Supporting Your Independence

This approach aims to support you after an illness, when you have a disability, or when you may have lost some confidence. Support will be provided in your own home and will be tailored to help you achieve the results you want.

Supporting Your Independence will help you:

• build up your confidence and stamina with daily living tasks such as making a hot drink, washing or dressing, getting in and out of bed, chair or bath
• learn new ways to undertake daily activities that are important to you
• become as independent as possible

How Supporting Your Independence works

An occupational therapist or someone from the Supporting Your Independence Team will visit to ask you about how you manage your daily tasks, and may ask you to show how you do some of these tasks. You can discuss what you'd like to improve and the areas that are important to you such as getting washed and dressed or making a meal.

Support at home

After the assessment a support plan will be agreed with you for an initial period of up to six weeks. Home carers will then visit you to give you the support you need to achieve your goals. Throughout this period we will monitor the level of support you need. There will be weekly reviews to see how you are progressing and an opportunity to identify any further goals. At this time your original support plan may be altered to meet your changing needs.

Review

There will be a more formal review of your support after four weeks when we will discuss and agree with you whether you have achieved your goals, and whether you will need ongoing support. If you don't need support we will withdraw so that you can live independently. If you need ongoing support after the six weeks, we will arrange this with you. This will normally be provided by our Home Care Team, although there may be occasions when we have to call on a private Home Care provider but we will discuss this with you and you family.

Home care diary

You will be given a personal home care diary which gives details of your personal support plan, including the support that the Home carers will offer you. It will also note your progress on a daily or weekly basis as appropriate. The care diary will also include details of the staff involved in your support and how to contact them.

Charging

There may be a charge for Supporting Your Independence. The amount you pay will depend on a number of factors, including your ability to pay, the types of support you receive, and the level and cost of the service. You will never be charged more than the actual cost of providing the support. For more information on the charges for these services please see Charges for Social Work Services.

You can watch a short film on Supporting your Independence.