Woodleigh works with people who have a history of challenging behaviour which has often not been fully understood and meant that they have struggled to achieve their potential and lead a fulfilling life. We aim to understand and help people change their own behaviours and give them a renewed purpose to their life.
We first try to understand people's behaviours by looking at issues such as environmental factors, contributing physical or mental health problems, any communication difficulties, coping or tolerance deficiencies and other possible triggers.
We then work closely with the person and other professionals to develop a support plan to try and modify their behaviours. Each individual behaviour is subject to its own risk assessment which identifies the level of risk and our immediate and longer term risk management measures to keep the person and others safe at all times. We document all incidents so that we can analyse them, identify trends and adapt our approach as necessary. Particularly serious events are also subject to post incident analysis so that we can review and change any approach if needed.
Each member of the Woodleigh staff team attends our 'Positive approaches to Behaviour' course and receive training by Woodleigh's own CPI certified trainers. This covers de-escalation and physical intervention techniques as a last resort, adhering to the BILD code of conduct.
Woodleigh believes that it is essential for people to learn new skills and lead active and busy lives. To the extent that a person has structure and purpose in their day-to-day existence, this can itself lead to an improvement in their overall sense of wellbeing and a reduction in incidents of challenging behaviour.
Everybody has a Person Centred Plan, an activity timetable and a 'My Life, My Goals' plan which identifies development goals and a plan to achieve them. We help people establish new skills based on their interest and abilities, ranging from teaching daily living skills, whether it is making a drink or a three course meal, to motivating them to find a job and supporting them with being interviewed and being with them when they start their new job.
We actively encourage people to access the community and identify suitable activities, college courses and job opportunities for them. We also offer employment opportunities ourselves which include Woodleigh's bakery, gardening and textile work placements available to anybody living within our services.
