The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth Housing Support Service
55 Albany St Edinburgh EH1 3QY
Telephone: 0131 557 4059
Type of inspection: Unannounced
Completed on: 16 December 2019
Service provided by: Service provider number: The Rock Trust SP2003002606
Service no: CS2004056512 Inspection report
About the service
The Rock Trust was established in 1991 from an ecumenical group of churches in Edinburgh. who wished to do something practical for young homeless people. The service provides support to up to 70 young people. At the time of the inspection the service was operating almost to full capacity. The trust now works in both Edinburgh and West Lothian with homeless and socially excluded young people between the ages of 16 and 25 years, providing:
Supported accommodation in a mixture of shared and single flats (including specific ovisionpr for young parents) and with host families.
Move on support to those moving to their own tenancies with volunteer and mentoring services, to help young people who feel isolated.
A drop in cafe where young people in crisis can gain emergency support and medium term support around housing, money, relationships and employment.
The supported accommodation service consists of three discrete parts:
Bedrock Edinburgh, Bedrock West Lothian and Housing First (which operates in Edinburgh & West Lothian, providing support to young people in their own tenancies, whether council, housing association or private).
The Rock Trust aim is to: 'advise, educate, and support young people. We want to enable them to build the personal skills and resources required to make a positive and healthy transition to adulthood, while avoiding or moving on from homelessness.' The service states its objectives are as follows:
To support young people by providing stability in safe accommodation.
Support young people via time limited housing support and assistance, through the transition to adulthood.
Support young people in accordance with relevant legislation and guidance.
What people told us
We visited the service on 27.9.19 and on 15.11.19. During our visits we did not meet anyone being supported by the service. Following our visits we spoke, by telephone, with 4 people being supported by the service. We sent 16 Care Standards Questionnaires to people being supported by the service. Six of these were completed and returned to us.
We received very positive feedback from the people we spoke with. Staff were generally described as friendly, helpful, supportive and non judgemental.
People we spoke with made the following comments about their experience of being supported by the Rock Trust:
'The accommodation was really clean. The people I shared with were nice. They helped me learn to cook. Staff went the extra mile. Staff are flexible. When you go into the Rock rustT they make you coffee and are extremely friendly.'
Inspection report for The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth page 2 of 8 Inspection report
'They've helped me with everything - they've changed my life. They've helped me to be more open-minded. They ... They helped me with my life skills ... Staff are non-judgemental. Staff are good at defusing situations ... I couldn't be more happy with the service ... The service provides a duty service, you can always see someone just not necessarily your keyworker.'
'A staff member helped me when I self harmed ... She understood I couldn't control it. It really made me feel better. They lift my mood and help me feel happier. They know how to do their job.'
'They helped me get my own house. The staff are lovely ... Staff are professional. Staff are very flexible and knowledgeable. I feel respected. I feel they've helped me improve my lifestyle. They helped me look for work. They helped me apply for and get a grant to kit out my new tenancy ... I got help quite quickly after contacting them.'
'The accommodation is in a really good location. Staff are really helpful and supportive. They work round my other commitments ... They signpost me to relevant agencies. My keyworker makes phone calls on my behalf as I'm anxious on the phone ... My worker got me new kitchen utensils ... My support worker is very helpful and supportive, she helps me with my mental health, she's understanding, she helps me calm down, she's more helpful than health professionals. My coping skills and lifestyle have improved due to the help I've had with my keyworker. I've got a good relationship with my keyworker. She's brilliant. I feel she cares about me.'
'I've got a tenancy agreement in a Rock Trust flat ... it's a self-contained flat. I love that flat so much. Its my fist home where I feel safe, I feel I can study, no-one can come in ... I've got everything I need in my flat. It's so lovely ... It's so pretty and there's a garden .... They are fabulous. They helped me with my finances ... The Rock rustT work with you, you become a team. I've got a good relationship with my keyworker - she's so kind. If they can't give me the help I need they find out who can and they get back to me. They have helped me get my life back on track. I want to live a life that is full of joy. I've finally started living life; I get to enjoy my life. There's a big difference between living and surviving. I think they are doing so much that's helpful. I wish they could help more people because I've had such a good experience ... what they do is more than enough. Staff are professional, they put down really good boundaries, I know where I stand.
Self assessment
A self assessment was not requested prior to this inspection visit.
From this inspection we graded this service as:
Quality of care and support 5 - Very Good Quality of staffing 5 - Very Good Quality of management and leadership not assessed
What the service does well
We found, from speaking with people being supported within the service, that they felt their views were heard and influenced developments in service provision. This reflected the strong relationships which individuals had established with staff members. There was an active service user involvement group which had designed promotional leaflets about the service.
