Training and Development

We see training and development as part of our overall commitment to Future HSC people.

We therefore incorporate a love of learning and personal growth into all we do. This keeps us motivated and engaged with our work, personal growth and the people we support. It also enhances our service delivery by ensuring we use current good practice at all times.

Future Staff

• Training our staff is a key priority at Future HSC.
• The staff journey begins with the mandatory training and the initial induction programme
• Staff then move on to our full staff training programme which continues throughout their time with us and, in keeping with our mission at Future HSC, has a strong emphasis on the needs of vulnerable people, mental health awareness, good practice in health and social care and personal growth.
• Staff receive training in a wide variety of subjects and specialisms such as Mental Health First Aid, New/Novel Psychoactive Substances (formally known as ‘legal highs’).
• We are also committed to developing our staff through Supervision and Appraisal the progress and needs of each staff member are identified and supported.

We also have a keen eye for particular strengths and talents amongst our staff members and invite them to develop those skills in the Future HSC context if they so wish.

Our Board Members

We are committed to board training and support our Board Members to keep themselves fully informed of developments in relevant fields including legal developments, government policy and governance matters. Thus bringing back their learning to share with their Board Members and for dissemination through in-house training to staff, tenants and service users.

As with all our Future People, we are always happy to support Board Members in their personal development either through encouraging their participation in relevant learning and activities or by supporting them in particular projects.

Our Tenants and Service Users

We are very committed to providing our tenants and service users opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge and to grow in confidence and personal awareness. We have been able to do that through our Involving People activities within the organisation, this has included SKILLS TRAINING to support people with participation in our Flexible Future Forum and Friends of Future groups.

The opportunities we offer to tenants and service users to take part in both the Skills Training courses and the Forum and Friends groups is part of our commitment to developing tenants and service users whilst they are with us here at Future HSC.   Many of them have told us that these activities have helped them to gain more confidence, express their views clearly and speak in public.

We have also been able to train and support tenants and service users to deliver training which has been a great source of satisfaction for all involved. This has included a Training Session on Person-Centred Planning in which one of our service users, who went on to become a tenant and volunteer with us, delivers training on his Ladder Support Plan which he has developed to express himself through his experience and knowledge.

Our Housing Officers

All our tenants receive support to maintain their tenancies from our Housing Officers in addition to care and support packages they may also receive from other providers.

Our Housing Officers maintain regular contact with our tenants, visiting them in their homes, offering assistance with a range of issues including:

• maintaining the property in a secure and well-kept state
• ensuring repair and maintenance issues are dealt with in a timely and thorough manner
• making sure all equipment at the property is in good working order
• identifying, monitoring and addressing any health and safety issues at the property and regular inspections
• managing issues around nuisance, rubbish, vandalism and damage thus generally ensuring that the property continues to be a quality living environment

Our Housing Officers can also assist in a more personal way by:

• supporting tenants with rent and financial matters, including discussing benefit needs
• signposting tenants to other services and facilities in the locality that might enhance their life and general well-being
• hearing and responding to tenants’ needs, views, and suggestions
• assisting with tenant involvement in planning, reviewing and improving Future HSC’s services

One of our Housing Officers, S Mohammed, described his role as follows:

”My work as a Housing Officer encompasses a lot more than the basic job description now that we are supporting tenants with mental health issues, learning disabilities, and those referred to us by the Probation Service. It involves not merely supporting people with their tenancies and helping them achieve more independence, but also assisting them to access local services, to build bridges, and to become part of their local community which they might find challenging at times. This role gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction. You have aims and goals and, although the process of gaining more independence might take people a long time, you do eventually see the results. You feel that both you and the tenant have achieved something important.”

One of our most long-standing Housing Officers, Mark Brooks describes the enormous satisfaction he derives from his work assisting people to develop and grow supported by the secure base of their tenancies:

‘‘We feel we are there to encourage, to uplift, to help people improve their quality of life, to help them prepare better to move on independently and to signpost them to other services and activities in their communities. The reward for us is seeing that things are coming together for our tenants; that they’re giving us feedback that they’re feeling better and that they’re becoming more active and happier. Some of our tenants have come from difficult situations such as hospital or prison, and it is very satisfying to see them beginning to realise their potential. If people are ready, we can support them into volunteering or paid work and generally work with them to avoid them becoming isolated and discouraged again.”