Supported living and short breaks

Supported living is a service we provide to help you live as independently as possible, in accommodation that meets your needs and with support from staff when you need it.

We want to help you live the life that you choose. We'll arrange a support plan with you that describes what help you need and when, to do the things that are important to you. This could be things such as:

• making friends
• using sport and leisure facilities
• personal care
• help with household skills like shopping, cleaning and cooking
• managing your money
• using public transport
• managing your tenancy, like reporting faults and problems
• staying safe, healthy and independent.
  
  

Our staff are trained to support people who have a learning disability, including those with autism or additional physical and mental health needs.

Most people live in properties managed by one of our housing association partners. The properties range from individual flats and houses, to shared houses and larger properties.

Our supported living schemes are in:

• Bishops Stortford
• Hoddesdon
• Letchworth
• Stevenage
• Welwyn Garden City
• Hemel Hempstead
• Bushey
• Abbots Langley
• St Albans
• Potters Bar
• Watford
• Rickmansworth.

If you privately rent or own your own home, we can still support you with maintaining your home and meeting your social care needs. We call this outreach support.

If supported living is the right thing for you, a housing officer from the housing association will meet with you. They can:

• explain your tenancy agreement
• support you with things like collecting rent and organising repairs
• have meetings with you and other tenants to make sure you're happy with your home
• help you move on if you would like to live elsewhere.

After you move in, your housing officer, social worker and the manager of the supported living service will meet with you to talk about whether your home and the support you have from staff are right for you. Your family or advocate can be with you at this meeting if you wish.

As a tenant of one of our partner housing associations:

• You would pay rent. We can help you check whether you're eligible for housing benefit, which can help with the cost of your rent.
• You may have to pay your landlord a service charge for things like cleaning the shared parts of the building and looking after the garden. This varies from scheme to scheme, but it will be described in detail in your tenancy agreement.

Contact us to find out more about costs.

Short breaks give carers a break for their caring role. They also give people a break from their home environment and support from someone other than their main carer.

Short breaks support people to learn new skills, meet other people, access the community and participate in community or social activities.

We can provide a one-off stay, a series of stays or an annual allowance of stays.

Some people think of short breaks as similar to going to a hotel. Whilst we don’t provide room service, we want people to feel safe, secure and relaxed when they stay with us.

If you have a health condition that requires increasing amounts of support, we can help you and your carer to under and manage that condition. We will support you to participate as much as possible in your own care, social interaction, education and paid or unpaid employment.

We provide support to people who have;

• a learning disability
• a physical disability
• mental health needs
• recovering from ill health
• other complex health needs.

Some people come to a short break direct from hospital, another care setting or from their own home.

We can also support people to return to their own accommodation and resume their previous level of supported or independent living.

Isabel Court, is a Short Breaks service in Hoddesdon. It offers social care and support for up to 3 adults with learning disabilities and associated needs such as physical disabilities, sensory disabilities and mental health issues.

T: 01992 468652

Scarborough House, is a Short Breaks service in the Symonds Green area of Stevenage. It offers social care and support for up to 7 adults with learning disabilities and associated needs such as physical disabilities, sensory disabilities and mental health issues.

T: 01438 361196

St Michael's House, is a 12 bed registered service in the Woodhall area of Welwyn Garden City. The service comprises of Short Break and enablement facilities, offering social care and support for adults with physical disabilities.

T: 01707 281475

Tanners Wood is a Short Breaks service in Abbots Langley. It offers social care and support for up to eight people with a learning disability and associated needs such as physical disabilities, sensory disabilities and mental health issues.

T: 01707 281475

 

We will:

• Provide a homely environment where people feel safe and secure.
• Provide support which is effective, safe and appropriate which meets assessed needs and wishes and protects people’s rights.
• Enable people who use services to care for themselves and maintain a level of independence where this is possible.
• Ensure continuity in their care and support.
• Support people to make informed choices.
• Continue to develop and improve the service.

To meet the above aims we will:

• Ensure premises are safe and accessible with surroundings that promote their wellbeing which meets the requirements of The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and associated regulations.
• Ensure people using the service have a support plan which is centred on them as an individual and is developed with them, and / or those acting on their behalf which reflects their needs, preferences and diversity.
• Review each support plan annually (or sooner if needs and wishes change), at the service users review which may involve relevant family members and other professionals.
• Provide sufficient information to enable people to make informed choices and decisions or are supported where they are unable to do this themselves.
• Follow HCS quality assurance systems for gathering and evaluating accurate information about the care, treatment and support the service provides and develop an annual improvement plan in response to feedback received.