Positive Behaviour Support

The supported lodgings Service is for young people who are assessed via the Pathway Planning process as needing this service.

A young person must be assessed as being ready to begin to live independently with support and the Service should be the most appropriate placement available to meet the young person's support needs as identified within their Pathway Plan.

Supported lodgings placements are most suitable for young people who are willing and able to:

• Regulate their behaviour to comply with reasonable house rules and expectations;
• Engage with the host to gain the skills needed to successfully live independently in the future;
• Engage with education, training, work experience and/or employment, working towards achieving economic stability into adulthood;
• Engage with other agencies and professionals to address any issues that would stand in the way of them moving forward and securing the skills and resources needed to achieving stability and success in their lives.

Supported Lodgings is unlikely to be suitable for those young people with significant behavioural issues who for example have few boundaries to their behaviour, who would likely present a significant risk to others or who want/need the freedom and anonymity of other settings.

 If there are issues around relationships and behaviour, then the Service will talk to the young person about their placement and try and make changes within their placement to iron out any difficulties or issues. However there may be situations where the placement is not right for the young person and notice may need to be given.

However this would only be if:

• All solutions had been exhausted by the host;
• Other key professionals have been involved;
• Specialist support has been offered if appropriate such as counselling, medication;
• The reassessment of the young person’s needs indicate a different service is needed;
• The young person wants to look at other options as they do not feel the placement is meeting their needs.

The Service will promote the development of positive and respectful relationships between hosts and young people.

Young people are helped to develop, and to benefit from relationships based on:

• Mutual respect and trust;
• An understanding about acceptable behaviour; and
• Positive responses to other young people and adults.

In particular, the Service and hosts should:

• Meet each young person's behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the young person's relevant plans;
• Help each young person to develop socially aware behaviour;
• Encourage each young person to take responsibility for their behaviour and help them reflect on situations they find themselves in;
• Help each young person to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;
• Communicate to each young person expectations about their behaviour and ensure that the young person understands those expectations;
• Help each young person to understand personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;
• Help each young person to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;
• Strive to gain each young person's respect and trust;
• Understand how young people's previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with young people;
• Hosts are provided with supervision and support by the Service   to help you understand and manage your own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of young people, and to help young people to do the same;
• De-escalate confrontations with or between young people:
• Understand and communicate to young people that bullying is unacceptable; and
• Have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and
• That each young person is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others.

Positive behaviour and relationships should be reinforced, praised and encouraged; poor behaviour should be discussed and the young person should be encouraged to reflect on why they behave in a particular way.

Hosts should at all times endeavour to:

• Understand factors that affect young people's motivation to behave in a socially acceptable way to enable them to respond to each young person’s individual behaviour;
• Encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies in line with the young person's relevant plans;
• Listen to and empathise with young people, respect and value their thoughts and feelings and take their wishes into consideration;
• Be a positive role model; remain calm and be consistent and always carry out your promises;
• Choose your battles- does it really matter, could this be addressed another way, accept the young person’s difficulties;
• Look for things that are going well, or any step in the right direction, and appropriately praise it. Make sure that young people are aware of the things that they have done well. This should involve prompt verbal feedback, along with clear recording in the young person’s file;
• Where necessary, manage conflict, maintain constructive dialogues and react appropriately if challenged by a young person such as using a sense of humour to de-escalate a situation;
• Give the young person responsibility, autonomy and independence- having these expectations can support a young person to behave in a positive way;
• Space and privacy- be respectful of a young person’s space and time.

It is expected that given the assessed needs and level of independence, autonomy, and responsibility of young people in supported lodgings placements - restraint would not be necessary in this provision. Restraint includes physical restraint techniques that involve using force or restricting liberty of movement.  Even though the use of restraint in supported lodgings is expected to be extremely rare and exceptional in nature, training may, in some cases, also extend to the use of safe restraint practices. 

Please see Restrictive Physical Intervention and Restraint