Good Practice Bulletin -

2015 - 2016

Welcome to the Good Practice Bulletin which celebrates a year of great ideas
identified by the audit programme, external service reviews and colleagues.
Please contact the service listed if you would like further details.

First, the views of our clients

My keyworker is brilliant.

Staff are really caring and considerate they go the extra mile.

Staff understand you as a person. They know different avenues I can take and are never
too busy any time I need someone.

Now I can say after the long road I have been on that I am ready to live my life, thanks to
these guys.

This is the best hostel Ive lived in. You can sit down and talk to staff at any time. Any staff
member will talk to you, not just your keyworker. Theyve got time for you.

Staff here are very professional and I respect them immensely.

The best worker I have ever had.

Staff are responsive, respectful, they set the next appointment at the current appointment
and I write it down.

Staff chat to me to see how Im doing. We can have a laugh together. Staff do a lot for me
if theres a problem with something, theyll be on the case.

I have a very good relationship with staff. They all want the best for us.

The support helps with skills and confidence I can get involved in things and staff
encourage me to be self-sufficient.

Staff are patient and non-judgemental. They treat us equally.

I have some very difficult days staff help us to have some normality. Theyre very
supportive.

I do feel safe - lovely bunch of people.

When I leave, I will have genuinely improved myself this is more than a roof over your
head.
Client Involvement
Bristol Crisis House consistently has clients current and past, act as panel members for all
staff interviews. Manager: Mel Palmer

Clients of Bristol Mental Health Floating Support are invited to attend team meetings, as
appropriate. Manager: Cliff Jones

Mare Street and Project Sixty-Five hold smaller clients meetings by cluster/wing which leads
to higher attendance and more participation from attendees. Managers: Rufaro
Rambanapasi and Michael Falzon

Shirland Road has a weekly meeting with all staff, clients and volunteers to discuss service
issues. Manager: Rachel Yates

Clients attended Birkenhead Street's away day to input on how the service could be
improved. Manager: Hannah Hughes

Clients at Mare Street and Hope Gardens induct new clients into the service. Managers:
Rufaro Rambanapasi, Ricardo Lopez
Endsleigh Gardens staff supported positive risk-taking by appointing a client with high needs
to be a Client Representative. The client now helps set the agenda of the Residents
meetings, reads the minutes aloud and creates the action plan. (Manager: Will Williams)

Staff at Bristol Crisis House encourage peer support, which they observe and ensure is
constructive Manager: Mel Palmer
Supporting Clients
Staff at Bristol Crisis House take an incremental, psychologically informed and focussed
approach to achieving small goals and clients progress positively in the brief period in which
they are in the service. Manager: Mel Palmer

Bristol Mental Health Floating Support have a clear and comprehensive protocol for ending
support with clients, to ensure that the service supports the relevant client group. Manager:
Cliff Jones

Adamson Road embeds positive risk-taking in their work, for example a group trip overseas
with clients and staff, after which clients felt confident to travel with friends and try other new
activities. Manager: Calum Freeman

At Birkenhead Street, clients have a meeting every 3 months with their keyworker, the
manager and any professionals, family or friends they would like to involve, to hear how
things are going, to agree on the focus for the next three months and to coordinate work
between different agencies. Manager: Hannah Hughes

Clients at Hackney Offender Pathway confirm that staff are effective at dealing with any
bullying. Manager: John Anderson

At Enfield Mental Health Service, the team have developed an internal pathway so clients
can increase their independence in stages. Manager: Lorraine Watson
Chichester Road ensure newspapers in a range of languages are available for clients.
Manager: Bola Banjo
The North London Womens Service provides literacy classes for EEA clients and has
employed a Polish project worker who has achieved excellent outcomes for clients around
their access to benefits. Deputy Manager: Olivia Smith

Hilldrop Road displays its mission statement near the door of the service and has a
meaningful and professional service leaflet.
(Manager: George Rufai)

Working with Partners

The Date Palm Project has developed constructive partnerships with a wide range of local
and national organisations (both faith and ETE) in the short time it has been running.
Manager: Gemma Goacher

Birkenhead Street regularly attends, chairs and hosts external meetings, including the Adult
Panel Pathway, Overstayers Working Group, Referrals Assessment Meeting, Tasking and
Targeting and Community Council. Manager: Hannah Hughes

