The main ethos driving the learning provision at Ecclesbourne Lodge is meeting the residents individual needs to enable them to reach their full potential, enjoy achieving and to live as independently as possible and move on to live as independently as possible.  Our ASDAN programme gives all residents the opportunity to learn new skills and have new experiences.

The development of a young adult’s ability to confidently communicate is key to our work. Each resident has a Communication Passport. Each resident, with the support of their Key Worker and Link Worker produces a newsletter of all the things that they have done over the month to share with friends and family and to keep as a record for themselves.

Our residents are diagnosed with varying disabilities, they have significant differences in cognitive ability and communicate in different ways. All young people referred to Ecclesbourne Lodge have displayed some challenging behaviour.

All staff are trained in NAPPI and all residents have a Red, Amber and Green Lalemand scale, which is a holistic behaviour support plan. The Red scale gives a consistent way of dealing with a young person’s behaviour and clear guidelines on what should and should not be done. We do use specific trained NAPPI physical interventions to ensure people are kept safe. However every intervention and in fact every incident, is closely monitored by the Registered Manager, as well as the onsite NAPPI trainers. We believe in a transparent approach so all incident records are shared with parents/carers and any other significant person in the person’s life. The Amber scale focuses on the person’s stress factors, those factors of an individual’s life that can cause them to move towards challenging behaviour. By recognising and understanding these, we are able to support the individual to manage stress in a more positive way. Challenging behaviours have a function of either seeking or avoid something, whether that be something sensory, a tangible activity or attention. By assessing the functions of behaviour our approaches and responses become more person specific and proactive. The Green scale focuses on those areas that make a person’s life worth living. By providing meaningful activities, we can enrich a person’s life and build their self-esteem.

We support residents to live, socialise and form positive relationships with others. We do this by offering them the opportunities to socialise and develop friendships with other young people at Ecclesbourne Lodge, as well as encouraging and supporting young adults to engage in as many community activities as possible.

We have a dedicated Leisure and Activity Coordinator who ensures that residents are aware of events taking place in the local community and who builds relationships with other local residents, shop staff, pub and tea room staff and those who run local clubs and societies. Where a resident has high anxiety levels around situations and environments that are unfamiliar staff spend time with them to desensitise and reduce their anxiety levels. This might be done through showing photos of the place, inviting people they will meet to the home prior to the event. We also ensure the people running events are familiar with residents.

We have excellent links with the local GP practice, dentist and opticians in the local town. All young adults are registered with the local GP practice, dentist and opticians. Young adults are supported to attend appointments, make decisions on their own well-being and healthy living style, with appropriate levels of support from staff. In addition we have input from a variety of professions including psychiatry and psychotherapy.