About

• Understanding and respecting your personal priorities.
• Empowering you to make choices about supports that will respect your daily routine and need
  for privacy.
• Working together to maintain your natural connections, to family and community.
• Assisting you to achieve success for your child, based on your priorities, one step at time.
• Enable you to identify possible safety concerns unique to your child.
• Offer information that you might need to enable you to make the best possible choices, by helping you to be well informed about your rights.
• Work with families to enable your child to have the best possible health.

The Childhood Autism Service exists to empower and support children and young people with autism, from 6 to 18 years of age and their families, in County Mayo. This service supports families and children to access appropriate opportunities to learn and develop their potential and to live as equal citizens.

We are working to achieve this through the provision of quality services, informed by internationally recognised standards of best practice, delivered in an individualised, innovative and flexible manner to provide comprehensive support to children and their families. We are committed to providing professional and clinical services that facilitate and enable each family and child to work towards and achieve their unique personal outcomes.

The Service is based on the following core values and beliefs:

• The team strives to work in partnership with children and their families. We respect that the parents are the experts regarding their child and that they may require support to enable them to make sense of and use this expertise. We will endeavour to assist parents to access balanced information to make informed decisions.
• We recognise the role of other services in supporting these children, both within the Association and from other agencies, statutory and non-statutory, in particular the Department of Education and HSE West. We aim to work in partnership with them to offer quality service provision to the children and their families.
• We are committed to enabling children and young people to become valued members of their community, and recognise the importance of working towards inclusion and inclusive opportunities.
• The Service works to utilise and enable communities to accommodate and support the differences in the young people we support.  We endeavour to do this by facilitating change within community-based organisations and general attitudes within local communities.
• The Service recognises the need for accountability, in particular for the quality of the services offered and the effectiveness of the delivery. We believe that it is therefore essential to monitor and evaluate the achievements and skills of children and young people using a range of assessment procedures, using approaches that focus on achievements, abilities, strengths and potential of the children and young people.
• The Service is committed to an evidence-based approach to the understanding of autism and of interventions and is committed to developing in line with emerging research findings. The Service will seek to contribute to this knowledge base through research and dissemination of our work and experiences.
• Team members bring a unique contribution through their individual experiences and knowledge. The Service is committed to the continuing professional development of it's members.
• The team works with respect and empathy for children, young people and their families, being open and honest in relationships. Respecting and maintaining confidentiality is an integral aspect of the Service.

What can you Expect?

This service provides support to the child and family from the point of school entry (or diagnosis, if this is later) to school leaving.

For this group of children, the Department of Education has the primary responsibility for intervention services, however, the children and family may continue to require access to additional specialist, autism specific services. In addition HSE is responsible for provision of Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physiotherapy for school age children.

We provide home and/or community based services, as these are the principle and natural environments for the child and family outside of school. These supports can include Social Work, Psychology, Behaviour Support and /or Autism Resource Worker.

The support for school age children and their families aims to provide age-appropriate opportunities to enhance the child's personal, social and leisure opportunities as part of an inclusive community.  This is seen as an important contribution to the child/youth to develop as an independent and competent adult.

We do this by:

• Determine the families priorities and provide support to meet these priorities.
• Developing each child's skills, using detailed, individually planned learning.
• Supporting the family, including siblings, to develop mutual understanding and promote the changes necessary to accommodate the child.
• Developing the child's experience of the community, recognising the importance of age-appropriate activities and the skills that support community presence.
• Providing specialist support and advice to the Department of Education and individual schools to enable them to develop appropriate services for the child.
• Supporting the child and family through the school leaving  process.
• Encouraging and supporting continuity of experience between schools, home and elsewhere.

The School Age Service ends when the young person leaves school or turns 18, whichever is later.

Contact & Address Details

Western Care Association

John Moore Road

Castlebar

Co. Mayo

Telephone:      094 9025133

Email:             info@westerncare.com

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Western Care Association provides a range of services to adults in the Mayo area. We support people with their chosen living options, respite services, day options and helping to build social networks in people’s own communities.

We are committed to supporting people to gain meaningful employment and to ensure that education and training needs are met.

LIVING OPTIONS

The Association provides supports to people who are living in Group Homes. A number of people share a house whereby staff offer support to help them lead fulfilling lives.

Another model used is a situation where people who are more independent and require less staff support live in the local community. Staff provide support where it is most needed.

Some people are supported to live independently in the community. Supports are in place to ensure they have a good social life, have the opportunity to have hobbies and have the chance to build friendships.

