What we ask you in the first month

For families

A lot of support starts with a shift. Someone turns up, the hours get used, and the plan gets worked out somewhere along the way, or never.

We start with a document instead.

Before the first shift

Before anyone comes out, we write down what we have been told. What the participant is after. What they like. What they do not like. What the goal actually is, in their words where possible, not the wording from the plan.

Then we build the first few shifts to reflect that. If independence in the kitchen is the goal, the shifts have a kitchen in them. If it is confidence on public transport, we are on a bus.

This sounds obvious. It is routinely not what happens.

After four weeks

At about the one month mark we sit down again, and this time we are not guessing. We have had a handful of shifts and we know things we could not have known at the start. What holds their attention. What sets them off. What they will do with a bit of encouragement and what they will not do yet.

So the plan gets adjusted. Sometimes the goal was right and the approach was wrong. Occasionally the goal itself was somebody else's idea of a good outcome, and the participant has made that clear in their own way.

Then the rhythm starts

From there it settles into a pattern. Weekly notes from the workers. A structured progress report mapping goals against a consistent set of headings. A conversation about what to focus on next.

What we need from you

Honesty at the start, mostly, including the parts that are hard to say. What has not worked with previous providers. What sets things off at home. What you are actually hoping for in a year, even if it sounds ambitious.

We would rather know it in week one than work it out in month six.

“We work out what we are doing before we start doing it. That is most of the difference.”