Haringey SMO has good joint working in place with external substance use specialists at
HAGA and The Grove. Manager: Norman Alcide

The City Outreach team arranged for a client to be able to do some graffiti art on one of the
walls of the hostel where they were staying. The client is now accessing and paying for art
therapy. Manager: Liz Blackender
At Shirland Road, staff support clients to be involved with relevant services e.g Hearing
Voices network and branch of Mind, befriender service. Manager: Rachel Yates

Learning and Development

Adamson Road and Bristol Mental Health Floating Support, offer placements to social work
and nursing students, creating a learning environment, offering development opportunities
for both staff and students. Managers: Calum Freeman, Cliff Jones

Staff at Date Palm Project undertake including shadow shifts, deliver training themselves,
and participate in team training locally. Manager: Gemma Goacher

Hilldrop Roads team are supported to pursue personal and professional development, e.g.
taking a sabbatical to work with a new client-group, shadowing colleagues, visiting other
services and undertaking training with other teams. Manager: George Rufai

Some of the South London Womens Service team have taken on an area of expertise e.g.
health, personalisation, rent and voids, volunteers. They work to annual plans for these
areas of work, providing support for clients and advice to their colleagues. Manager: Lauren
Appleby

Service Standards
Bristol Offenders Floating Support has produced a service standards document which all
clients are given on starting the service, to ensure consistency and accountability. Manager:
Paul Hudson
Referrals
Date Palm Project, Hackney Offender Pathway and Bristol Offenders Floating Support have
produced comprehensive tailed referral forms to ensure the service has adequate,
appropriate clients. The Date Palm Project (a faith-sensitive service) referral form gives
clients the opportunity to say what their faith means to them in their own words. Managers:
Gemma Goacher, John Anderson, Paul Housden

Working with commissioners

A report produced by the Bristol Offenders Floating Support for commissioners clearly and
comprehensively demonstrates the value for money that the service represents, both in the
sense that it outperforms contractual requirements and also because it represents a huge
saving to the public purse. Manager: Paul Housden
City Outreach team works closely with their commissioner, to a jointly produced workplan
and meet regularly to discuss progress towards agreed objectives and way to continuously
improve the service. Manager: Liz Blackender

Personalisation
Staff at Adamson Road ensure clients make good use of personal budgets - which allows for
more opportunities for clients, as well as staff being able to work more creatively. Manager:
Calum Freeman

Enfield Mental Health service used a project around personal budgets to find out about
client's interests and aspirations and this was then used to inform research about local
services which staff have now built good relationships with e.g. Enfield time banking, local
gyms, for the benefit of the clients. Manager: Lorraine Watson

Safeguarding and boundaries

Staff of Bristol Offenders Floating Support embed this in everything they do. Staff are honest
with clients, clearly manage expectations and explain things in plain English, which is really
valued by the clients. Manager: Paul Housden

Value for Money

Project 65 use volunteers to provide an enhanced service to clients (e.g. breakfast club at
the weekend and gardening). Staff members use Freecycle to help clients get items they
need but can't afford and have been successful in applying for grants for improve the service
for clients, e.g. furnishing a games room, which provides opportunities for informal
keyworking e.g. chatting over a game of pool. Manager: Michael Falzon

Bristol Mens Crisis House involves volunteers who offer sessions on guided meditation and
mindfulness. Manager: Mel Palmer

The North London Womens Service has a wide-ranging network of volunteers, who provide
sessions in yoga, art therapy, music, counselling, creative writing, and a knitting group co-
produced with client. Contact Volunteer Services for advice and support around using
volunteers in your service. Deputy Manager: Olivia Smith

Shirland Road has some ex-clients run activities for current clients, which from feeling cut off
from the service and shows current clients that independent living is an achievable
aspiration. Manager: Rachel Yates
Move On
Mare Street hosts a drop-in for a local housing association who provide suitable
accommodation for clients to positively encourage move-on. Manager: Rufaro Rambanapasi

Hackney Offender Pathway staff have worked to build constructive relationships with PRS
landlords. Manager: John Anderson

