Posted19.12.22
Moving into Evolve: our commitment to you
Moving into supported housing can feel a bit overwhelming, or even intimidating. It’s a new place full of new people, and you might have had a very difficult time before you arrived.
You may be tired, anxious or stressed, and the first moments can be a bit of a blur as you try to familiarize yourself with a new place. Then what happens? We start offering you loads of information and asking you to sign lots of paperwork.
We know this isn’t ideal, but there are policies and procedures that we just have to follow when someone gets here, mainly to make sure that they can feel safe throughout their stay.
However, we’re aware that it can feel like a lot. It might even make people feel like they aren’t in control or that we are the ones in charge of their lives. But that is not the case. We are here to support people – we work for them, not the other way around.
Because the power should be with our residents more than with us, we have a customer Charter which lays out our responsibilities and commitments. This Charter informs how we work, and keeps the wellbeing of customers at the heart of everything by focusing on several key values:
- We will respect the dignity and privacy of all customers, supporting them in any way we can to help them reach their goals. That includes helping with access to education, training and employment.
- We want our services to be welcoming and safe community spaces. Our staff are inclusive, friendly, helpful and considerate. They will involve people in all decision making, and help them establish the networks they need.
- We will ensure that everyone staying with us has a safe, comfortable environment, maintained well and kept to a high quality.
- We will provide support based specifically around people’s individual needs, informed by the conversations we have with them. Residents will be directly involved in decision-making concerning how their service is run to ensure that it responds to their needs.
We understand that sometimes people can feel a bit powerless when in new places like supported housing. That’s why these commitments are so important, and inform everything we do. They mean that people staying with us are at the centre of everything, as they should be.
Louisa Bull is Customer Engagement Manager at Evolve.
