Harbour

Print Flyer

Harbour is our new service for young adults with Autism, moderate to severe Learning Disabilities and complex needs, including associated diagnosis and challenging behaviours. We promise to meet the needs of each person, enabling them to achieve their highest level of independence, to make sense of the world around them, to facilitate communication and to move on to live the life they choose.

About the Property

Harbour is a large Victorian house set within attractive gardens in a residential area on the outskirts of Torquay.

The house has been designed to create an appropriate environment. Two rooms are designed as studios each with their own bathroom and kitchen area, three rooms are en suite and the sixth room has exclusive use of a bathroom. Each room can be decorated to meet individual tastes, choices and sensory needs.

The communal areas includes a kitchen, a large dining room and living room and gardens, which can be used for recreational and leisure pursuits as well as for gardening opportunities.

Specialist Expertise

Harbour is registered to provide services for younger adults with:

Autistic Spectrum conditions
Behaviours that may challenge
Profound or multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD)
Significant communication difficulties

Our service offers:

an individual approach
a planned approach to moving on to independence
a pathway plan, involving circle of support to plan a smooth and clear transition from residential school, residential college or home
proactive and positive risk management which keeps individuals happy and safe
an evidenced and practical solution focused approach which enables clear milestones to reducing one-to-one support, enabling people to become more independent.

Total Communication at Harbour

Our staff are skilled in using total communication methods to create strategies, resources and an environment that develop and enhance verbal and non-verbal communication abilities.

All staff are trained and work within the philosophies of total communication and intensive interaction, and we have a total communication facilitator within the management team who will guide and mentor staff to find solutions and creative ways of working with individuals.

The strategies we use include:

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
objects of reference
social stories
visual strategies
voice output devices
gestural and verbal prompts
multimedia communication systems
sensory diets
positive handling strategies
enabled planning
partnership approach and involvement
an approach that enables individuals to learn to make choices and to begin to take control of their behaviours
rewarding desirable behaviours
positive re affirmation and praise
intensive interaction.

Behaviour Management at Harbour

Intervention strategies are the least forceful and least restrictive. These are developed with and for each
individual, according to need and always in line with best practice guidelines as defined by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities.

We work with health and social care professionals to positively manage behaviours and anxieties through proactive strategies and promotion of self management. Our staff team are trained in de-escalation and positive management techniques.

We have also developed links with outside professionals, who support us to develop individual assessments for each person, depending on their sensory requirements, and coping strategies and relaxation techniques that enable individuals to substitute more appropriate behaviours by rewarding desirable behaviours and positive reaffirmation and praise.