Complex needs, including behaviours that challenge

We provide personalised care and support to people with complex learning and physical disabilities, health needs including epilepsy, mental health needs including personality disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Many of the people we support have endured a number of placement breakdowns and hospital admissions before choosing us. They may, at times, exhibit physically and/or verbally aggressive and/or self injurious behaviour.

We appropriately safeguard people with complex emotional and behavioural difficulties whilst supporting them to exercise full choice and control using pro-active and positive means of managing behaviour including Pro-active Risk Management. We use clear, multi-agency risk assessments and strategies and high levels of supervision, where required, to facilitate inclusion.

As part of our person centred approach we implement positive behavioural support plans so that our teams can recognise pre-challenging behaviour signs and take a pro-active rather than re-active support approach to behaviour.

We employ a dedicated Placement Support Team whose members are responsible for supporting more complex or challenging placements arising from emotional or behavioural needs. This specialist team works alongside our staff to support particularly complex individuals whose behaviour places themselves or others at significant risk. This enables us to support people with very complex needs to successfully experience life enriching and meaningful opportunities.

In addition to our comprehensive training programme all of our staff are required to undertake Preventing and Managing Challenging Behaviour (PMCB) training which is refreshed annually (or when required) and is externally validated by Securicare. The PMCB programme is accredited by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities and covers conflict management, managing challenging behaviour and conflict and understanding physical intervention. In addition our staff must complete mandatory Safeguarding training which is externally validated by the Ann Craft Trust, the leading national centre specialising in abusive people with learning disabilities.