p.jones@cascade-care.co.uk

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Vicky Hall CEO
Cascade Care Ltd

The recent report from the Commons Justice Select Committee
“Justice Reinvestment”
(published January 14th) highlights the unsustainable rise in prison numbers in England and Wales and the vicious circle of reoffending this perpetuates. Currently 66% of all sentences are for less than 12 months, the majority being for non-violent, low level crimes.

For the high proportion of offenders with mental health issues, short prison sentences offer little opportunity, if any,
for effective treatment and rehabilitation. So we welcome the Justice Committee’s recommendation that money should be re-directed away from custodial sentencing for these low risk offenders (and the massive costs of new prison builds if trends continue) towards community based offender management and healthcare where more effective (and, importantly, less costly) treatment and rehabilitation can take place.

Private sector providers will have an important part to play in all this. But for
this to happen, we need Trusts and Commissioning Bodies to show a greater readiness to engage with companies like ourselves to share ideas and develop services.

Some Trusts are already doing this, recognising both the expertise that established providers can offer, and the economic sense of looking at partnership arrangements. The National Delivery Plan of the Health and Criminal Justice Programme Board, published November 2009, also stresses the importance of closer collaboration between the public and private sectors.

At Cascade, we have a clear aim to be the easiest organistion you can work with. This isn’t just about working collaboratively at local level to facilitate the wellbeing of service users. It’s also about thinking strategically, and growing our provision to meet wider needs. The key to all this is in the word partnership. It’s a word we hope to hear a lot more of in the future.

Right:
Cascade 6, Enfield
(See Profile of Anita Nicholas, Home Manager, below)





Partnership is at the heart of everything we do at Cascade.

Partnerships with our service users, for them to take full ownership of their care plan. To work in support of them at all times, to prepare them for move-on.

Partnerships with Care Coordinators, clinicians and multi-disciplinary teams, to facilitate the best outcomes for each individual service user.

Partnerships with Commissioners, to deliver the high-value quality of care we promise.

Partnerships with agencies in the community, to widen social includion for our service users.

Partnerships with employer organisations, to develop the skills of service users and secure a fair deal for them in the workplace.

Partnerships with the families of service users, to provide guidance and support.

Partnerships with the community in the vicinity of our Homes, to promote confidence in our ability to manage risk, and reduce the stigma of mental illness.

Partnerships with our staff, to provide them with the training they need to make all these things happen.

Each month we profile senior members of staff working in our Homes. This month’s profile is of Anita Nicholas, Manager of Cascade 6, in Enfield.

Anita Nicholas, Manager of Cascade’s residential unit in Palmers Green, epitomises Cascade’s hands-on care approach. Now in her fourth year at Cascade, Anita is one of our most accomplished Home Managers.

Before joining Cascade, Anita worked extensively in the public sector, initially in a Support Worker role, then in ‘intensive support’ supervisory and management roles both within residential units (16-19 year olds and adults) and in the wider community.

Partnership is at the heart of Anita’s care approach. “When service users come to us, so many of them have become used to being told what to do. They have given up making decisions about their lives, because decisions have always been taken for them by others. Usually by people
in uniforms”

Nigel was typical of someone who had become institutionalised. “When he came to us on step down from a medium risk psychiatric unit, he needed telling what to do. He was an intensely private individual, someone who lacked confidence and found it hard to trust others. That was two years ago.”

“Today, he lives independently in the community, has a responsible job in information technology, and has recently married. The change, quite simply, started happening when Nigel took ownership of his care plan, and starting taking decision for his life. It sounds easy to talk about it now, but these were really big steps for Nigel. But once he saw how his life was changing for the better, there was no stopping him. That’s the satisfaction of this job for me”

 
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Company reg info:
Cascade Care Ltd, Registered in England No 5654058
Registered Office:
11 Staple Inn Buildings, London WC1V 7QH.

 
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