We are able to support young people from the ages of 9 years old and up to their 18^th birthday, who may present with a range of complex social, emotional, educational and behavioural needs. These may include the following:

• Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs
• Sexually harmful behaviour and risk of offending
• Risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE)
• Complex emotional trauma
• Moderate learning disabilities
• Attachment disorder
• Autism/Asperger syndrome
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Developmental delay
• Past criminal and anti-social behaviours
• Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
• Conduct disorder

Our residential children’s homes have been specifically designed to be homely, comfortable and welcoming, enabling the young people in our care to feel safe and looked after. We offer everything that you’d expect to find in a modern family home, balanced alongside relevant modifications, enabling us to provide the best care for individuals’ needs.

Our bedrooms are single-occupancy, providing privacy and tranquillity for each young person we care for. Our residential homes also offer:

• Spacious and comfortable living areas, encouraging relaxing leisure time
• Communal dining rooms, allowing young people to eat and socialise together where appropriate
• Quiet rooms and other specialist equipment to support the needs of the people we care for
• Sporting and other varied equipment to encourage hobbies and activities

We understand that it’s not always possible to plan a placement within a residential children’s home. As such, we are able to consider emergency and same-day placements in order to stabilise behaviours, assess risk, and allow a young person to enter care as quickly and as smoothly as possible.

Our multidisciplinary teams are made up of highly skilled and experienced individuals, all of whom are committed to caring for and improving the lives of young people.

Our fully trained and experienced residential support workers and seniors ensure that all homes maintain a broad and diverse staffing in terms of gender, ethnicity, age and background. All staff are skilled and experienced within their role, coming from relevant and professional backgrounds. Prospective staff undergo a rigorous recruitment process as part of Safer Recruitment.

As an organisation, it is imperative that staff teams are nurtured, supported and developed throughout their employment in order to be able to provide the best possible service and outcomes for our children and young people.

Training for staff is continuous and covers all key areas that are pertinent to the role including Trauma Informed restraint techniques. Training also ensures that staff remain knowledgeable in their practice and understanding of the needs of our young people, are able to engage in behaviour support and management, are diverse, adaptive and dynamic in their approach to behaviour support, and ultimately are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our young people.

All staff are trained to at least QCF Level 3 or are enrolled and working towards this within six months of their employment.

We will encourage and provide residents with the opportunities to be involved in hobbies by identifying their hobbies through the Person Centered Plan/Personal Plan and including these in the individuals weekly Active Support Programme.  The local area has a range of activities including access to the Clock Tower, which is an ASDAN approved centre where people undertake qualifications in a wide range of subjects such as Life & Independence Skills, Hobbies, Interests, Getting ready for work, Personal Safety, DIY.  There are over 180 subjects available.

   We understand the many benefits that regular excercise has both to a persons physical fitness but also their mental health. We encourage use of the gym, bike riding, swimming, walking, dancing, football, wii fit and recording daily exercise. We have a number of facilities locally that enable us to provide a broad range of activities. We also by encourage a healthy eating diet and provide healthy eating menus.

We have a well established Mental Health monitoring system that frequently assess’s individual residents mental well being.  If appropriate supporting people to CAMH’s appointments and working closely with the LAC Nurses. By giving the residents the opportunity and encouragement and the environment where people feel comfortable talking about their feelings. We also facilitate any necessary referrals to medical professionals.

As part of the Person Centered Plan we complete Emotional Needs assessments for all residents which help us to identify the individuals needs so we can then ensure that the service we deliver supports the individuals specific requirements.

Puffin House has an Active Support Plan which the individual residents participate in completing on a weekly basis. The plan helps Individuals achieve desired outcomes in meeting their Social & Emotional well-being needs by allowing people to have control over their everyday life, the key decisions and any individual choices can be catered for.

We encourage people to maintain their family and personal relationships and provide opportunities for people to visit their friends and family and also for their friends and families to visit the person at Puffin House.