Unit_4

Unit 4 4.1 Whilst I have been working as a Senior Childcare Practitioner (SCCP) at Total Care Matters I have had to modify how I communicate with the young people as they all have different communication styles, personalities and characters. Sometimes the young people will complain that they are not all treated the same, at times like this I remind them that they are individuals and diverse we often talk about their differences and how this can be celebrated. Young people are encouraged to communicate in young peoples meetings, key working sessions and discussions so that their view and thoughts are heard. I ensure that I use informal methods for communication, such as talking over dinner, or whilst making dinner, gardening, or whilst watching tv, I find these are good places to bring up things that in a formal setting may have an adverse effects, and put pressure on a young person. Also they may not understand what is being said and feel intimidated. We have one young person who although she is 15, her levels of reasoning and functioning are that of an 8 year old, therefore when communicating with her I have to make reference to things she can understand and this needs to be done very informally as part of a normal conversation for instance whilst preparing dinner one day I brought up the conversation about treating everyone fairly and equally as she was bullying a member of staff I asked her how she would feel is someone bullied her mum, as she is very close to her mum, at first she was defensive and said it was the workers choice to work at the unit, however after sometime she said she would not like to know someone was being horrible to her mum. So I use what method suits them best and ensures that they are understood and heard I also ensure that my team members understand the same and implement this into their working practice. (4.1a &b) Within the unit we have a young person who is a lesbian and now wants a sex change and to change her name to a male name. The young person has displayed lots of attention need seeking behaviour over her placement, and this decision does not seem to be based upon her own reasoning however I encouraged my team to support her in her decision, some team members have openly said that they struggle with it and this was addressed in a team meeting, although she is nowhere near ready to embark on such a lifestyle her decision is to be respected and honoured. So I have spoken to my team about putting aside their own views and opinions and work with her as this is how she currently chooses to identify, and this is to be respected within the unit, up until now we have called her she, and now she has asked to be called he, this in itself was slightly challenging as sometimes I forgot and had to be reminded, it was raised with the other young people in a young peoples meeting and we talked about change and how people identify, we also have another young person who is male, who is struggling with his own sexual identification, so within the unit healthy attitudes to sexual preference and identification are communicated by staff. Between to the young people they sometimes make comments such as “that is so gay” this is challenged by staff as inappropriate and I will often ask them to explain what they mean by gay' And have them explain what they mean, and challenge any negative views they display through open and honest conversation. We have another young person has been urinating in his room in communal cups, when he was spoken to he said it was because he did not like waking staff in the night, we offered him his own urine bottle if that would help him and also set up a routine so that he had less drinks at night, he was sanction for the cost of new cups as this was health and safety issue and this was explained to him, the matter was not raised with the other young people they we just given their own cup, he unfortunately did tell them and the other began to bully him, we explained to him why we respected his privacy and did not say anything to the other young people as we felt it would not be safe the matter did die down within a few days and staff ensured that he was fully supported. (4.1.e, c &d) I have supported young people through various challenges within the unit, one of young people’s friend went on holiday and she began to display very negative behaviour, mashing up the house, attacking staff and making threats to seriously harm herself. One particular evening her behaviour escalated out of control and physical intervention was used, she broke free after saying she was calm and threatened to kill herself by holding a piece of glass to her neck, I talked her down and then removed the glass, she broke down and explained that she missed her friend so much and it hurt, she was worried that now they were both leaving school she would not have much contact with her as they were not going to same college and this would mean that she had lost another person in her life, as she her key worker had recently left the unit. We spent some time speaking about the impact of these relationships and how she could make new ones; I shared with her how I had experienced loss and some of the emotions I experienced. I suggested that she access counselling which she agreed she needed. I then put in some safety measures within the unit such as no class products in the bathroom or to be purchased for the young people and replace the glasses within the kitchen to plastic ones. The young person risk assessment was also changed that she was on a 1; 1 and that staff were to have a daily check-in with her, she did not like the 1:1 but understood why it was in place and that it would be reviewed, she asked if staff would give her space and not follow her around so it was changed that only her monies were supervised this way she still had her privacy in and around the unit. I reflected on the restraint with her as I felt that it was not properly managed by staff although I did not convey this with her, my intention was to find out how she felt about it and if she wanted to talk to an independent person which she did not, I explained that she could always change her mind if she wanted too, her behaviour with the support measure in place and the access to talk to staff when she needed to there was a change for the good in her behaviour. With regards to the physical intervention used I raised the issue with my manager about a worker holding the young person in an inappropriate way which I felt added to the situation instead of deescalating it, my manager agreed that she would speak to the worker and if necessary refer them for more training (4.1f, g & j) We had a young person within the unit that talked about staff and young people behind their backs, but face to face she would not saying anything about what ills she had with them. At first we as a staff team and myself included bought into this and would engage in conversation with her, although after a while this became destructive within the unit as she would go around saying “so and so said this or so and so said that” and it was having an adverse effect within the unit as young people felt that staff were talking about them, and she also complained and made up things about staff. I spoke to her about how her behaviour was effecting other young people as some of what she was repeating was private and imitate things that this was breach of their trust as when she did disclose things as staff we had a duty of care to act. I asked her how she would feel if her information was repeated and revealed and she seemed to understand what I was saying. When she did have conversations about others behind their back staff were now encouraged to say that she needed to speak to the person directly, and if she needed support staff where there to support her express herself. When she talked about staff, I would ask her what she wanted me to do and I would always explain that she could make a complaint which she did on a number of occasions; although I would not write the complaint for her I would show and tell her how she could go about making her complaint. Once as a staff