Inroads has developed a highly skilled team of individuals who are able to help with and have impartial input on some of the more specialist areas of support and care planning. Some such as our PBS specialist, psychotherapist and safety first instructors are full time members of staff.
Others such as our occupational therapist, communication adviser, and mental health first aid consultant are retained by Inroads on a consultancy basis to ensure our staff team have access when it is needed.
Inroads also has a full time trainer allowing us to do bite sized training sessions in-between full training days to ensure our staff remain upskilled in the most important areas of their work such as first aid, medication training and safe guarding.
What is PBS.
The PBS model has become the corner stone of modern and progressive care and blends person centred values (normalisation, human rights, self-determination) and the technology of Applied Behaviour Analysis to support and improve the quality of life of individuals who could be described as challenging and staff who support them.
Underpinned by an extensive and emerging evidence base in research and national policy PBS is an effective approach in enabling capable environments that can reduce behaviours of concern in both a constructive and socially valid ways.
All of the Inroads staff and specialist support are invested in creating a ‘Psychologically Informed Environment’.
A Psychologically informed environment (PIE) is a specifically designed environments where staff have additional training to develop an increased psychological understanding of their work. This enables them to create a supportive environment which can facilitate the development of those living there. The PIE in its self is not a treatment, but rather an approach designed to enable Individuals to maintain and evolve developments they have previously achieved. In care, a PIE is a progression for individuals who have completed some areas of personal development but may be missing some key areas that can be worked on.
Research has shown that establishing and maintaining supportive relationships between staff and the individuals they work with, has been seen as key to PIE delivery, with individuals highlighting the importance of staff availability and respectful day-to-day interaction.