Shared Supported Living
Selborne Care provides a variety of shared supported living opportunities. These range from two to four people sharing accommodation together. These services are provided throughout the West Midlands and Worcestershire. We also provide these services on an individualised basis for those people who prefer to live on their own.
In the same way that people’s needs vary, the support services that we provide also vary. The support for each service is individually designed to meet the needs of each person. We strongly believe that people’s needs should be provided on an individual basis regardless of whether people are sharing accommodation or not. This means that people’s lives are not restricted by others who they share accommodation with.
Shared living can and should provide a positive experience for those who choose to live with others. People can benefit from understanding that people’s needs and skills vary. Learning to be able to support others and receive support from the people you live with is an important part of living with other people.
When people share, we have experienced that different combinations of personalities need different approaches. Some people live together with very little external, group support, beyond their own personal needs. For other people our monitoring of the service extends to making suggestions and guiding people as to how they can relate to one and other and support each other’s needs more suitably.
For this reason we do not ever intend to dictate how people should live, or set rules that people should follow or propose to be anything more than a part of people’s lives that provides them with the support they need.
We encourage people to find their own path to living successfully with others. In this way problems are managed more organically and the solutions that we may guide people towards are more individualised. People are empowered to be in control of how they are supported.
A majority of these shared living houses have shared core support hours. During these sessions individuals are supported with anything necessary to their needs, and include:
- Ensuring the security of the dwelling- relevant risk assessments and procedures are in place to tailor how this is achieved for each individual.
- Liaising with landlords regarding any tenancy related issue- we encourage individuals to contact the landlord themselves, with the aid of a support worker if needed.
- Ensure the dwelling is kept clean and tidy, and that all tenants are a part of this.
- Ensure all bills are paid on time, and are split equally between the individuals. We advise a bill payment file to aid with this, to detail when bills are due and how they will be paid. The bill payment file is tailored to each individual set up and is overseen by a senior worker.
- Individual budgeting- we ensure all individuals are in receipt of all benefits they are entitled to, and ensure this is kept up to date with any changing needs. Each individual has a budget file tailored to their needs, to ensure the support we provide with budgeting has achievable goals.
- Reading and understanding any correspondence, and responding to anything that requires attention.
- Supporting people with inter-tenancy disputes, and how these can be resolved to ensure the best possible outcome.
- Cooking – ensuring that any meal cooked adheres to any spiritual/cultural needs of each individual and also ensuring the health and safety of each individual during and after the cooking proces