team we stopped engaging in these conversations with her she began to do it less and less. (4.1 h, & i) 4.2 Whilst at Fairview as SCCP, we had a young person who would not engage with education, she was severely behind with her education and missed out on at least 2 years of education, she could not spell and her reading was poor. Getting her involved in education was extremely difficult as the CCP’s were not teachers, and she did not respect them in that role, our school was not set up and still going through registration, and she would not attend the school already set up in Leicester at the other unit. She would engage for a few hours them complain she was bored or abscond after lunch time, measure were put in however she would use every opportunity not to engage in education when I spoke with her about this she said that it was boring, and she did not like the fact that she had to stay in all day, in addition I noted that she would engage in education in her dressing grown and clothes that she had slept in the night before, this was clearly not having a positive impact on her self esteem so I spoke to her key workers and asked them to set up a timetable for her what time she wakes up and to ensure that she washes and changes her clothes for school each day. I suggested in a team meeting that we look for creative ways of engaging her in education such as taking her on trips or having her do certain projects, this was agreed and we looked at ways of developing her social, physical and cultural awareness. She embarked on a R.E project about different faiths she really enjoyed this as she got to do internet research as well as this she planned a cultural night again because she was actively doing something she engaged much better. She wanted to work as a nursery nurse when she left school; I explained that without any qualification this was going to be very challenging, and she might not get on a course, she said that she really wanted to work with children as she had looked after her brothers and sisters when she lived with her family, she was also very close to her brothers and sisters and this was demonstrated by the amount of gifts she bought them. We looked at options and connexions were brought in to support her. She looked at college options and possibly attending a mainstream school within the SEN section she was very excited about the possibility of going to school outside of the unit, staff spoke at length with her social worker and her mum, explaining what the process was and how we felt the impact would be upon the young person, my team member was key working her so I supported my team member access all the correct information via connexions and making the necessary appointments. These options promoted more educational engagement although it fell down again as she began to self sabotage we spoke about confidence which I felt was due to her lack of social skills and the thought of going somewhere without staff whom she knew well she might not have been able to cope successfully with this. So we geared her work towards child development so that she could evidence this for college as well as doing basic education. We looked for the option for her to do voluntary work in the future so that she could continue her choose career path. (4.2 a,b,c,d,e,f, & g) 4.3 In the unit we have two young people that pair up and run off site, this to them is game despite making them aware of the dangers of doing this on one occasion they told me that they had gotten into a car and were on their way to Birmingham I informed them that I would be calling the police as I was extremely worried about their safety and welfare and followed through with our absconding procedure. (4.3 a & b) Within the unit I ensure that when on the internet young people are observed two of our young people are on 1:1’s so whilst on the computer they are supervised, there was an issue with a young person trying to access pornographic material however this was managed appropriately and he was sanctioned as others could have found this offensive and he was underage. Another young person was sending offensive facebook inbox messages to another person she was friends with, in the end the other person blocked our young person but she could not understand why, we explained about some of things she had said on the friends wall and some of the highly inappropriate messages she sent, she said that she wanted to apologise for this however as she was blocked she could not do so, I suggested that she leave the matter alone now as there was nothing she could do. She then set up another account unknown to staff and attempted to make contact, we staff became aware she was challenged about it, as she had started sending more inappropriate messages relating to the friends children and social care. I explained that this could be seen as bullying, and if the friend wanted to she could contact the police and that she needed to leave the friend alone. We discussed relationship, and she said that the friend was out of order, I agreed that maybe she was however what she was doing now was sending out the message that she was bullying (she had been calling her names like bad mother, slag and child killer) and it really wasn’t her business to do so and these could been hurtful to her friend, I reminded her of our internet policy that she could not use to send hurtful messages and if she continued she would loose her internet privileges, and I reminded staff that they needed to be super vigilant when monitoring her on the computer and I reinforced that the friend if she wanted to could call the police. (4.2 c, d, e, f & g) We have a young person in our unit, whom I felt was grooming another young person, he would be suggestive and manipulative towards the other young person and they could not see it, he could also be suggestive towards staff, by pretending to be sleep walking in his boxer shorts with an erection, he would do this in front of female staff, and licking utilises in a sexual way. At the unit we were aware that he had been know to “touch” other young people, including young family members and people at school. I challenged him about looking at my breast on two occasions and after doing this he physically assaulted me which resulted in physical intervention being used. In supervision I told my manager that I did not like him or working with him, as he made me feel incredibly uncomfortable working with him, he would sometimes stare at me, and again at times I felt vulnerable and exposed. I explained to my manager why I challenged him about looking at my breast as this was inappropriate and he had also done this to a young female person in the house the incident was properly recorded in line with our guidelines the young person was spoken to so she could give her account, I took notes which I attached to the records and was aware not to ask her any leading questions in case the matter ever proceeded further. My manager agreed that it was inappropriate and we looked at ways of how I could still work with him in a safe way. We ensured that a male member of staff was always on shift and that females were not left alone with him, he was spoken to about his sexualised behaviour and how inappropriate this was and how it could be viewed. I spoke to him with my manager present and told him how his behaviour made me feel and that I would take necessary action if he did it again, we spoke about his behaviour and the lasting effects it could have on him such as the sex offender register and limit his career abilities as he wanted to be a teacher. His risk assessment was updated, and I included the discussions in his closed files, his daily records and his weeklies were also updated. His care plan reflected the need to monitor his sexualised behaviour and record anything untoward, in line with organisational guidelines. His social worker came and visited him with regards to his sexualised behaviour and the impact this could have upon his placement long term and the severity of his actions, an emergency review was called as it was felt necessary to discuss his recent behaviour. (4.3 k&j)