The purpose of all these services is to support the individual to live as independently as possible, with the necessary level of support from the Association and lead a good quality of life.

RESPITE SERVICES

Western Care Association offers respite services throughout the county. This service is designed to give service users and families a break. Such services allow an individual to use a group home for a short period of time. This is an opportunity to support the person to develop their social activities, to learn some new skills in a different location and to experience the opportunity to live away from the family home.

DAY OPPORTUNITIES/RESOURCES

There are day opportunities available to people with varying levels of support offered. The focus is on community participation with most activities/opportunities that we support

• Training opportunities across a range of skills for individuals. This training can be offered both within WCA buildings and using community facilities.
• Advocacy Supports and Personal Development
• Opportunities to build social networks and building real friendships
• The opportunity to experience a range of options in the world of work
• Employment opportunities
• Leisure and recreation opportunities

Western Care Association has developed a number of innovative projects to support adults with a learning disability in the world of work. Such initiatives include the development of enterprises which offer employment to people. We support people to work by offering on the job training. This support incorporates training, coaching, monitoring and social support. The level of support is determined by the needs of the person. Many of these initiatives are developed in partnership with local employers.

OUTREACH SERVICES

Offers ongoing support to people who do not avail of our services and who may need a point of contact or intermittent support.

VOLUNTEERS

The participation of members of the local community in the activities of each service is welcomed and promoted.

Families are involved at many levels in services through:

• Direct contact with services that visit their homes.
• Regular contact with day and residential services,
• Formal contact through meetings and discussions about how services can best support them.
• Informal contact through staff they know very well to discuss their concerns and issues as they arise.

The organisation values and relies on family input in forging a future for people with disabilities in Mayo.

BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT SPECIALISTS

The Behaviour Support Specialists work collaboratively with the individual, family and others who support the person to develop a range of supports to address the meaning of behavioural difficulties. This collaborative process involves meeting with the individual and those who support him/her, assessing the nature of difficulties, and then developing a comprehensive range of support strategies. These strategies will typically include changes to the environment to meet the individual’s needs, teaching the individual replacement skills as alternatives to behavioural difficulties, implementing strategies to develop appropriate behaviours, and developing strategies to respond in a safe and respectful way to difficult situations when they occur. We also provide guidance in relation to developing more supportive environments for the individual to promote independence, skill development, and community involvement.

Contact & Address Details

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The needs of individuals and families are assessed in a supportive professional approach, addressing the concerns of the individuals with learning disabilities and their families at any given time. The service is delivered through the provision of a home-based approach or within Western Care Association offices.

The focus of the Social Work Department is to support and enable people to address difficulties as they arise.  This can be facilitated through the use of 1:1 counselling, family counselling, group counselling, group supports, networking, and other appropriate interventions as required.

The role of the Social Worker is to respond to the emerging needs of the individual and their family (where appropriate) in a planned co-ordinated approach, focusing on the particular areas of self esteem, self confidence, independence, individual rights and entitlements.

What is Home Sharing About?

Home Sharers provide a service in their community, to our service users, having been recruited, screened and trained to undertake the role of providing a break in their own home for a child/adult who has a learning disability for usually short periods of time. Homesharing provides opportunities for the child or adult to develop new relationships, participate more in their communities, and experience an increased sense of inclusion in their community and environment.

Who can apply?

Anyone over the age of 18 years, who is interested in becoming a Homesharer.

Are any qualifications needed?

No, academic qualifications are not a necessary part of any application.  Common sense, warmth, understanding, patience and flexibility are the qualifications necessary.  A training programme will be provided to applicants once the initial application process is completed.  Applicants are also asked to take part in an assessment and sign consent forms to allow us to process Garda Clearance, a HSE check, and two references, plus a reference from your G.P.

How long of a commitment am I expected to give?

Being a Homesharer is a very individual thing.  Home sharing schemes fit in with most individuals own lifestyle and commitments.  Homesharers themselves determine the level of availability they can provide.

For example, one Homesharer may be in a position to offer a child or adult three weekend breaks a year, another might be available for occasional day or overnight stays, weekends monthly or indeed some Homesharers prefer a more regular and long term commitment, like every weekend, or Monday to Friday.  Some like to offer a week or two weeks holiday type break in summer.

If at anytime Homesharers feel they are no longer in a position to provide a service, they can at any stage talk to a Social Worker about their changing circumstances and can agree a planned ending to their placement.  They will not be contacted about further placements unless they wish to remain on our panel for future reference.

