Moving into a new home can be life-changing and for four of the people we support, it has been nothing short of transformative. In 2024, our specialist service in Salford, Greater Manchester, opened following a development to create four new self-contained apartments for people with enhanced and complex care needs.
The apartments have been designed to support people to move on from long-term hospital placements – offering specialist community-based support in a homely setting that has enabled people to re-integrate and live a fulfilled life.
Each apartment has been shaped to support people with enhanced needs. They include features such as sound proofing, tamper-proof design, reduced ligature fixtures and fittings. We also have a dedicated on site Behavioural Support Practitioner, our teams are recruited using the values based recruitment process and they also go through the enhanced training programme, providing them the skills and knowledge to deliver expert led care and support.
Our apartments provide a sense of privacy and independence in a comfortable, homely setting. The environment has been carefully considered to incorporate trauma informed design principles
Since opening in 2024, Nathan, David, Matthew, and James have all embarked on incredible journeys in a short space of time. With the support of our expert team, they’re accomplishing their goals and have an exciting future ahead of them!
Meet Nathan
Nathan has a personality disorder, anxiety and additional support needs following brain surgery, which affect his daily life and understanding of social situations. He was previously in a long-stay hospital before moving into a temporary placement with another provider when the hospital closed – making independence and community life difficult.
In June 2024, Nathan moved into one of our enhanced and complex care apartments. Our team supported him throughout the transition, keeping in regular contact and visiting him as he gradually explored his new home.
He receives one-to-one support, 24 hours a day, including emotional guidance, help to understand social situations and support to help him communicate a range of thoughts, feelings and intentions.
Using a person-centred approach, his team created a personalised activity planner and ensured Nathan’s interests and preferences were at the heart of his care.
Instant success
In a short space of time, Nathan has come a long way. He manages his emotions much better, confidently expresses his feelings and has built meaningful relationships with his support team.
With their guidance, Nathan now regularly attends routine doctor’s appointments with ease, reducing his anxiety about his health. It also gives Nathan the confidence to do more things he enjoys in the community.
Each day, Nathan’s life is changing. With consistent support in an environment that he feels comfortable in, he’s navigating daily life with confidence. We’re all excited to see what else the future holds for him!
David’s incredible journey
David is autistic and also has Schizophrenia. Previously, he spent long periods of time in hospital. Experiencing hallucinations, he presented distressed behaviours and self-harmed.
In December 2024, David moved into one of our enhanced and complex care apartments. Our team supported him through the transition period, regularly visiting him at the hospital before he moved in. The move also enabled David to return to the Greater Manchester area, following time away at the hospital.
Supporting his transition and ongoing care, we assigned David his own Behaviour Support Practitioner. They helped with his smooth transition and provided detailed reports on his behaviour patterns, using this insight to create David a Positive Behaviour Support plan. Within this plan is the need of a Safety Pod which reduces the need for restrictive interventions, keeping David safe.
David’s support initially focused heavily on managing his hallucinations. Overtime, his team introduced different coping techniques to use when he experienced them.
This included breathing techniques to decrease anxiety and encouraging him to express his thoughts and experiences to them.
Embracing fulfilment
David has established a strong bond with his team and is beaming with confidence. He’s reduced his anxiety and his personality is shining through. Now, he regularly laughs and jokes with his team.
He’s built up the courage to express his feelings to others. When David experiences hallucinations and hears voices in his head, he now tells his team, so they can support him through them.
During his time in hospital, David lost confidence going out as he wasn’t accessing the community. Fast forward to now, and David’s a regular in the supermarket, grabbing the week’s groceries with his team.
Small and gradual journeys out have built up to this milestone, and David’s keen to explore more community activities in the future.
Supporting Matthew
Matthew is autistic, has Schizophrenia and complex support needs affecting his daily life. Before moving to his own tenancy, he was supported in a specialist hospital.
In April 2024, Matthew moved into one of our enhanced and complex care apartments. Our team supported him with his transition and visited Matthew in hospital to start establishing a relationship with him.
During his hospital stay, Matthew had lost confidence and hadn’t ventured out into the community much. His support team have helped him embrace this again.
Matthew also battled past traumas around eating. He’d developed a fear of choking, which stopped him eating regular meals. Overtime, this resulted in health issues, including chronic fatigue.
When Matthew joined us, he’d often only consume soup, cheese on toast and nutrition drinks. With gradual steps, our team navigated Matthew through his struggles.
Accomplishing his goals
Matthew has transformed many areas of his life in a short amount of time. Building a special connection with his team has been essential to his progress.
Their reassurance and person-centred support have enabled him to approach his fear of choking and gradually eat more food again. He now tries different meals and enjoys an occasional takeaway – a huge milestone for Matthew!
He’s also rediscovered his independence in the community. His team slowly introduced trips outside the home to help him build up his confidence. Matthew quickly regained his confidence and now regularly visits the pub for a game of pool. He’s keen to explore more exciting destinations in the future!
James’ road to fulfilment
James has a learning disability and bipolar disorder. He was previously based with another provider and it was felt the environment didn’t meet his needs.
In July 2024 he moved into one of our enhanced and complex care apartments. Before his transition, our specialist team introduced themselves to James and worked with his previous team to understand his needs.
During James’ transition, we adapted the apartment to support his mobility needs. We ensured James had easy access to all the rooms in his apartment and added a ramp in the garden.
If James participates in activities for too long, he quickly becomes exhausted and vocalises this. With this in mind, we ensured his apartment was also soundproofed, for the comfort of him and our other housemates.
With our adaptions in place, James’ transition was quick and simple – paving the way for him to begin an exciting new chapter in his life!
Expressing his feelings
James is now beaming with confidence and expressing his feelings more. After just a few short months, he’s experiencing proper interactions with others, which he lacked in his previous home.
James has a speech impediment, so his team worked closely with him to understand the words and phrases he expressed. Using specialist communication techniques, they’re now having meaningful conversations with him.
James also has a structured routine which helps manage his time on specific activities. This has helped his team identify when he’s at risk of overactivity, and they’ve worked to reduce this happening.
With our specialist approach to his care and support, we’re seeing more of James’ personality shine through. Our team are proud of his journey so far and look forward to seeing what the future brings for him!
Find out more!
Visit our dedicated webpage to learn more about our specialist enhanced and complex care support.