They might have had problems at home, come directly from care or be escaping abuse, violence or exploitation. Others may have mental health needs, drug or alcohol issues or have offended in the past.
Whatever their background, we know that with the right support, they can go on to achieve great things.
Our services
We have been supporting young people for nearly 40 years. We have experience of delivering many different types of services for young people including supported living, hostels, floating support, young parent services or semi-independent living placements.
Today we support over 1200 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 every year through a wide range of services including:
Semi Independent Living Services
Young people in and leaving care often need additional support before being ready to live independently.
We provide a range of semi-independent accommodation services for young people in and leaving care including young parents and their child/ren and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC). Our semi-independent accommodation services operate on a spot purchase basis enabling us to work with any local authority to provide suitable support and accommodation to a young person aged 16-21. Depending on the young person’s needs we may take people up to 24.
These services are flexible to adapt to a young person’s changing support needs and we can offer a range of flexible support packages. Our teams work closely with the young person’s social worker or personal advisor to ensure that we are supporting local authorities with their corporate parenting responsibility.
We have a trauma-informed and person-centred approach to support and encourage young people to co-produce our services from planning activities to defining service agreements to choosing curtain colours. If you would like to find out more, or make a referral please visit the Young People referral section to contact a member of our team.
Supported housing services
Most young people we work with receive support from our supported housing services. This includes hostel, step-down and floating support services.
Supported housing - hostel services
Young people may come to our hostels from sleeping on the streets or sofa surfing following problems at home or a family breakdown. They might have come directly from care or foster placements, or young offender institutions.
We support each young person to get back on their feet, access the specialist services they need and move on to their own accommodation. This is usually within two years, often less, and usually in the private rented sector.
Supported housing - step-down and visiting support
Many young people in our accommodation-based services move on to our step-down or visiting support services. These are often nearby or in the same local area.
Here young people who are ready to become more independent live in shared accommodation and receive support from our visiting teams. These services provide a valuable stepping stone for young people moving from accommodation-based support to independent living.
Supported housing - floating support
We support young people living across a variety of different settings. They might be living with friends, relatives or in shared accommodation. For many, this may be the first time they will have lived independently.
We provide practical support around managing and maintaining a home and support them to feel safe, secure and confident.
Our approach
We have over 40 years experience of supporting people to make choices, take control and move forwards with their lives through our Look Ahead approach, providing services that are personalised, co-produced and delivered in partnership with health.
Key to our approach for young people is our Lifeskills Programme, co-developed by our customers and staff. Mapped to the Government’s Care Leavers’ Strategy, it focuses on building skills and confidence in the different areas professionals look at when assessing a young people’s ability to live independently. This includes emotional wellbeing, skills, training and work, health, finances, relationships and their living environment.
In addition, we support each young person:
To be aspirational, encouraging them to believe they can and will succeed
As an adult on equal terms, clear about expectations, rights and responsibilities
With care and compassion, building trust over time
To recognise and build strong, healthy and safe relationships
To build their skills, access training and get into work
Fairly and consistently, openly challenging negative patterns of behaviour
story
"The service has changed my life. There’s nothing I can do or say to express how grateful I am to have stayed here."
Read Jack's storySee also:
