Environment
St. Matthews Road consists of two separate
houses next door to one another located in a pleasant tree-lined road
in St Leonards-on-Sea. The homes enjoy easy access to local shops at
Silverhill and a regular bus terminal for Hastings and Battle can be
accessed easily to the beautiful Sussex countryside and to the nearby
coastline.
There is a wide variety of leisure activities and
places of interest to visit and service users make good use of these.
Within each of the houses, there is a flat for one individual whilst
three or four individuals share the rest of the building. Each of the
houses has a large rear garden, and 3 St Matthews Road has an
additional activity room. The gardens are well maintained and often
used for social activities in the summer.
As well as a home we
aim to provide the life of a participating member of the community. We
will provide educational, occupational, social and recreational
opportunities for each person living at 3 and 5 St Matthews Road,
encouraging growth and learning by use of our resource centre in Battle
- and Hastings old town during the day and evening times.
Our
resource centres are sympathetic to the particular needs of each
individual. We recognise that disabled people are subject to natural
limitations and will ensure that they are not put under undue pressure
to achieve unrealistic goals.
Staff
St. Matthews has one
Registered Care Manager, one Deputy Care Manager, three Senior Social
Care Workers and ten Social Care Workers. We also have a reliable bank
of relief workers to cover annual leave and service user’s holidays.
Staffing levels are provided on a three-to-one and a four-to-one basis
but, where needs are identified as being higher, we facilitate a
one-to-one approach.
All staff undergo a comprehensive
induction program and receive regular training in autism specific
training as well as a wide range of communication methods such as
TEACCH and Makaton. Care staff are NVQ level 3 trained and if new staff
are employed without this they are expected to carry out NVQ level 3
within the charity’s own NVQ programme. All staff receive regular
supervision and support with an annual appraisal.
Service Users
All
service users have their own personalised bedrooms and communal areas.
People with autism need a very structured life style so each person has
their own timetable of daily events; this is supported by use of TEACCH
picture or word symbols.
All service users have a member of
staff who focuses on an individual’s needs and case work; these staff
are called ‘Key Workers’ and are available to attend meetings, reviews,
appointments as well as caring for the day to day needs of individuals.
All
service users have annual reviews where goals are set for the following
year. This is to ensure that we continue to provide the best
service possible.
For more information, please
contact us
