Autism Care UK

Peter Cross talks about a successful move to more independent accommodation

We are delighted to report that the people we support at Fence and Vale have continued to succeed in their independence thanks to Active Support approaches. There has been a benefit to the staff teams too in that they are more confident in developing the skills of the people we support, more able to look for creative opportunities for greater independence and able to ‘take a back seat’ where required!

For example, one person we support who has been involved in the project from the outset is now ready to move to more independent accommodation. We feel the new daily life skills that he has gained through Active Support have played a big role in making this possible. He is very excited about this move and sometimes it has been difficult for us to keep up with the progress he has made!

We have found that Active Support can work for anyone.

For some people the rate of progress has been different depending on factors such as age and motivation but it is clear that the approach has benefits for anyone who needs support. For people with Mental Capacity especially, we have found that Active Support is a great tool to help them self-direct their care and become more confident in developing their Person Centred Plans. For example, individuals are now themselves more confident and coming up with creative ideas for things they want to try and plans for the future.

We now want to work with Christine and ARC to embed Active Support approaches across the organisation and feel that these fit very well with our existing arrangements for Person Centred Planning.

Peter Cross

Autism Care UK