Supported Living
In Supported Living Services we believe we provide a very special service where daily living experiences and activities are meaningful and memorable and designed to meet your needs in areas that are personal to you.
Choosing the right service can be a difficult decision, but we hope that by reading this information you will begin to understand the beliefs and ethos by which Living Ambitions services are driven.
Living Ambitions’ Supported Living Services want you to feel happy and confident in the decision you make and therefore extend a warm invitation to you and those close to you to meet with the operational teams to add to your understanding of the high standard of service that we pride ourselves in.
The services can be delivered in your own or your family's home (often known as an outreach service), or in a supported living service (often known as a supported tenancy) by a team of friendly and knowledgeable staff who are trained to help and support you to make the best decisions about your lifestyle and to meet the requirements of your person centred service design.
By working at the cutting edge of service provision and delivery we will design, in partnership with you, your parents and other family members, your carers, service commissioners, health professionals and significant others, creative person centred services that will ensure that you have the following outcomes:
- Quality of life, exercising choice and control
- Making a positive contribution
- Personal dignity and respect
- Freedom from discrimination and harassment
- Improved health and emotional well being
- Leadership and management
The outcomes listed above are based on the outcomes highlighted in the government white paper’s ‘Valuing People...’ (DoH 2001), ‘Our Rights, Our Care, Our Say...’ (DoH 2006), and the CSCI’s consultation document ‘Inspecting for Better Lives’ (CSCI 2005).
We will use these outcomes as a template to ensure we work in person centred ways that will ensure you can live the life you want in the way you want and which, are mindful of your rights, independence, choice and inclusion in your local community.
A Supported Living Service is often the option chosen when for one reason or another a young person or adult is not able, or does not wish to live at home with their family. Supported living will usually take place in a house whereby the person receiving support will be supported by a team of staff either in a single service (whereby the focus person lives on their own in a flat or small home); or where several people, usually between 2 and 4 people, will live together in a house in the community. This type of arrangement can be a Supported Tenancy Model whereby all users of services are given an Assured Tenancy Agreement by the Housing Provider or Landlord and varying levels of support is available from an organisation such as Living Ambitions.
The type and nature of support will be dependent on several factors, e.g. level of support need, preferences, funding arrangements, etc. Assessments need to be made by your local authority’s Social Services Department/Directorate.
Your Social Worker or Care Manager will often carry out these assessments that will take into account your needs, circumstances, and the needs of your family carers should the you still be living in the family home.
A significant factor about supported living is that there is a separation between the agency providing the support, i.e. Living Ambitions, and the agency providing the housing which is usually a Housing Association.
The Housing Association, also known as the housing provider, will source the house from ordinary housing stock in the area that the person(s) have identified where they would like to live in. The person, or people receiving support will have secured tenancies with the housing association and rent will be paid, usually, by the local housing benefit office.
Also people have to live with the people they choose and in the way they choose to be supported. These standards for supported living, and which we work towards are known as REACH (Paradigm, 2002). For more information about REACH click here.
