Advance - Housing Support

Local Offer

Description

We’re Advance and for forty years we’ve been supporting people who have mental health conditions or a learning disability, so they can live the life they choose. No matter what people want to achieve in life, we can help them, by supporting them to be as independent as possible.

We offer lots of choice to a really wide range of individuals who can pick and choose from a menu of options. Advance’s offer includes:

• Housing solutions tailored to meet individual needs (a home to rent, share or own).

• Support for people at home, at work, and in the community.

• Specialist support to help people find and keep the right job.

 What Advance offers younger people

We make a difference through a combination of our specialist knowledge, and by listening to our customers about how they want to be supported. We also work closely with their families, building trust

 

Advance are registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide personal support, based around the individual’s needs. We are proud to be part of the Driving up Quality Alliance, which means we are committed to keep getting better at what we do. As a charitable organisation, we put the money we receive back into our services, to ensure we can give you the best support possible.

We specialise in supporting people with a mental health condition or learning disability; however varied or complex their life may be. We offer tailor made support packages, which can range from round-the-clock care to occasional support in the home.

Alongside support we also provide housing solutions for people with a learning disability and mental health needs. We have a specialist Housing Development Team who are experienced in sourcing appropriate accommodation to meet individual needs. We offer accommodation both through our own housing stock and through building partnerships with other housing providers and landlords.

The kind of things we can provide support for with includes:

The home

•  Finding and keeping a home

• Looking after and improving the home

• Sorting out problems and organising repairs

• Cleaning and running errands

 Money

•  Support to managing benefit claims

• Supporting individuals to be as independent as possible in managing their money

• and paying bills

• Getting ready for interviews and preparing for work

 Health and well-being

•  Developing the person’s skills to stay safe, in and out of the home

• Health action planning

• Support to monitor medication

• Speaking up for people

• Giving emotional support, counselling and advice

Friends and hobbies

•  Supporting people to make new friends

• Helping people develop their social skills

• Support to take part in leisure activities

 Key facts about Advance

•  We are a charitable organization

• We work in 42 local authority areas

• We provide places to live for more than 2,500 people

• We support more than 1,200 people

• Every year we support around 2,000 people to develop the skills they need to find or progress in work

Experience

Advance has developed specialist transitions services to meet the specific needs of young people. An example of this is a Community Access service which supports 22 young people with Autism to achieve a range of outcomes including:

• Accessing and maintaining tenancies within the community, achieving independence for the first time

• Exploring training opportunities and accessing work placements with support

• Exploring a range of leisure opportunities within the local community, developing confidence and social experiences

Through delivering support for younger people we work closely with families to ensure that there is a full understanding of needs. We also fully involve the young person in shaping their support plan in line with their communication preferences. 

 

Specialist Facilities

We deliver community based support which fully meets the needs of people supported. This includes ensuring that mobility needs are fully considered when planning activities and making sure we have a full understanding of individual likes and dislikes so that these are considered e.g a person may not like activities within loud environments.

We ensure that where housing is provided, the person’s environment fully meets their individual needs and preferences.

Training details

Advance has a dedicated learning and development department which organises and monitors staff training and development needs. Learning is delivered in the following ways:

• Classroom based teaching

• Distance learning

• E-learning

• Coaching and mentoring

• Supported experience and secondment.

• Action learning sets

During the probation period, staff go through an induction process and are required to complete the following training courses to ensure that they have the skills to support people with a range of universal needs:

• Personal Safety

• Our Vision, Values and Behaviours

• Introduction to Learning Disability & Mental Health

• Health & Safety

• Professional Boundaries & Behaviours

• Safeguarding

• Risk Assessment

• Data Protection

• Manual Handling

• Diversity & Equality

• Fire Safety

• First Aid at Work

New staff may also need to complete the following courses, depending upon their role in the organisation:

• Support Planning

• Courses specific to customer requirements e.g. specialist Autism training

• Management training

• Housing courses

We invest in our staff’s development with a Learning and Development team to ensure that staff have a range of training – from regular mandatory training to management development training and professional qualifications.