Enfield Adult Mental Health service have worked to ensure an emphasis on move on for all
clients and to find/improve move on options in the local area, especially for clients who have
severe LD or are over 65 and have been at the service for a long time. They work closely
with care co-ordinators and have built relationships with other local specialist providers.
They also make use of other St Mungo's service e.g. PAL, MOT. Manager: Lorraine Watson

Health and Safety

Wixs Lane has a client H&S rep, informs clients clearly about H&S rules on induction to the
service and gives 48 hours notice to all clients when external organisations are carrying out
checks in the service. Manager: Javiera Mandiola-Carrasco

Birkenhead Street invited the London Fire Brigade to present a session to clients on fire
safety, particularly around smoking in bedrooms. Manager: Hannah Hughes

Customer Service
Great Guildford Street staff have developed some team service standards based on being
consistent, fair and friendly and a Working at Great Guildford Street folder for locums and
new staff. Manager: Nick Wing

Health
Adamson Road, in collaboration with Client Involvement and Health and Safety has created
an 8 week Smoking Awareness Programme to support clients who smoke to consider the
role of smoking in their lives. The sessions cover keeping busy, mental health & medication,
physical addiction & health, fire safety & smoking safely, budgeting & move on, smoking
alternatives & going smoke free and a celebratory session to finish the programme.
Manager: Calum Freeman. Contact Kayleigh Whitfield for further information

Wixs Lane works closely with the local GP practice and hospital service to meaning that all
clients have had a health assessment, are registered with a GP and receive appropriate
treatment. Manager: Javiera Mandiola-Carrasco

Adamson Road has strong partnerships with its local mental health team, Crisis team, social
services, GP team where the local recovery service is based and staff attend CCG meetings.
Manager: Calum Freeman

The North London Womens Service has developed an excellent partnership with a local GP
practice, clients now see the same doctor every time. The doctors build up a better picture of
each clients health needs and prescribing requirements and the most vulnerable clients get
quicker appointments. Deputy Manager: Olivia Smith
Staff at Hampstead Rd (Camden South Mental Health Service) has built productive
relationships with local hospitals, pharmacies and GP surgeries and recently received good
feedback from the hospital regarding this work. Deputy Manager: Justin Newman
At Edith Road, a health topic is selected monthly, with specialist health professionals coming
in each month to run a session for clients. Manager: Chloe Knight

Chichester Road care home and Enfield mental health service both work closely with local
pharmacies to ensure good medication management. Managers: Bola Banjo, Lorraine
Watson

Rent Management
Project 65 is proactive regarding managing arrears. Staff on shift on a Sunday compile a
week summary of every client's rent account, and any discrepancies are followed up in the
week. If a client stops paying, then the team will put informal 'reminder slips' under their
door, progressing to warnings if the client continues to develop arrears. Clients report feeling
very supported to pay rent and sort out any problems. Manager: Michael Falzon

Dealing with Conflict

The team at Great Guildford Street produced some guidance as to how they will support
each other during and after conflict in their service. This has been added to the Preventing
and Responding to Violence procedure (B14) discuss it and localise it for your service.
Manager: Nick Wing

Service Environment
Birkenhead Street displays a positive Thought for the Day' message on the main client
noticeboard, along with up-to-date information about activities. Manager: Hannah Hughes

Clients at Spring Gardens have worked with a local community gardening group and Friends
of the Earth to improve and maintain the gardens and keep chickens and a bee garden
which has been beneficial for the wellbeing of everyone in the service. (Manager: Andy
McCarthy)

At Argyle Walk (Camden South Mental Health Service), the main noticeboard has activity
flyers arranged by days of the week, clients can easily see what they can do on that day
within the project, other local St Mungos services and partner organisations. Deputy
Manager: Gerry Coyne

Chichester Road has framed and displayed clients artwork and a visual timetable of weekly
activities in the service. Manager: Bola Banjo

Service evaluation Employment Support

The Workwise Skills and Employment team have published an evaluation of employment
support delivery for Lambeth social housing tenants affected by the under occupancy charge
(Bedroom Tax) during 2015-16. The report reflects the homelessness prevention work
undertaken with Lambeths Welfare Reform team and acknowledges the contribution of
partners within borough and beyond who have supported the team to achieve positive
results for Lambeth tenants. Read the report here. (Manager: Yusuf Pickstock)