What we do

We support people with learning disabilities and autism to lead fulfilling lives within their community, maximising their life opportunities. We support them to overcome the challenges that their disability poses thus enabling them to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Our ethos is simple: we believe everyone has the right to lead the life they choose, feel valued and be a member of their greater community.

Ashburton Care Supported Living Service

Ashburton Care Supported Living Service understands that having a home to call your own can transform your life.

We deliver personalised support in houses that are situated in typical residential areas. Our support is flexible depending on a person’s assessed needs. We offer shared support, one-to-one, 24 hour, seven-days-a-week. This is delivered by our dedicated caring team.

Prior to moving in, we carry out a comprehensive person-centred assessment. This tells us a person’s support needs, likes, dislikes and preferences. We plan people’s transition to our service as it is important to us that people are comfortable and understand as much as possible what is happening throughout the process.

It is important that people feel that where they live is truly their home, which is why we involve them with personalising their space, choosing their furniture, and decorating. We support people to manage their tenancy as much as they are able. We achieve this through our easy read tenancy and care agreements as well as accessible versions of house rules and the service user handbook.

Our commitment to you

Ashburton Care recognises that everyone’s support needs are different. We believe through understanding an individual’s strengths and abilities we can adapt our service, ensuring that we provide enabling support that develops independence and promotes involvement with day-to-day activities.

Ashburton Care Supported Living Service endeavours to provide a positive environment that fosters independence, choice and control through our commitment to: –

• Following a person-centred planning approach. Our service users are at the heart of everything that we do.
• Getting it right from day one by involving those we support with planning all aspects of their care that they are able to manage.
• Designing people’s support package around them as an individual reflecting their likes, dislikes, goals and ambitions.
• Focusing on what people can do. Building on their strengths to help develop essential life skills to reach their full potential and achieve greater autonomy.
• Adopting a positive risk-taking culture that looks beyond the physical effects of risk by also considering the potential benefit to people. Through taking calculated risks people increase their sense of self-worth and adopt a view of life being full of opportunities.
• Help to lead a healthy lifestyle by holistically addressing physical, social, and emotional wellbeing.
• Employ effective communication strategies for an individual to ensure information is understood, retained and meaningful.
• Adopt an active support approach. Making sure those we support are engaged and participating in all areas of their life. Providing the right level of support so we do not hinder someone’s progress thus encouraging people to challenge and develop.

Best Practice that informs the Ashburton Approach

We believe by adopting and embedding following approaches and guidelines will lead to an improved quality of life for our service users.

REACH standards practical guide 2019

Ashburton Care Supported Living Service have adopted these standards to ensure that we are following best practice. The standards are a set of voluntary standards recommended by the CQC that introduce the fundamental principles of Support for Living. Those principles are: –

• I have my own home
• I chose where I live
• I chose who I live with
• I choose how I am supported
• I choose who supports me
• I get good support
• I chose my friends and relationships
• I choose how to be healthy and safe
• I choose how to take part in my community
• I have the same rights and responsibilities as other citizens.
• I get help to make changes in my life.

Active Support

Active support is an approach, fundamental to providing effective person-centred support. This support approach focuses on making sure that service users are engaged and participating in all areas of their life. The key is encouraging service users to participate in an activity regardless of their disability level.

It is the role of staff to provide the right support to enable service users to successfully engage in activities and relationships going on round them by using the four essential principles.

• Every moment has potential
• Little and often
• Graded assistance
• Maximising choice and control

Staff identify the steps that someone can manage for themselves, the ones they need support with and the ones staff will need to do for them. By providing the right amount of support at the right time, we make sure that too much support does not hinder someone’s progress to independence.

Active support recognises

• Predictability is important
• People’s routines reflect individual preferences and needs
• Some people may need help to manage their own routines
• Co-ordination of support is particularly important when developing predictability

Active support emphasises the need to

• Establish preferred ways of doing things with each individual
• That staff are consistent in the approach rather than the service user needing to change when different staff support them
• Match staff to a service user’s needs and preferences
• Adopt a support approach that gives more control and choice to the service user

Positive Risk Management

A positive risk-taking culture is one that looks beyond the physical effects of risk, such as falling over or getting lost, to consider the mental aspects of risk such as the effects on wellbeing or self-identity if a person is unable to do something that is important to them.

Positive risk assessment starts with identifying the potential benefit to the service user not just harm. Taking well calculated managed risks can lead to positive experiences for service users. Managing risks in this way gives services user’s choice and control over their lives and thus achieving personal change, growth and autonomy.

Positive risk taking considers what could go wrong and what to do if something does together with what precautions can be in place to counter that risk. Involving service users in the planning of activities, helps address and discuss any concerns they may have. Then plan together the precautions needed to reduce the risk. This approach fosters a trusting relationship between service user and staff so they can see a life of possibilities.