What do We do?
Our primary aim is to provide a service that enables service users to carry on their lives as they wish to live them. Our focus is on promoting independence, facilitating and developing existing and new skills and encouraging social interaction. As services users become more independent, we withdraw staff support so they can live with as little restriction as possible. We aim to maintain and protect service users’ control of their own lives by supporting them to manage their finances, their routines, stay in contact with family and friends and have independent advocacy support where required.
We believe that people with disabilities and behaviours that may challenge are entitled to lives which are as full as anyone else’s. We use a positive behaviour support (PBS) approach and believe that all behaviours are a form of communication.
At CSMK the involvement of friends and family is a crucial part of ensuring those we support are happy, supported in a way they prefer and remain part or their wider communities.
Positive Behaviour Support and being Person Centred
Throughout everything that we do at Care Support, we maintain a person-centred approach at all times. Putting people’s wants and needs first, ensures they get a service they are happy with as well as meeting their needs. We aim to support people to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to more effectively manage and make informed decisions about their own care and support.
We work in partnership with people, treating them with dignity and respect and enabling them to have a better life. All behaviours, even those that pose a challenge, have a meaning and serve as a form of communication. We aim to understand what behaviours that challenge tell us so that the person’s needs can be met in better ways. The way the person is supported often has to change to achieve this and this needs to be regularly reviewed by all the people involved.
By using a Positive Behaviour Support approach, we put the person at the centre to make systems work for the them. We aim to give the right support at the right time so people can thrive to their potential.
Our Training
At Care Support MK we offer a robust, comprehensive and supportive induction programme to all staff before they start work for us. This includes shadow shifts where they work alongside our experienced staff members to fully grasp our ways of working.
We also have a varied mandatory training programme that is undertaken by everyone at Care Support with regular updates and refreshers. Some staff also have regular training on very specific topics, tailored to the people they support who have individualised needs. This is in addition to the On Boarding sessions we hold for every new referral before we start working with an individual. These sessions give the opportunity for everyone involved in that person’s life to get together, including their new and existing staff team(s), family and any professionals working with them. The person themselves is also invited to attend or get involved as much as they would like to. It’s a great way to share knowledge, experience and makes sure everyone knows what the plan is which is crucial to getting it right going forwards.
We are keen to support the professional development of all our staff. As a result, we are always happy to discuss the training requirements individually with staff at all levels. Several of our staff are currently completing an Applied Behaviour Analysis course, we also have several of our Senior Support Workers undertaking the current Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care to hopefully become future Registered Managers.