FAQ
Q. What kind of Supported Living Services are offered within Living Ambitions and to who?
A. We provide a wide variety of support opportunities to children, young people, and adults in their own or shared homes that might still be living with their family or in a supported living service. People who only need a little bit of support to get out to access the hobbies and activities that interest them, to people who have substantial needs because of their learning, physical or sensory disability, mental health difficulty or autism.
Q. I want to move away from home but don’t want to live on my own?
A. We can support you in a house that we can assist you to find, with the help of a suitable housing provider organisation. You can express an interest to live with other people and we can help find other housemates to share with you. The housing provider or landlord will give you and others an Assured Tenancy Agreement, and we at Living Ambitions will have a Management Agreement with the landlord to help you manage your tenancy situation. This type of service is usually known as a Supported Tenancy. We can provide you with support that you require which can is funded from various sources. See Funding My Service. The level and type and support will depend on the each individual person. We use a person centred planning process to make sure everyone gets the services they need to help them fulfil their needs, wants, and aspirations.
Q. How will I pay for my support?
A. Usually your local social service department will assess your needs and if you meet the criteria, pay for the support that you need to live your life. However, these days most local authorities are developing a way of paying for the services people require in a more flexible person centred way. It’s sometimes known as resource allocation, or individualised budgets, or In Control. You need to speak to your care manager or social worker to see if you are eligible to have your services funded through your local authority. You can speak to them about what options you have.
Q. I might need a lot of support to begin with but I don’t think I’ll always need a high level of support, does this make a difference?
A. This does not make a difference; we only provide the support people need. We want to enable people to be as independent as they possibly can. We’ve had a lot of experience supporting people who have required a higher level of support to begin with and over time have required less and less.
Q. I’d like to go on holiday but need a lot of support would that be a problem?
A. No we support lots of people with ‘high’ support needs to do the things they want too, including going on holiday.
Q. I’d eventually like to get a job, are you able to support me to do this?
A. Yes, we support several people with employment placements who are aiming to move into paid employment in the future.
Q. Can I choose who supports me?
A. Yes we actively encourage the people we support to be fully involved in the recruitment and selection process. It’s important you have confidence in the people who are providing your support and are a key person in ensuring this happens.
Q. What happens if I want to complain about the service I’m getting?
A. We have comprehensive complaints, comments, and compliments booklet called Ambitious Views that you can use to do this. It’s important to us that you are happy with the services we are providing to you so if you aren’t happy we want to know as soon as possible then we can do something about it.
Q. How do I go about applying for a service from Living Ambitions?
A. You can ring the Team on 01257 220044 who will take some basic details and arrange to meet with you or you can complete the online referral form and one of the Team will get back to you within the next few days. From the outcome of the meeting between us we can decide how best to fulfil your expectations for a brighter future.