Inspection report for The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth page 3 of 8 Inspection report
We found that people received both practical and emotional support. From speaking with people and reading individuals' support plan records we noted that support provided had included assistance with benefit claims, assistance in liaising with (and attending) external agencies, support to live healthy lifestyles, support to cope with mental health difficulties and support to develop skills in independent living. We found that there were detailed support plans and risk assessments in place for individuals. This helped to ensure that support was delivered according to assessed risks and needs. We noted that there were child and adult protection policies and procedures in place which helped to ensure that risks were minimised.
Support was offered on a 1:1 basis in addition to providing individuals with the opportunity to participate in group activities, if this was of interest. Available group programmes covered a range of activities including cooking, music, art, film making, photography and furniture restoration.
We found that people being supported were able to progress to different levels of service provision as they developed skills in independent living. We spoke with people who had initially been supported in group living arrangements who had then progressed to living in self-contained flats.
We noted that the staff within the Rock Trust worked closely with professionals based in relevant partner agencies. Staff participated in multi agency core group meetings. This partnership working helped to ensure that supports delivered across agencies were streamlined. An example of partnership working had included initiatives which had involved being proactive in supporting individuals at risk due to serious addiction issues. Staff members were knowledgeable about support available from local agencies and, where appropriate, they referred people to suitable agencies for specialist support as required.
We spoke with professionals who worked in partnership with the Rock Trust and we heard the following comments:
'They are very solution focussed. They are good at finding solutions. They think outside the box. They work with the young people to identify the right resource for them to access.'
'Myself and my team find them eallyr responsive. They're happy to think creatively about how to help young people.'
'The staff are well trained and well established. They go the extra mile. We get quality and relevant information but it doesn't breach GDPR. There is good communication between our staff and their staff. They provide stability to the people they support.'
Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable about the needs of the people they supported within the service. Staff had good access to training in order to provide support which was effective. Staff had access to a range of online training programmes as well as being able to participate in in-house and external training. The service employed a training and development professional who continually reviewed and developed the staff training programme. Staff training had included child and adult protection, trauma informed practice, professional boundaries and sexual exploitation awareness. We noted that the service maintained a database of training completed by staff members. This allowed the service management to have an overview of completion of staff training and to monitor ongoing progress towards identified training goals for the team.
Staff told us they received regular supervision and there were regular team meetings. We heard from staff members that team working was strong. We found staff morale was high and individuals felt supported within their roles. Staff told us they felt listened to by the Rock Trust, they felt they were able to contribute to developments within the service.
Inspection report for The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth page 4 of 8 Inspection report
Staff were caring and highly motivated within their roles; they told us they gained job satisfaction from supporting individuals to achieve positive outcomes. Positive outcomes that we observed for people being supported had included achieving more stable lifestyles, securing tenancies and progressing in terms of accessing education and employment.
What the service could do better
The service manager had agreed to establish formal systems for reviewing staffing arrangements within the service.
The service should ensure that they are familiar with the requirements of the Care Inspectorate notification guidance and that we are notified accordingly.
The service has agreed to revise their incident template to include reference to whether or not the incident was notified to the arC e Inspectorate.
Progress with these areas for development will be followed up at the next inspection.
Requirements Number of requirements: 0
Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0
Complaints
There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com.
What the service has done to meet any requirements we made at or since the last inspection
Previous requirements
There are no outstanding requirements.
Inspection report for The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth page 5 of 8 Inspection report
What the service has done to meet any recommendations we made at or since the last inspection
Previous recommendations
There are no outstanding recommendations.
Inspection and grading history
Date Type Gradings 15 Sep 2017 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment Not assessed Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership Not assessed
9 Mar 2016 Announced (short Care and support Not assessed notice) Environment Not assessed Staffing Not assessed Management and leadership Not assessed
14 Jan 2014 Announced (short Care and support 6 - Excellent notice) Environment Not assessed Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership 5 - Very good
5 Jun 2013 Unannounced Care and support 6 - Excellent Environment Not assessed Staffing 2 - Weak Management and leadership 5 - Very good
4 Oct 2012 Unannounced Care and support 6 - Excellent Environment Not assessed Staffing 6 - Excellent Management and leadership 6 - Excellent
17 Dec 2010 Announced Care and support 6 - Excellent Environment Not assessed Staffing Not assessed
Inspection report for The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth page 6 of 8 Inspection report
Date Type Gradings Management and leadership 5 - Very good
2 Dec 2009 Announced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment Not assessed Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership 4 - Good
25 Nov 2008 Announced Care and support 5 - Very good Environment Not assessed Staffing 5 - Very good Management and leadership 5 - Very good
Inspection report for The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth page 7 of 8 Inspection report
To find out more
This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website.
Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough.
Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service.
You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com
Contact us
Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY
0345 600 9527
Find us on Facebook
Twitter: @careinspect
Other languages and formats
This report is available in other languages and formats on request.
Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas.
Inspection report for The Rock Trust - Bedrock and Housing First for Youth page 8 of 8