Tailoring Support for Young People

At MGC we are fully aware that every young person is different. At no point we believe in one size tits all, therefore; we understand the essence of earning trust and respect by being reliable, safe, trustworthy and a therapeutic environment that will have a positive impact on young people gradually.

Our trauma informed approach ensures our homes provides a safe and stable environment, where young people can reflect on their past traumatic experiences, with an non-judgemental approach to encourage young people to express their views and feeling without the feeling that they will be judge by expressing their feelings.

Over the last five years, we developed and have demonstrable track record of providing high quality and flexible services for both young people leaving care and commissioning team. Our service model is delivered to meet the needs of young people, and the outcomes from their responsibly local authority.

At MGC, our aim is to support young people to achieve independence, through informal but structured day-to-day personalised support, and direct pathway plan to live independently, e.g. money management, housing, rights and responsibilities, health, volunteering, safety, relationships, managing tenancy, and employment, education or training.

Support & Independence

MGC delivers a personalised Pathway to Independence programme to all young people within our semi-independent accommodations. Our personised support planning identifies areas where young people will most benefit, ensuring individual plans are appropriate and targeted.

Independent Living Journey

Our personalised assessment, support planning and risk management identifies areas where young people will benefit most from their placement with us, this ensures that individual plans appropriate and targeted. As the needs of a young person changed, the plan is updated to reflect the changes.

We work in partnership to achieve positive outcomes for young people, as agreed with their professional network team, including social workers, CAMHS, placement teams. We address any issues impacting young people within their support plan, often including referrals to other agencies.

Key targets area covered during supporting to become Independent includes

Employment, Education or Training

An essential element of the service delivery is addressing young people’s engagement and involvement in education, employment or training.  Our staff team is fully abreast with local education, employment and training services, including young people who are NEET and with complex needs.

The team works alongside the young person education officer, to access suitable education, employment and training services to support young people to gain the skills required for living independently.

We explore the best options to meet each young person learning needs and support them to understand the benefits and aspirations. We support young people to attend college, or training and engage them in interview skills, CV writing and job applications. We research with young people opportunities for employment and also support young people to develop the skills to travel independently to their appointments.

Pathway Transitions

We work closely with the young person’s placing authority, when young people are approaching their 18th birthday to assess their level of independent living skills to ensure support plans pathway plans provide appropriate support for transition. Main areas include:

We ensure our team has good local knowledge around their housing options that will support young people registering for social housing. Their key worker will explain the options such as 18+ semi-independent service with minimum support as the next step to their independence.

We support young people to understand their tenancy agreement and to manage to avoid the risk of homelessness, therefore; we ensure stable support in place before their move on, including access to wider services and how to access specialist support.

We encourage participation in community activities, enabling young people to develop strong support networks and relationships so they move into a well-known community where independence can be nurtured.

When reunification with families is the intended outcome, we follow a Restorative Approach focussed on rebuilding and managing relationships, with therapeutic input from CAMHS during placement. Should a young person turn 18 during this stage, we work with partners to manage the transition to adult services.

When a young person is referred to us, we take the time to get to know them, including likes/dislikes, interests, what they enjoy doing, and hopes and aspirations. This allows us to tailor their individual support plan, to include engaging in community activities they will enjoy (e.g. sports, outdoor pursuits, music) and steps towards career goals that will achieve a happy and fulfilling future (e.g. accessing an apprenticeship, work experience or training course).

Every young person has an allocated keyworker, who builds a trusting, positive relationship with the young person and maintains regular contact with them, so the young person can share any issues or concerns. Furthermore, our staff are skilled in observing changes in a young person’s behaviour, so even if they do not verbalise their concerns, we can identify potential signs that something may be wrong and explore this with the young person.

Our staff are trained in Adverse Childhood Experiences and a Trauma Informed Approach, which underpins our service delivery. They recognise the impact of past traumas on a young person’s emotional wellbeing and are trained in therapeutic models of working with young people. We discuss with the young person any need they may have for additional mental health support and help them to access local services and/or online resources to promote their mental health and emotional wellbeing.