Manager: Jill Firth
Ethos
The home is situated within easy reach of local amenities and adopts a holistic approach to education with an emphasis on relationship building and communication with the young people. As well as this, creativity is encouraged with art, music and mindfulness explored so the young people can build their confidence and individuality with a view to reaching their full potential.
Age of Young People
Dove House can accommodate young people of any age; however normally they are between 8 and 18 years old. The admission process is robust and young people’s needs are carefully matched with co-residents, including age, stage and emotional development to ensure that the placement is in the best interests of both young people, a full shared living risk assessment is completed prior to admission.
Facilities
Dove House is a six bedroom detached bungalow with a large rear garden and a substantial front driveway area. The rear garden is enclosed making it ideal for outdoor activities and summer BBQ’s. As a home, we continue to build upon the facilities in and outside the home.
The property consists of an open plan living room/dining room, kitchen with a utility area. There are six bedrooms in total, four of which are the young people’s bedrooms. Two are used for a staff sleep room, the home also has a separate staff office. There is also one bathroom and another shower room. Within the grounds is an outside office and semi independence training flat. All shared areas of the home are accessible to young people. In the interest of confidentiality young people do not have access to the staff office.
At Dove House, we endeavour to ensure that a warm, homely environment is created to inspire young people to feel safe and secure. The daily routine of the home is centred on the young people’s needs. We make every effort to involve young people as much as possible with the decisions around the home; for example, we encourage young people to personalise their surrounding by actively participating in choosing decoration and furnishings for the home, putting up photographs and personalising their own room.
Our Approach
Consultation with young people is at the heart of all the work we do and the decisions we make about the child’s life are made with their involvement. We provide a nurturing and supportive environment which engages positively with young people and makes every effort to involve the wider system around them to ensure their needs are met.
We work hard to build constructive and warm relationships with young people and have a strong culture surrounding safeguarding issues where staff feel empowered and confident in risk management.
