Part of Dimensions, Outreach 3Way is a Sussex charity that provides support for people with learning disabilities and autism and also offers a safe and secure space with a dedicated and highly trained team so support individuals with profound and multiple learning disabilities in East and West Sussex.
With a strong presence in the community and with local businesses, the people Outreach 3Way support enjoy opportunities to connect with people in their local area and to learn new skills. There is a strong emphasis on life skills, work placement, achieving individual and personal ambitions and outcomes, health and wellbeing, arts (including performing) and self-expression. Outreach also has links and options covering short breaks, residential and a collaborative approach with other care and professional providers.
Outreach 3Way is a wholly controlled subsidiary and has a co-terminus Board arrangement.
Outreach 3 Way is a Sussex based charity, part of Dimensions.
The teams have all completed basic training and will be expected to have a good understanding of peoples care plans, which are always personal and bespoke to the individual.
Other mandatory training will be provided to team members if a people’s needs require a more personalised and tailored day, such as, hoist training, emergency oxygen, emergency rescue medication (epilepsy), Peg training (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) or for someone that communicates with vocalisations, body language and facial expressions.
We can assist and support people with continence and personal care; we support people with their lives in a respectful and appropriate way agreeable with the person to ensure all their needs are met.
S.M.I.L.E. day support offers a fully inclusive, empowering, safe environment for people with P.M.L.D. (Profound and multiple learning disability)
We support people across Sussex that wish to attend, S.M.I.L.E. is open to block contracts or private payment on a contract.
S.M.I.L.E. has a strong history of collaboration with the SaLT team, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists. Having such a robust and proven approach to communation ensures the wellbeing of the attending individuals are met and appropriate.
We support people to use their personal mobility equipment such as walkers and standing frames. Postural management support is also offered.
At S.M.I.L.E. have many rooms that offer a wide range of day opportunities, there is a timetable to try to suit everyone featuring, sensory activities such as sensory stories and hand and foot-spas and massage, music sessions, wellbeing mornings, messy play, hand over hand arts and crafts, group sports and outings ensuring people are well placed in their community. Such as: cinema, foot golf, bowling and maintaining a social life.
In addition, we also offer:
An onsite sensory room with sensory lights, padded mats, a swing chair and a heated, padded waterbed.
A wonderful recreational area which is fully accessible with a wheelchair swing and other equipment for everyone to use. This equipment is located in an open space that provides plenty of room for people to gather, mix and meet.
A jacuzzi is available onsite with lights, bubbles and music. This is great for relaxing muscles, relieving painful joints and of course having fun!
The level of team members will reflect the support needs for each person, they work to encourage great person-centred outcomes and achievements for everyone. All of which can be viewed and followed via our iPlanit reporting system online (if the person agrees). We will try to make adaptations to each activity if required to ensure everyone is valued and included.
S.M.I.L.E hold many celebration and awareness days including:
Eid al-Adha
Black history month
LGBTQ+ history month
Cancer Awareness Days
Diwali
Deaf Awareness
Learning Disability week
Book Day
Christmas/Easter
These are always fun and inclusive.
S.M.I.L.E encourage good communication. There are many resources to enable choice and inclusion, including, Makaton and BSL, visual timetables, now and next boards, speaking buttons and about me passports.
We have a wonderful atmosphere, families and other care professionals have recorded that people look forward to coming for the day and that they feel included as there is an excellent level of home communication. S.M.I.L.E has a proven record to retain its team and has a very low turnover, the support is specialised and bespoke.
We offer several community-based groups to encourage personal development, life skills, creativity, and self-expression. We support people across Sussex that wish to attend our groups, places in the Community Hubs are open to block contracts or private payment on a contract.
The Community Hubs currently offer groups that operate across Crawley and Horsham however, we visit and support out of many other locations throughout the year such as Brighton, East Grinstead, Worthing, and we have also been to Croydon which is a South London area to name just a few.
People with learning disabilities may not be able to live completely independently on a day-to-day basis. To have the same opportunities and rights as everyone else in society, therefore they may require some independent support to ensure that they are able to live their lives to the full.
This can be achieved by receiving the right health care; access to facilities and the community; a social life; employment and educational opportunities; housing; the ability to make their own choices and to make their needs and opinions known.
The needs and requirements of each individual with a learning disability can be vastly different, depending on what they are able to do and the severity of their disability. Of course, as individuals we all have different preferences, and so for some people with a learning disability to communicate these opinions, preferences, requirements, and needs, they may benefit for attending an advocacy group.
The word advocacy means in its basic form, active support of a cause or an idea. Ensuring the people we support have a voice is hugely important, as they are often at risk of being ignored or overlooked because they may not be able to communicate verbally or in a “conventional” way. This group will inform people, assist in signposting people to appropriate professionals, and help the people we support to live as independently as possible. Making their own choices and achieving their own goals and focusing on their personal ambitions. The aim will be supporting people to have more control over their own lives in every aspect and learning from each other.
The people we support have a need for seeing and talking to their friends, like everyone else in society. People ask after others and need to see friends and maintain good healthy connections; we understand this, and the need can be very strong for individuals who have levels of autism. Social connection we know is very important and sometimes just the art of listening and talking to others will help people express and feel supported. Without this sort of group in people’s lives some individuals may have a heighten risk of isolating themselves and losing some of the great skills and connections they have already made.
