Finding effective ways to communicate is fundamental to the work we do. It gives the people we support more agency in making decisions that affect their lives. Sometimes that involves coming up with innovative and unconventional forms of dialogue. Some recent work at our Ash Tree House service demonstrated the success of that approach.

X, who lives at Ash Tree House, discovered that he loved the sound of a seatbelt unclicking. To meet this sensory need, he started undoing the belt during his regular drives out but was unaware of the danger that this posed when the vehicle was in motion.

We determined that the best solution was a seatbelt safety clip, keeping him safe without being as restrictive as a harness. When introducing this measure, it was very important that X was involved in the process as much as possible. We looked at ways to overcome communication barriers to give X the best possible chance of making his own decision to use the safety clip.

The PBS team worked with the Ash Tree House service team to devise a social story, with vocabulary pitched at the right level for X so he could take in all the relevant information. The service team read the social story to X every day for one week and then completed a Mental Capacity Assessment (MCA) with X, using symbols and multiple-choice questions. The symbols were stuck using Velcro to allow the assessor to check for understanding. X answered all the questions and consented to the safety aid being used.

By providing the information in an accessible way and presenting the MCA questions in a way that is meaningful and mindful of X’s communication style, he was able to make a decision about a restriction in his life.

The exercise also highlighted the value of the service team and clinical teams working together and drawing on each other’s strengths and knowledge. Well done to everyone involved

Godfrey Care are delighted to announce that we have received nine nominations in the Staffordshire Dignity in Care Awards!

The awards celebrate individuals, teams and organisations that best demonstrate commitment, competence, and best practice. They form part of a wider initiative advocating a personalised approach to care which treats each person as an individual, supports them to express their needs and wants, and enables them to have the maximum possible level of independence, choice and control.

Nine of our amazing colleagues have been shortlisted for a Dignity Champion award. At our Ash Tree House service in in Burton On Trent, no less than five of the team are up for an award: Dana Gibbs, Karen Taylor-Dawes, Collins Foy, Olivia Nixon and Heather Wilkinson

Also nominated are Amelia Killion, who works at our Field House service in Burton on Trent, and Nadine Hutchings from our Station House service in Rolleston on Dove. Aaran Fryer, our Multi-Site Manager for Station House and Field House, and Andy Fairman, our PBS Clinical Lead, complete the list of nominees.

Godfrey Care Director, Andy Barnes, said:

“Congratulations to all our Dignity Champion nominees. We’re incredibly proud to see so many of our colleagues recognised in this way – it’s a testament to their dedication, their skill and above all their values in maintaining exceptionally high levels of care and support.”

Aaron joins the PBS Team from his role as a Team Leader with Godfrey Care. Adding to our existing team as a PBS Clinical Associate and Master NAPPI Trainer, this role is a pathway for Aaron to train as a PBS Practitioner with Godfrey Care. This new role represents a significant investment in accredited training, funding and supporting Aaron to study for the BILD BTEC Level 5 Diploma in Positive Behaviour Support as part of his role. As an integral member of the team, Aaron will help to design and implement interventions for service users and teams, using his skills and knowledge to develop our specialist services.

As a specialist Provider in the Autism and Learning Disability sector, Godfrey Care has significantly invested in developing the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) model across all our services. In July 2023, we recruited a PBS Clinical Lead to create and implement the function with a clear strategy for the organisation, followed by recruiting a PBS Clinical Practitioner in January 2024. Our PBS Team offer direct clinical support with the implementation of Functional Behaviour Assessments, Behaviour Support Plans, Specialist Assessments and Transitions, Restriction Reduction Plans, Specialist Training for teams, and direct in-service support to mentor and coach staff to deliver interventions.

Adding to our existing team, the position of a full-time PBS Clinical Associate was created as a pathway for one of our Support Workers or Team Leaders to be supported in retraining for a new career with us. We’ve chosen to invest in this approach as we recognise that one of the greatest assets we have to ensure the people we support have fantastic lives is that of our teams. Creating opportunities for our teams to grow and develop as we expand as a company is of paramount importance to us. 

This new role represents a significant investment in accredited training for the successful candidate, who will undertake accredited NAPPI Level 4 Master Training alongside the BILD BTEC Level 5 Diploma in Positive Behaviour Support. Once the successful candidate has finished their initial 12-month training period as a Clinical Associate under the supervision of our PBS Team, they will qualify to become a certified PBS Clinical Practitioner.

We firmly believe in supporting everyone, both the people we support and our staff teams, to reach their full potential and continually shape who we are as a specialist Provider.

Adam is a young man who came to us after living at home with his family. Adam is a young man with Autism, a Severe Learning Disability and high sensory needs. While Adams’s family had some help prior, it had not been anywhere near enough and had led to a breakdown of the support he had in place, which had a significant impact on his family. That’s when Godfrey Care stepped in. 

We assessed Adam and identified a number of unmet needs that had been missed by previous assessments and noted how these significantly impacted his day-to-day life. Adam was doubly incontinent, engaged in physically aggressive behaviours towards family and others, and spent his days watching cartoons as his educational and social care placements had deemed him too high risk to support. By looking beyond how Adam had been reported, we saw a young man with vast potential who was entitled to a good, happy life, so we set ourselves the mission of working jointly with Adam and his family to make this a reality. 

Through working with his parents, our staff completed a specialist transition for Adam, supporting him to move into our services. Following a Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA) by our PBS Clinical Lead and a Sensory Assessment by Occupational Therapy, it was identified that Adams’s undiagnosed sensory needs were significantly impacting his well-being, preventing him from engaging in everyday tasks, and his lack of assessed communication needs meant that he had an inability to communicate his distress. Through undertaking a teaching programme of the PECS approach with Adam, followed by adapting the environment to meet his sensory needs, Adams’s behaviours reduced from 5 incidents per week to an average of 1 per month. 

Through understanding his needs, Adam could again become part of his community, undertake activities, learn skills and access further education. Implementing the Active Support model with Adams’s staff team meant that he also moved from tasks being completed for him to those completed with him, increasing his everyday living skills and further widening his lifelong opportunities.