Our Mission Statement
‘To enable our young people to confidently rise into independence and self-reliance, supporting them with all the skills and confidence they need to lead healthy, happy, thriving lives and be valuable members of our society’
What we Believe
All young people, irrespective of race, religion, gender, culture, sexuality or social disadvantages have the right to develop their personal and educational potential to the full and contribute fully to society through positive citizenship. Young people are most likely to achieve these goals if they gain mutual trust and are treated with respect and dignity.
Our services are provided in accordance with the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the children acts 1989 and 2004 (and additionally, any relevant government and/or statutory regulations and guidance).
Our work with young people is underpinned by:
The UN convention on the Rights of the Child
The ‘ Every Child Matters’ agenda:
Being healthy
Enjoying and achieving
Achieve economic well-being
Staying safe
Making a positive contribution
The principles of Residential Care
We aim to build a great reputation for providing specialised care for young people with challenging behaviour and/or emotional needs in semi-independent and 24-hour supervised housing settings.
Vision
To provide a range of high quality services to ‘looked after children’ who are leaving care, enabling young people to learn, develop and reach their full potential. To be involved in the design and delivery of services that meet the needs of our young people.
Ethos and Values
Every child has the fundamental right to be supported into a successful transition from childhood to adulthood, irrespective of their background or circumstances. This support must be focused and dynamic to respond effectively to our young people’s changing needs.
four core values
Every young person will be respected as a unique individual regardless of status, sex, age, religion, race, culture, sexual orientation, language, ability or contribution to society.
Every young person should have opportunities to live a full life with dignity, self-determination and responsibilities.
YP’s accommodation should be safe, appropriately structured and a caring environment, delivered by committed and specifically skilled staff.
‘Quality Matters’ and so we aim to provide quality robust plans based on your needs, to deliver and review services to the highest professional standards at all times in order to secure the best possible outcomes for our young people.
Aims
The aim of the service is to:
Deliver a service where young people feel safe, secure and valued.
Provide quality support for our young people with challenging behaviour and emotional needs, empowering them to identify strategies that enable them to manage those moments and create a shift to achieve independence and become positive members of the community.
Deliver and maintain an outstanding service that will improve and sustain the overall quality of life, both physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.
Address wider support needs and build connections and opportunities necessary for personal development and achievement in every area.
Objectives
In relation to young people:
To ensure that the service is delivered within a person centred and equality framework. We want an environment free from prejudice and discriminatory behaviour and for our young people to feel respected and retain their right to make informed choices.
To provide young people with accommodation that is encouraging of personal choice, appropriate, stable and has a ‘homely feeling’.
To create an environment where young people are listened to and are comfortable to express their wishes, needs and feelings.
To maintain and support young people in promoting and developing their health, educational and personal development needs
To encourage and enable young people to maintain/develop positive relationships with their peers, family/carer networks and the wider community
To respect young people’s privacy and confidentiality
To ensure young people have the skills and knowledge to access support services in the wider community
To place young people’s needs at the heart of service design and delivery and to encourage young people’s feedback and involvement in decision-making processes and house activities
To have zero tolerance of any alerts of a safeguarding nature. Progress to be reviewed regularly
To record and evidence the outcomes achieved through our services.
To ensure and be able to demonstrate a comprehensive quality assurance monitoring policy throughout the organisation.
staffing
To develop strong partnerships working with local authorities, professionals, parents/carers/other relevant adults, achieving a reputation for excellence in all aspects of our service provision.
To establish positive and effective working relationships with our young people
To participate in relevant network meetings/case conferences and provide comprehensive written/verbal information as requested
To adhere to the policies and procedures in place at the organisation
To deliver services within an equal opportunities framework and to actively demonstrate anti-discriminatory working practices
Our staff members receive regular training, supervision and yearly appraisals. Examples of training we provide internally and externally are:
Safeguarding
Lone working
De-escalation and managing challenging behaviour
Recognising mental health in adolescents
Basic food and hygiene
Support writing
Scenario role play
Understanding and working with relevant legislations
POVA (Protection Of Vulnerable Adults) training
Child protection
First aid awareness / medication awareness
Health and safety
Critical thinking
Conflict resolution
Confidence building
All our staff members are recruited within the safer recruitment framework. All staff have a current enhanced DBS check and are required to have a minimum of 5 years of experience. All our senior members of staff have up to a NVQ Level 5.
Nature of service
Ascension Supported Living provides comprehensive semi-independent and 24-hour supervised living services offering support and accommodation in London and on the outskirts to Look After Children and Care Leavers ages between 16 and 25. Our homes are of a high quality and are thoroughly inspected quarterly.
Our homes are located on residential streets and within proximity to transport links, educational centres and other amenities. We aim to provide our young people with practical life skills in a friendly and homely environment.
Our services are available 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, including national and public holidays. We provide services during the day, sleep-over services and/or waking nights.
Quality Assurance
We have in place various systems to assist in setting and achieving targets. We monitor and review our performance and act on findings, enabling our organisation to continually improve business quality and performance in the best interest of our young people.
We believe that our young people have the right to demand the highest standards of service from us and we continually monitor the expectations of the local authority through our organisation’s assurance plan.
We regularly review our young people’s individual care plan. This care plan review process involves the young person and relevant professionals. The aim of the review is to ensure that all previously identified needs are being met and any newly identified needs or changes in circumstances are taken into account when revising the care plan.
Our young people are invited to provide consultation to our organisation through our feedback on services formally on a quarterly basis with their support/key worker, and informally during house meetings which take place fortnightly.
Our organisation is developing our quality assurance systems and is working towards achieving relevant accreditations.
Policies and Procedures
Ascension Support has a robust and comprehensive set of policies and procedures that support best practice and legislative requirements. Our HR department are responsible for reviewing polices annually to ensure consistency and relevance.
Insurance Cover
Our staff members are fully insured through our Employers Liability Insurance cover and full Public Liability Insurance cover which commensurate with the level and extent of the activities undertaken.