What services do you offer?

Residential Short Breaks

The residential service provides overnight short breaks for disabled children.

Based on the ground floor of The Light House, the residential facility has 10 bedrooms all with ensuite facilities. It is separated into two units, known as ‘Sun’ and ‘Star’. It is run by a team of skilled and experienced residential child care workers.

Sun

Sun is a 6-bedroomed unit designed for children with multiple disabilities, complex medical needs and physical impairments. The bedrooms have equipment, aids and adaptations to help meet the needs of the more physically disabled children. There is a treatment room and a sensory room to provide a stimulating experience, plus a large playroom with patio doors leading to a sensory garden that has an accessible swing and a roundabout for wheelchair users.

Star

Star is 4-bedroomed unit designed for children and young people with challenging behaviours. There is also a sensory room to provide a calming experience and an indoor soft-play room.

The gardens include a play area containing a rubberised track for quad bikes and recreational equipment for children who enjoy more physical activities. Both garden areas are safe and secure and are accessible from the building via separate patio doors.

Ofsted inspect the residential service to make sure it continues to deliver a good service.

We have a fully adapted minibus which is used to take children and young people on outings.

To be eligible for a residential short break, your child will be aged between 0-17 years and have a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability, or any other condition (for example, life-limiting illness) and a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability.

Early Help

The Early Help team offer a range of different services with the aim of supporting families caring for their disabled children.

Community activities

The Early Help team offer fun activities in the community for children and young people, including community trips to the cinema, theme parks and swimming and centre-based activities such as cooking and crafts. We normally do these activities as a group, but we can provide 1:1 sessions if your child cannot manage in a group. These activities are structured to help build children’s independence, life and social skills while enabling them to access the community in a safe and supported way.

We have a fully adapted minibus to take young people to activities, but we do ask parents to transport to and from The Light House.

Home care

The Home Care team can help you to wash and dress your child or help them get ready for school or for bed in your home. The usual package offered by the Home Care team is two mornings or two evenings a week. The team is trained to use hoists and slings and they will make sure that your child’s dignity is preserved at all times. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects us to make sure we continue to deliver a good service.

Outreach

The Early Help team deliver bespoke outreach work to help families address issues with children at an early stage and hopefully prevent issues from escalating. Outreach is a time-specific piece of work targeting one area of need, carried out by trained staff working with families and young people themselves. Included in the outreach work is 1-1 behaviour work, modelling routines, offering play and sensory ideas to family members, enabling families to access community facilities and assisting with signposting to other agencies.

We also work closely with the Complex Behaviour Service and schools to help parents manage their child’s challenging behaviour and support them with routines.

Staying Together

The Early Help team deliver a Staying Together package. This is an intensive intervention to support families in crisis and will include behaviour work, routines, communication and also liaison with other agencies to ensure that approaches are consistent across all settings that the child may access.

Non-Violent Resistance training

Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) training is a recognised programme of sessions offering support and guidance to parents and carers when their children are displaying aggressive behaviours. Techniques and approaches to manage behaviour are discussed and parents are supported to carry out the approach at home. NVR can be in the form of a group or individual basis.

Sleep

The team can provide support and guidance to parents and carers when their children are having difficulty either going to sleep or staying asleep. Fully trained sleep practitioners will work with families to improve sleep routines and implement sleep strategies for families.

To be eligible for a service offered by the Early Help team, your child will be aged between 0-17 years and have a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability, or any other condition (for example, life-limiting illness) and a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability.

Occupational therapy

The Occupational Therapy team works in partnership with disabled children and their families to promote independent living within the home.

An occupational therapist will visit disabled children in their own home and carry out an assessment of their needs. The assessment will identify any equipment or adaptations that may be required to maximise the child’s independence within the home; for example, handrails, grab rails and ramps. The occupational therapist will then arrange for the provision of these adaptations including obtaining quotations if specialist adaptations are required.

If major adaptations are required, Disabled Facilities Grants are available to owner occupiers and privately rented properties.

To be eligible for a service offered by the Occupational Therapy team, your child will be aged between 0-17 years and have a diagnosed permanent and substantial physical disability, or a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability.

Community Short Breaks

Community Short Breaks give children and young people experiences that are fun, stimulating, and enjoyable and independent from their parents and carers. The breaks aim to reduce their social isolation and help their personal and social development. Community Short Breaks also give parents and carers a necessary and valuable rest from caring responsibilities, allowing them to recharge their batteries, spend time with other family members and provide space to do other things. A Community Short Break can range from an hour-long activity to a full-day trip and take place during the day, evening, weekend, and school holidays.

We aim to support families who are not receiving any other similar support. Therefore, we cannot offer a service to any child who already receives any of the following services:

• residential stays at school
• hospice care, play schemes
• youth services
• Link Care (Fostering Service) scheme
• after school clubs
• any other service delivered by The Light House. This also includes Direct Payments that have been awarded for social activities.

What’s on offer?

Our Community Short Breaks are delivered by specialist providers who offer specialist groups and 1-1 support in the community.

Specialist groups

Children are taken out in specialist groups which are designed to be stimulating, enjoyable and fun and to help promote friendships and peer support. They offer an exciting choice of varied activities at several venues across the city. Special events are arranged throughout the year too, celebrating religious and cultural holidays, local carnivals and national events. Day trips are available, some of which are suitable for the whole family to enjoy.

1-1 support in the community

Our service providers can select a suitable support worker to enable a child or young person to attend a community activity of their choice, such as going swimming or shopping or learning to use public transport. They will be supported and encouraged to reach their full potential in the pursuit of their chosen activity.

How much does it cost?

Support workers will be provided for these services free of charge. However, some activities will have additional costs that families will need to pay for. For example, scouts or brownie subscriptions, specialist group admission, entrance fees or individual lessons.

Transport arrangements and transport costs for the activity will be agreed between the service provider and the family in advance of the activity.

Community Short Breaks Grant

In some circumstances, families prefer to arrange their own support. A Short Breaks Grant allows families the flexibility, choice and control to purchase their own support for example, 1-1 lessons, school club, nursery). The grant is usually an annual one-off payment of £560, which is paid directly to the family so they can purchase the activity of their choice. Grants are reviewed towards the end of the year and in some circumstances, further grants may be awarded.

To be eligible for a service offered by the Community Short Breaks team, your child will be aged between 0-17 years, have a diagnosed disability and not already receiving any of these services: residential stays at school; hospice care, play schemes; youth services; Link Care (Fostering Service) scheme; after school clubs and any other service delivered by The Light House. This also includes Direct Payments that have been awarded for social activities.

Direct Payments

A Direct Payment is money given to parent carers or young people, by the authority, to enable them to buy in support that is assessed as being needed, instead of the authority providing that support through their own services such as residential care or outreach services. Direct Payments do not affect benefits.

Direct Payments are available to children aged between 0-17 years with a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability, or any other condition (for example, life-limiting illness) and a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability.

Fieldwork

The Fieldwork team consists of social workers and children’s practitioners who are responsible for assessment, care planning, safeguarding, short-term intervention and early intervention of younger children.

To be eligible for a service offered by the Fieldwork team, your child will be aged between 0-17 years and have a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability, or any other condition (for example, life-limiting illness) and a diagnosed moderate to severe learning disability.