Stepping Out Blog

Stepping Out have years of experience providing Young Offender Accommodation In Hertfordshire, London and surrounding areas – in the form of semi independent living.

We are a specialist training, education and social care provider offering accommodation and support to young people and adults with complex needs.

Stepping Out provide six specialist, gender specific provisions to young people whom have a history of offending and gang violence and other complex needs. These young people are accommodated within small homely environments with staffing on-site 24 hours per day.

Below, we have set out a comprehensive plan on managing young offenders in Hertfordshire.

We are nationally recognised as one of the UK’s best semi independent living providers. We have years of experienced backed up with intensely training and managed staff, who are always present at our semi independent living projects across Hertfordshire.

We provide specialist care and support services to children and their families, care leavers and adults with: Challenging Behaviour, Mental Health Issues, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorders, Learning Disabilities, MAPPA cases, Sexually Harmful & Sexualised Behaviours,  Self-Harm, Suicidal Tendencies, Dual Diagnosis, Alzheimer’s and Early-Onset Dementia.

Risk Control:

Avoidance:
The best way to avoid incident is to pre-empt, if we see that a service user is at boiling point we will not continue to push the issue. At all-time our staff will use de-escalation techniques with service users whom they fear may be violent or are getting worked up, if this fails then the individual should be given space.

If staff find that two service users are entering into an altercation, staff should not leave them, ideally we should prevent this escalating by withdrawing the aggressor and trying to engage them in a differing task or subject. Ideally a staff member should remain calm and should verbally ask the young people to calm down and discuss their differences like adults. A good method is to ask the young people to sit down and write about their issues, this can then be shared with the other client and can be resolved in a mature manner.

Under our strict knife & safety policy it is extremely unlikely that any sharps will be accessible to young people, though we must also consider drink glasses, plates and general crockery to be a danger, therefore again in order to prevent any serious issues we immediately remove any objects that can be used to harm others.

Distance:
Staying at arm’s length from all service users at all times whilst ensuring we do not enter in to their own personal space is paramount in order to de-escalate or reduce possibilities of incidents occurring. This will greatly reduce the risk of a staff member being struck by a service user who is aggressive.

Note:
Staff should always ensure that they are the closest to an exit when in a room with a service user. Therefore you should not let a service user stand between yourself and the only entry/exit to a room.

Absconding:

This procedure can be discussed with the relevant social worker; we can set a specific curfew that the service user must abide by for example returning to the provision by 11:00 pm latest.

In the event that we cannot maintain contact with the service user and do not know where she is we will do the following:

• Report service user to the local police (missing person team) inform them of the risks she poses to others and her vulnerability.

• Contact local authority EDT and provide them with an update plus relevant Reference numbers.

• Seek to contact service user every half hour throughout the night where possible using telephone, SMS messaging, BBM (blackberry messenger), WhatsApp and or other relevant communication methods.

Vulnerability and Safeguarding

Stepping Out are renowned for our monitoring skill and use common sense plus technology to ensure we are able to keep our clients safe whilst also establishing reasons that trigger negative behaviors. Those young people whom are at risk of sexual exploitation may receive visits from differing males on a regular basis. Our house rules state that visits will need to be vetted before they are able to access the provision, this usually takes 24 hours and will need to be confirmed in writing by the clients social worker, this removes the risk of us allowing residents to socialise with friends whom may be a negative influence and or may be a risk to others.

Our provisions are gender specific therefore we do not allow any male visitors unless family or professionals. Our staff members are tasked with taking note of any unusual behaviors around the immediate grounds of the provision to include driveways and parking spaces in order to ensure our young people particularly females are not entering vehicles where they may be at risk, vehicle registration numbers will be noted and passed on to relevant social workers and police if deemed necessary (important to deter others from seeking to exploit/abuse our clients)

To find out more about Stepping Out’s Young Offender Accomodation In Hertfordshire, contact us.