Intensive Support
Certitude’s approach to enabling people to live a good life is to provide Positive Support.
For us, this means providing support which is personalised and holistic; a blend of people, approaches and resources which are tailored to an individual‘s needs and wants.
For many people who have profound and multiple learning disabilities and/or autism, being understood and getting the support that is right for them can be complicated. For some people, without the right support, day to day life can be really hard and as a result, their behaviour in turn can be challenging to both themselves and those around them.
Our highly-trained Intensive Support Team works across our organisation to ensure staff are providing the highest levels of specialist support and that people and their families are able to live good, meaningful lives that work for them.
Person Centred
Our support is individually tailored to the wants and needs of each person. This way of working is sometimes called “Person-Centred Support”. We listen carefully to the person we are supporting as well as the people who know them best – such as families and carers – to help us understand what is really important to them and what will ensure they live safe, well and happy lives.
We also apply a range of person-centred thinking “tools” to make sure this approach is deeply embedded into everything we do. All roles within the Intensive Support Team work across the organisation, supporting teams to become skilled and confident at using person centred tools.
Creative Communication
Our communication team are trained in a wide range of communication approaches including intensive interaction, Makaton and PECs.
They skill up support teams using communication techniques relevant to each person. The use of personalised technology is increasingly important in enabling people who don’t use speech to communicate to have increased choice and control over their own lives and our communication team spend time with people, their families and support teams supporting them to become confident in using tablets and apps that promote increased two way communication.
Positive Behaviour Support
We want people we support to live happy, full lives doing things they enjoy with people they like.
This can mean providing additional, specialist input when people’s behaviours are challenging or hard to understand. Our highly-trained Positive Behaviour Support Team which includes active support practitioners, consider challenging behaviour from the point of view of the person and work with them – as well as families, carers and staff – to develop plans that improve their quality of life whilst keeping them safe and well.
Health Support
People with learning disabilities are at risk of poorer access to healthcare and treatment. There is evidence to suggest that people can die at an earlier age than the rest of the population.
We are committed to ensuring that people have good, appropriate healthcare support based on their own individual needs. We use health action plans and health passports to support people to pro actively monitor and maintain their health and well being and our Treat Me Right! project works to ensure people with learning disabilities have equal access to healthcare and are treated respectfully by clinicians and healthcare professionals.
Family Support
Family members have knowledge and expertise that they have acquired during a lifetime of knowing and loving a person.
It is our role to listen to, value and respect family members. By working together, we can ensure each person has the right support provided by the right people in their life.
Our Family Support Team can provide emotional and practical advice as well as hands-on support including accessing benefits and grants and understanding personal budgets. For more information, please visit our Family Support page.