Homesharers do take breaks from offering placements and may decide to return to being available again at some later stage.

Do I know who is coming to stay?

Prior to placement, Homesharers are provided with a descriptive picture of the child or adult, they are considering having in their home, outlining their abilities and needs.  In all cases, the children or adults, are “matched” to a Homesharer they are going to stay with, bearing in mind your availability and level of commitment you are offering and their abilities.  This is to ensure, in so far as possible, the success of the placement.

Introductions are made gradually between the Homesharer and the child/adult, through the Social Worker involved.   In preparation for placement a number of other visits will occur before the child or adult first stay on their own.

What support do I get?

Homesharers are provided with contact telephone numbers and details of back up supports which they can contact.  They also have ongoing contact with their Social Worker.  The child/adult’s parents also provide the Homesharer with relevant information and contact numbers.

Why is there a need for Home Sharing?

Irish Society is changing, family units are becoming smaller.  Increasing social mobility, can lead to people becoming isolated in their communities. Close, family networks, which used to be a greater source of support, may no longer be the norm for a lot of people.

Service users have demonstrated to us that Homesharing is an option that they would like to consider and quite often prefer to avail of, as a first preference in service supports run by Western Care at the time.

Constant caring can be demanding and at times may become overwhelming.   The provision of Home Sharing has been found to reduce stress, strain and burnout in families, and so providing a valuable means of enhancing families’ coping resources.  As some families don’t have the option of help from family, neighbours or friends, it remains with the service providers to make available alternative forms of support.

Why Home Sharing?

Homesharers, create further opportunities for participation and inclusion for our service users in their communities.  The concept of “family/partner/individuals” based support not only provides support in the community but also support by the community.  It upholds the principle of social inclusion, which is the right of every individual.  It promotes choice for the individual service users as to who (s)he might like to live with and what social and leisure activities (s)he may want to get involved in.

Homesharing takes account of service users, right to be treated with dignity and respect, their right to presence in ordinary places, their need for opportunity to develop a wide range of relationships. It supports their right to make choices about daily life and activities and follow their personal goals in life. Finally it recognises the need we all have, to have opportunities to develop new skills and abilities which will enable us to become more involved and contribute to our community.

The Community Facilitation Service is an integral part of the Social Work Department within Western Care Association.  The service is based in Castlebar town and immediate area, and in recent times has developed supports for individuals in Westport town.  The service was initiated in 2001 when the Social Work Department recognised that there were a large number of people with intellectual disabilities who were living and working and striving for independence in the Castlebar town area.  Many of these individuals had found themselves in vulnerable situations where they required a particular discreet support and at that time had nowhere to turn.  In 2001, the Community Facilitation service was set up to support 14 individuals; this has now developed into a more comprehensive service while maintaining its discretion, supporting up to 60 individuals.

Community Facilitation offers;

• A confidential person centered service.
• A positive, original, innovative and individualised service which strives to meet the needs of each person.
• Discreet supports to adults with intellectual disabilities living independently in the community and also support to individuals who are moving towards independent living.
• Supports to individuals who work in the community, together with supporting individuals who are seeking employment.
• Individuals an opportunity to address key areas of their lives, e.g., loneliness, isolation, poverty, relationships, sexuality, personal safety, rights, social inclusion, housing and health.
• An inclusive and fresh approach to opportunities that are an essential aspect of the service mission, to deliver a holistic and meaningful intervention.

Health and Wellbeing

• Encourage and support individuals to live and maintain a healthy lifestyle by providing information and evidence-based research to enable people to make informed decisions, based on their individual needs.
• Support and facilitate individuals to attend medical, dental and other personal appointments as needed to support a fulfilling life.
• Support and guidance where necessary in the process of applying for Medical Cards/GP Visitors cards and other entitlements.
• Support, liaise and work in partnership with the Adult Mental Health Team to address health concerns that may arise for individuals given their chosen lifestyles.
• Explore with individuals how best to facilitate their needs in order for them to attain a healthy lifestyle from a holistic approach, e.g., healthy diet, good mental health, sexual health and healthy relationships and general well-being.

• Encourage and support individuals to keep safe, using a holistic approach, e.g. safety in the home, road safety, personal safety, sexual safety etc.
• Arrange and facilitate informational talks and/or attend same at external agencies around keeping safe.
• Liaise with the local Gardaí to raise awareness around vulnerable adults in the community and how best to address safeguarding.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

GENERAL DESCRIPTION