For people with learning disabilities, using public transport can present particular challenges, but that does not mean we cannot help people travel independently.
Increasing someone’s confidence and helping people use public transport so they can do what everybody else does will make sure they are part of their community.
People we support can be supported in gaining the skills that will assist them to go out in their community, we have seen self-esteem and confidence increase with some people over time, the aim would be to remove the idea of people feeling that cannot be present within their community.
Travel training initially includes assisting people to walk specific routes to where they want to go i.e., to shops, Colleges or to meeting family and friends. We understand this could be travelling by bus, train, walking or cycling. We will discuss that some modes of transport may be more applicable than others, depending on the individual or where they live. Ultimately, the aim is to transfer skills learned from a specific journey to all situations of travel within the community or someone’s life.
This can present:
Increased opportunities for people to enjoy their own leisure time.
Increased chances of working.
Increasing chances of a person being able to participate in the local community events.
To live more independently.
Increased independence may mean less reliance on Adult Services in the future.
Social interaction.
Health and wellbeing.
General exercise.
Community engagement.
Learning new skills or building on the one’s in-place.
Ensuring the local community see and understand the needs of others when making adaptions wherever possible.
< hide question”] We have some very artistic people attending these types of groups, team members and the people we support have creating some fantastic works of art. Some of which have been entered and won competitions in the past. We have worked with local community organised events and displayed the creative outcomes in public spaces across West Sussex within an exhibition organised by the Crawley Museum. We have also displayed art work at the Hawth Theatre.
Some of the best ways to support someone with their health and mental wellbeing is when they are enjoying themselves, people do not always recognise this type of activity as anything more than a game of 10 pin bowling however, this enjoyable pastime holds hidden benefits. Also, bowling as a sport that can be adapted to suit almost everyone.
The support team witness the benefits of drama for the people they support who attend this group, it can help people in many ways and offers some great life skills:
Drama builds confidence.
Even the shyest of people can take just a few weeks to gently build up their self-esteem and before long they are more confident to take a full and active part in the group.
Drama helps concentration.
The people we support are encouraged to listen to each other’s ideas and thoughts and to take turns. This helps people to recognise the value of concentration; a skill that is vital in the world outside of their home.
Drama helps develop language and communication skills.
Learning new songs, playing new games, and participating in pretend play, people are encouraged to express themselves both verbally, through facial expression and body language, which is the key to making us all better communicators.
Drama encourages people to cooperate.
Drama games such as improvisation or singing together requires cooperation. People realise that to get the best out of this group, cooperation is a much-needed skill!
Drama appears to help the people we support to understand the world around us all.
The team explore a range of different themes and introduce the attending people to a variety of real and imaginary situations each week, sparking conversations and an inquisitive nature of life.
Drama develops emotional understanding.
By encouraging people to ‘act out’ a range of emotions in the safe and supportive environment people are better able to understand their feelings and develop empathy for others.
Drama develops creativity.
People can view things in new ways and from different perspectives. This group can help people to think on their feet and generate new ideas. Our person-led approach to improvisation and pretend play encourages the development of creativity as the people attending this group lead the direction of the drama session themselves, come up with solutions to problems in roleplay, and respond imaginatively to a range of pretend situations.
We are very fortunate to have some very good support workers who understand the safe usage of computers, we have put together a programme for the people we support. We have designed and group that offers information and direction covering the following for the people we support; it will be delivered to reflect the persons understanding and own needs.
Use of Social Media:
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Covering subjects such as:
Connecting with the world.
What is private information?
Why should you protect it?
Shared computers.
Staying safe!
Who to share with?
Who can help?
Video/Audio for Social Media:
Podcasts
Vlogging
Blogging
Covering subjects such as:
Visual aid for both them and others.
Communicating with the world and people around them.
Zoom Skills.
Social interaction.
Learning.
Medical/NHS.
Help to have more control with initial Doctors and Hospital zoom appointments.
We have a group that offers a placement for volunteering work, this is a fantastic place for people who wish to build their skills required to work in their community. The location is within Crawley and is a shop and a café-based setting, the intention is to help people gain real experience within a work setting that can be documented to their personal CV or communicated during an interview elsewhere. The team member will be at hand to assist if required and each person’s personal development can be at their own speed, this helps the chances of success. We currently run this group Monday to Friday and has been a great success for some, we are always looking for new placements and locations. The shop placements are in collaboration with another charity and the café is Outreach 3Way run.
At QM they have 3 fully equipped spacious rehearsal studios and one control room with an isolated vocal booth available for rehearsal and recording.
This is in collaboration with Adam who is a freelance community musician, music leader and percussionist. He specialises in devising and delivering accessible and inclusive workshops with a particular focus on people with learning disabilities and mental health issues. He is an experienced kit drummer and plays in several bands including the Rock Dogs.
He is the creative force and facilitator behind the local learning disabled band The Coasters and is also the Mestre (Director) of the South’s only integrated Samba band Boom Tribe.
Their priorities focus primarily on:
Young people.
People with disabilities.
People with mental health issues.
Vulnerable groups and schools.
Contact Outreach 3Way via landline phone: 0300 303 9032, mobile phone: 07500 097806 or email: Hello@outreach3way.org
Outreach 3-Way is a Company Limited by Guarantee 1474488 and Registered Charity 278140
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