Outstanding support begins long before an individual moves into our service and their new home. Successful transition to a new provider requires careful preparation and planning, and Home From Home Care commit to this process through our specialised assessment and transition team led by Assessments and Transition Manager, Tracie Clark.
As part of the bespoke comprehensive assessment process, Tracie and her team will undertake numerous visits over an unfixed period, to truly understand an individual’s needs and aspirations. The team think outside of the box on how to support someone – with view to facilitating the least restrictive option for each individual.
There are no limits and recently, despite having to overcome personal fears of flying, Tracie carried out an initial assessment with an individual and their family in Germany. Tracie comments “The word is spreading and families from further afield recognise the unique model Home From Home Care have created. We are hearing from more and more international families wanting to move to the UK to access our residential services for their sons and daughters.”
The trip had a number of challenges for Tracie, including a language barrier, however she passionately believes in the importance of carrying out an assessment with the individual in their own environment – where they are currently receiving support and feel comfortable. “You have to understand a person and put them in the centre. You can’t do this effectively when you remove someone from their support and the home they know” Tracie explains.
Before joining Home From Home Care over ten years ago, Tracie worked as a Social Worker with Learning Disability, Crisis and Mental Health teams. She voices concerns about the way Social Work is changing in the UK, “There is enormous pressure on funding and time restrictions are placed on Social Workers. This combines with the move towards less specialised teams, creating extra pressure on Social Workers and reducing their ability to be effective. People are forced into making huge decisions and judgements about people in a very short time frame.”
She continues “I feel proud that I have stuck to my goal – making a real difference to a person.” Tracie also highlights the work of the Continuous Assessment Team as a whole – who are there not just at the beginning of the journey but throughout – continuing to provide specialist input, adapting support plans and environments, to meet evolving needs. “The impact of the team cannot be praised too highly in terms of the real impact this makes on individuals in our services. By combining this with all the other specialist input provided by HFHC, this becomes truly outstanding support.”
Having experienced trepidations before her recent trip, Tracie seems to have caught the travelling bug. “Where next for the team? More assessment locations have been mooted. We will have to see…”
