Our support model
Support that is practical, personal and planned
Support will be built around one question: what does this young person need in order to leave here more able, more confident and better connected than when they arrived? The model below sets out how that works in practice.
Service in development
This page describes the support model Ghausia Homes is developing. The service is not yet accepting placements, and nothing here should be read as a description of an operating service.
Foundation
Safety comes first, and it is boring on purpose
Nothing else in this model works without a safe home. Safety here means the unglamorous things done consistently: staff who know the young person, clear routines, a home that is maintained, and safeguarding concerns raised promptly through the right route.
Every young person will be told, in plain language they can actually use, who to go to if something is wrong, what happens next and what will and will not be shared. We would rather a concern is raised early and turns out to be nothing than raised late.
Our safeguarding and complaints information will be published in full before the service opens, so professionals and young people can read it rather than take it on trust.
How support runs
From arrival to move-on
The same sequence for every young person, with the content of each stage entirely shaped by them.
Step 1: Getting to know each other
Before anything is written down, we spend time with the young person. What has worked before, what has not, what they can already do, what they are worried about and what they actually want. Information from the local authority sits alongside that, not instead of it.
Step 2: An assessment that is used, not filed
A short, honest picture of strengths, risks and needs, agreed with the young person and the placing team. It names the practical things — can they cook, do they have ID, are they registered with a GP — as well as the harder ones.
Step 3: Goals in the young person's words
A small number of goals the young person recognises as theirs, each with a next step small enough to start this week. Goals sit alongside the local authority’s plan and are written so anyone can tell whether progress has been made.
Step 4: Everyday skills, practised for real
Skills are learned by doing them in the home and in the community — cooking a meal, doing the shop, phoning the surgery — with support that steps back as confidence grows.
Step 5: Reviews that change something
Regular reviews with the young person, and contribution to the local authority’s statutory reviews. If a goal is not moving, we say so and change the approach rather than restate it.
Step 6: Move-on planned from the start
Where a young person is heading next is part of the conversation from week one: tenancy readiness, the documents they will need, the practical rehearsal of living alone, and the people who will still be there afterwards.
Everyday skills
The concrete things independence is made of
Independence is not a mindset, it is a set of tasks a person can do without dread. These are the ones we concentrate on.
- Cooking and food
- Planning a week of meals, shopping to a list, cooking a handful of meals well, food hygiene and safe use of a kitchen.
- Budgeting and money
- Understanding income, keeping a simple weekly budget, paying for essentials first, opening and using a bank account, and knowing where to get help with debt.
- Getting around
- Planning a journey, buying the right ticket, travelling to an unfamiliar place, and practising a route before it matters.
- Appointments and admin
- Registering with a GP and dentist, making and keeping appointments, opening post, replying to letters and keeping important documents somewhere safe.
- Education, training and work
- Staying in or returning to education, applying for training or a job, preparing for an interview and getting to a placement on time.
- Tenancy readiness
- Understanding a tenancy agreement, keeping a home clean and safe, reporting repairs, managing bills and being a good neighbour.
Working with professionals
Communication a social worker can rely on
Placing teams should never have to chase us to find out how a young person is doing. Our commitment is straightforward: named contact, updates that say something, and early warning when a placement is under strain.
- Named contact. A person, not an inbox, who knows the young person.
- Written updates. Progress against agreed goals, in language that can be pasted into a review without translation.
- No surprises. Concerns and incidents shared promptly through the agreed route, including when the news is difficult for us.
- Honest matching. We decline referrals where the match would not be right, and we explain why.
How we describe and review progress is set out on Outcomes and quality, and the settings this support happens in are described on Our homes.
Next step
Discuss the model with us
We welcome challenge on this model from commissioners and social work teams while the service is being developed. Placements are not being accepted at this stage.