Working Together to Support Complex Needs
Consensus offers specialist support and interventions for people with learning disability and additional challenges, including complex needs that impact on their quality of life. Complex needs can affect a person’s physical and mental wellbeing and may include additional cognitive needs and physical impairment. The issues can often exacerbate one another and require dedicated support.
We understand that each person’s needs and challenges will be very different, so we work closely with individuals, their families and commissioners to adapt settings and provide services that create an entirely personalised approach.
Individuals with complex needs may exhibit behaviours that challenge. They may present with these behaviours because of a link to a particular disorder such as autistic spectrum condition. We see beyond the behaviour to the person: and we aim to understand the cause through person-centred planning. When a person exhibits challenging behaviour, there’s always a reason behind it, and our specialist Positive Behavioural Intervention Team provide trusted support and intervention, working closely with ouar service managers to adopt personalised strategies that aim to manage the behaviour and ensure a better quality of life.
Some of the individuals we support with very complex needs also require specialist risk management approaches. They may have behaviours that put themselves or others at risk which means they can be very vulnerable and end up in an inappropriate setting.
Our services such as Pendle Gardens, Vale House and Cheshire House in the North support the needs of individuals who may come under what was formerly known as the Transforming Care Agenda. This includes people stepping down from secure settings or hospital environments, or equally those who may be living in the community but require intensive person-centred support to avoid the risk of admission.
Some of the people we support are undergoing adapted therapies. Traditionally this may have taken place in in-patient settings. However, Consensus provides a community-based living model that provides a ‘least restrictive alternative’ for them. All accommodation is fully tailored to the individuals we support; this means we can work with them to address their specific behaviours in a setting where the risks are comprehensively understood, shared and managed.
With the individual’s full input, the team looks in-depth at their emotional, social and personal background, as well as their cognitive difficulties, with a view to breaking a cycle of behaviours, aiming to reduce risk and help the individual to adjust and integrate into everyday social settings. We help individuals to make healthy, positive choices about their lives, including encouraging them to take up meaningful activities to build their skills and self-esteem.