occupational Therapist and a home manager to meet Hazel and assess her needs. Through a detailed review of her physical, learning and mental health needs we developed a proposal to support her move to one of our shared supported living services. Careful planning and nurturing of the relationship with Hazel was undertaken and this led to her successful move to her new home where she currently lives very happily. She is ambulant with walking aids and continues to keep everyone on their toes with her colour and larger than life personality.
Liaise services
Liaise has residential and supported living services across London and the South East of England. All services reflect the needs and wishes of the people living within them, the services are their homes and we are dedicated to ensuring each person feels this is the case. Each person, regardless of the complexity of their needs is supported to live a rich and rewarding life, driven by their choices and aspirations. Many have significant challenges in their lives which can impact greatly upon themselves and others, however through our specialist approach we aim to minimise the negatives and promote the positives within each day. This specialist and dedicated approach is what supports the achievement of many positive outcomes, some of which have been touched upon in this report.
High quality environments built with care and developed in partnership with the people we support The services we provide, be they supported living or residential are always designed and presented to the highest standards possible. The locations of the homes are carefully selected to ensure the best access to a range of community opportunities. The garden areas are developed to reflect the needs of the people who live in the home, quite often this will include the people living in the homes taking pride in developing the gardens themselves.
The interiors of the homes are spacious, suitably robust and appropriate to meet people’s needs and are always homely and welcoming. Each individual is supported to decorate and furnish their personal space.
Conclusion
We hope this report offers you an insight into the breadth of support we can offer at Liaise and the real and valued partnerships we forge with a wide range of people. Our aim is to always provide the highest quality services and the standards we aspire to attain are always centred upon the wishes and needs of the people we support. Ultimately if we can help each person to live happy and enriched lives, meeting their needs and helping them aspire to achieve and realise their dreams, we will have done a good job.
The examples shared in this report are just a small proportion of the positive outcomes we witness. There are countless other stories which could be told where peoples lives have been significantly and positively changed as a result of the support we can provide. We would be delighted to take time to explain in more detail any aspect of our services and we encourage you to get in contact and learn more about us.
You can visit our website at: www.liaise.com where you will find information about our specialist approach and all the services we provide. Alternatively you can call Mark Horton on 078884588761 or email him on mark.horton@liaise.com and he will be happy to support your enquiries.
