How we train our staff

We’re committed to developing positive relationships with people’s families, so together we build the best support possible.

We believe this relationship and rapport is essential for effective person-centred support, and achieving our vision for people. Basically, it’s about working together to make sure someone has a good life, and as far as possible one they would choose.

We also recognise that the quality of support we give is of primary importance to families, and we invest all we can in our employees development.

At Avenues we have a shared belief that well-supported people support people well, and all staff go through our induction and training programme, which is endorsed by Skills for Care.

Understanding families

Avenues staff receive comprehensive training in working with families through a package that was developed for  Skills for Care and is now used across the wider adult social care sector. It can be adapted to tailor it to the size of the group and the expectations of providers, the people they support and their families.

Avenues Learning and Development Manager Shane Carroll said: “Families play a critical role in understanding the individual being supported; developing and maintaining the relationship and rapport with them means we can develop better services and support people to live the life they want. Avenues has a deep commitment to doing this”

Jim Thomas, Programme Head for Workforce Innovation at Skills for Care said: “Families, friends and carers are often a vital part of the life of someone who needs care and support. When services know how to work well with families, the outcomes for individuals can be improved. Whilst this sounds like a common sense approach, some employers have a culture that sees families as a problem and difficult to work with.

“The training framework sets out some good practice guidelines about what adult social care employers and their staff need to know and do to work effectively with people’s families, friends and carers. These range from how to ‘establish positive relationships with families, friends and carers when your service is new to them’ to how to ‘maintain appropriate communication with families’.

To find out more about the framework and training package, visit the Skills for Care website –  www.skillsforcare.org.uk/families

Tori and Emily are the daughters of Mandy and Nigel Mullett. Here the Mulletts talk about the challenges of being a parent, looking for support for a family member,  and the support from Avenues …

Looking for support?

If you are a looking for support for a family member you can give us a call on 0300 323 0405 and your call will be answered between 9am and 5pm on weekdays (excluding bank holidays).