Broadview awarded NAS Advanced status!

Broadview is one of our residential services in Hampshire, supporting up to six adults with autism and learning disabilities. We’re delighted to announce they are the latest service to be awarded Advanced accreditation status by the National Autistic Society. (NAS)

Led by Service Manager Alison Murray and Operations Manager Karen Falconer, the team provide an active and friendly environment for the people we support.

We spoke with Alison and Karen to find out more about how they achieved this incredible recognition, and what it means for the people we support.

What was the process of getting to Advanced status like for you?

We did our basic accreditation with the National Autistic Society around three years ago. At the time our autism lead, Raj, identified that we were already working at an advanced level and encouraged us to apply for the Advanced assessment soon after.

Unfortunately, the pandemic hit, so we couldn’t go ahead with this, but we continued to push forward with this goal in mind. The team knew that everything we planned to implement, big or small, would make a difference when we eventually had our Advanced assessment.

When it finally came to our assessment day, the NAS assessor came out to Broadview and carried out observations on our team, the people we support and looked at the overall support work we were providing.

What did you implement that contributed to your success?

We use a system called ‘My Active Day’ sheets. They evidence what activities the people we support get involved with and how these contribute to their skills development. It’s an interactive approach and we support our residents to fill the sheets in. They tell us what they did, what the experience meant to them, and what they gained from it.

Whether they’re building friendships or improving independent skills, every activity is important in their development. Being able to evidence this progress is particularly important during an NAS assessment.

What do you think were the key factors in achieving Advanced Status?

The way we interact and engage with the people we support in our approach and support styles has been one of our key success factors.

We have lots of visual aids around the service, including an activity board in the house and an emoji board in the garden.

There’s also a tree in the lounge that the people we support hang chore cards on. This interactive approach is so important!

It empowers the people we support to get involved in activities, which helps develop their daily living skills and independence. Visual cues also help the people we support to process information easier and can help reduce stress and challenging behaviours.

We’ve actually removed all MAPA and safety interventions throughout the house as a result of this approach. We’re at a point where we can now use verbal cues to manage challenging behaviours. Achieving this across the whole household is incredible.

How were the people we support involved in the assessment process?

We prepared the people we support in advance and encouraged them to communicate any concerns they had. The assessor was with them for a whole day, observing them doing different activities, and talking to them about the support they receive.

It’s a lot of change for them, so it was important we communicated what could happen on the day, and the purpose behind the assessment. We did rehearsals with them to ensure they felt comfortable and reassured about the process.

Everyone we support has capacity to understand the process and the benefits of having the Advanced accreditation. They got really excited about the assessment and were so involved with the assessor – she couldn’t get a word in; they were so chatty and excitable!

What‘s next for Broadview?

We’re determined to reach the next accreditation level, which is Beacon status. As a team, we know how hard we work to achieve outcomes for the autistic people we support, and that’s why we were awarded Advanced status.

As soon as we got this recognition, our Voyage Care Autism Lead Raj encouraged us to reach higher and go for Beacon status straight away.

As our autism lead, we felt honoured that he saw the potential in us to obtain yet another great status so quickly!

We’re halfway there and as the dedicated team we are, we’ll remain committed to achieving Beacon status!

Find out more:

To learn more about our specialist autism support and how we can support you, a loved one or a client, complete our quick and easy form, and a member of our team will be in touch.

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