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Richard and friends at Land's End at the beginning of the bike ride

HFT provides a network of services for people with a learning disability and a wide range of needs. Services are located across  Hertfordshire and Essex and include residential care, supported living, domiciliary support and day opportunities.

Service Users

The different accommodation and staffing ratios within the Service are designed to meet a wide range of individual needs. Service users receive tailored levels of support to develop and maintain daily living skills, in order to enable them to access and be included in the local communities. Skilled support teams are trained to facilitate and assist service users to make choices and work towards their aspirations and chosen lifestyles.

Supported Living Services

The Service currently operates 6 individual supported living services which are located in Bishop's Stortford, Thorley and Spellbrook in Hertfordshire and in Stansted and Old Harlow in Essex.  These range from single person dwellings to a 5 bedroomed detached house, and have been provided by a range of housing providers including HFT, local and national housing associations and the private rental sector .  The support provided to service users varies from a few hours a day to 24 hour direct support dependent on their assessed needs and the support plans commissioned by their sponsoring authorities .  Further growth of the Service's portfolio of supported living services is anticipated in the near future.

Registered Residential Care

Pear Tree Cottage was newly built in 2006 and 1-3 Dove Cottages refurbished in 2007.  All are located close to each other on our main site in Ugley.  The accommodation provides each service user with a single occupancy bedroom and their own private en suite bathroom facilities. The services provided within Pear Tree Cottage and 2 Dove Cottages are targeted at older people with learning disabilities and are designed to meet the support needs of people as they age, including dementia, sensory impairment and declining mobility. 1 and 3 Dove Cottages are targeted at people with learning disabilities and communication needs and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorder.  Support teams working within the services based in Ugley receive specialist ongoing training to assist them to meet the needs of the individuals they are supporting and they also work closely with other professionals to ensure that best practice is assured.  South Road is based in Bishop's Stortford and is an established and thriving home for 10 people who are leading significantly independent lives.

Employment

Growth in this area has been stimulated by established links with local businesses, employment services, vocational training providers and through recent partnership working arrangements with other relevant agencies.  Service users are currently engaged in a range of paid and voluntary employment, for example catering, retailing and forestry work, which reflects their interests, talents and needs.  The Service is also able to provide a range of work opportunities through its nursery garden, which is open to the public for garden sales. It is anticipated that the nursery garden will soon be undergoing significant development, so that the Service can increase the range and capacity of the horticultural and retailing activities that it can provide, and which will make it an even greater resource for the Service and its users.

Opportunities, Services and Education

Through person centred approaches to support we work with individuals to identify their interests and aspirations and use this information to access, develop and provide activities, which will assist them to achieve the lifestyle they have chosen.  This we achieve by utilising established links with local adult education colleges centred in and around Harlow and Ware, the use of our own and external tutors working within our dedicated resource centre based in Ugley, and also the use of local recreational facilities. Through these resources we are able to provide a dynamic and extensive range of learning, creative, sporting and leisure opportunities to the people we support.

For more information please call 01279 816165 or email hftHertsandEssex@hft.org.uk

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