Our Offering of Service
Blossom Living provides a safe, vibrant and warm environment in high specification accommodation, with private rooms, TV & Wi-Fi, all fully furnished with brand new items (see Accommodation section for full details).
24-hour experienced, qualified, fully screened and DBS checked staff
Fire and Safety assessed and certified accommodation by Essex Fire & Safety Department
Installed L2 Fire Alarm System fully tested BS5839, Own PAT tester
CCTV monitoring in communal areas
Skills training for independence, certified by ASDAN
Onsite training hub providing transition to education, employment, apprenticeships and training programmes
Onsite psychologist providing therapeutic support for trauma, challenging behaviour or other personal development needs
Rewards system
Assisted travel service and travel training
On-going support for those who have moved to independent living
Experienced placements officer for matching and placements
Experienced team with many years of working with vulnerable young persons.
For more in-depth information about all our services, and further details on how our is organisation run, please contact us to request our PDF e-brochure.
Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children
We support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) aged 16-18. We help the young UASC and their social worker to seek legal representation, and with completing forms and communicating with the Home Office. We arrange interpreters where needed. In addition to the education, employment and training services that we provide, will also help the young UASC with learning English if required, by arranging extra tutoring and courses as part of their personal portfolio.
We liaise with Coram, the Refugee Council, The Children’s Society and the Home Office.
For young USAC with little English, we provide them with a translating device to help them communicate until an interpreter can been arranged.
Fire Safety
We have up-to-date fire safety certification. We have been checked and assed by the Essex Fire Safety Service.
We follow Essex Fire Safety Service guidance and all staff have received fire safety training from them.
We have installed an L2 Fire Alarm system that has been fully tested to BS5839.
All fire equipment is supplied and checked by Essex Fire and Rescue Service.
All doors are self-closing fire doors providing protection against both heat and smoke, and smoke and heat detectors are installed throughout.
We follow the Essex Fire Safety ‘Fire and Safety’ risk assessment log with routine checks made daily, weekly and annually.
For further information about Essex Fire Safety please visit http://www.essexfiresafety.com
Education & Personal Development
We have our own onsite training hub purposely designed for our young persons, providing an inspiring, calm environment where they can work at their own pace with 1:1 support. We are a Registered ASDAN centre and members of the Leaving Care Training Hub. All our staff are ASDAN trained. ASDAN courses are a great option for young people not in education, employment or training and who may find it difficult to engage with local education providers, or simply haven’t identified their strengths and interests yet.
The Leaving Care Training Hub provides easy to follow online training courses. Staff will assist each young person until they are able to work independently. We also arrange private Home Safer staff and vetted tutors for Maths and English for 1 hour per week, should the young person require further support with these subjects.
ASDAN and the Leaving Care Training Hub have a wide selection of programs, training and qualifications available. Each course completed by our young residents will be added to their personal achievements and development portfolio. Short courses are focused on completing challenges and skills development according to individual ability, rather than attainment at a specific level. Blossom Living also runs a rewards scheme where we provide a rewards voucher for each certificate attained.
When the young person has established a keen interest in a particular career area - for example, floristry, cooking, or animal care - we link them with resources in the community that will encourage their interests, cultivate their ideas, and help raise their aspirations. For example, this may include finding voluntary work in their area of interest, supporting their attendance at relevant events and day trips. Our goal is to continually encourage young people to explore new ideas, to keep them engaged in their journey towards independence.
On completion of their ASDAN or Leaving Care courses, we will help link the young person to apprenticeships, employment or further education.
We are privileged to have a wide choice of options available for our young residents. We have strong connections to local education and training providers - mainstream and alternative - offering a range of courses, higher education, apprenticeships, training and employability courses:
- Colchester Institute
- Colchester Sixth Form
- Nova Training
- Plan B with Youth Essex
We provide support for each young person throughout their education and skills journey.
Matching & Placements
Moving can be a daunting experience. Blossom Living hopes to make this process as smooth as possible for all involved, ensuring young people are placed with the correct appropriate level of care to meet their individual needs.
When considering referrals, Blossom Living will always try to match both the needs of the young person referred and of those already in placement. In order for us to make an informed decision, we ask the local authority to provide as much information as possible by completing our online referral form.
We aim to respond to all referrals immediately. Within a 24-hour period. Blossom Living has an experienced placement team that evaluates the placement referrals and risk assessments from the Local Authorities to ensure that the young people’s needs are met by the residence and staff. Due to this process the young people who reside with us will be introduced to us in a planned way.
A support package will be discussed prior to meeting the young person. This and will have to be agreed in principle by the local authority and manager of Blossom Living prior to meeting the young person. Once an agreement has been made in principle and we are able to offer a place, a meeting will be arranged for the young person to visit us with their social worker. We will show them around and then have a meeting about their pathway plan. This will be discussed with the young person at this point to ensure their voice is heard with their wishes and feelings fully involved in the support package.
We will discuss with the young person the support we offer and what it will be like living here. We will explain our expectations in terms of behaviour and boundaries and what young person can expect back from us. Once the young person is happy to proceed and ready to accept the opportunity at Blossom Living, we will provide an information pack and arrange a moving in date. At this point, we will also introduce them to their allocated keyworker.
We understand however that in some circumstances a planned move cannot be arranged due to emergency. Blossom Living has a 24-hour on-call service and so we can accept an emergency placement, but we only have one emergency bed per residence. Once we have identified the young person’s needs, we can decide whether they will be able to move into the accommodation.
General Enquiries
Telephone: 01206 970452 or 07830933392
Email: admin@blossom-living.co.uk
For Referrals
Telephone: Tara 07830933392
Email: admin@blossom-living.co.uk
Our Counselling Psychologist
Counselling psychology deals with a wide range of mental health problems such as depression, but also eating disorders, psychosis, personality disorder, negative life events, bereavement, domestic violence, sexual, emotional and physical abuse, traumas and relationship issues. Counselling psychologists consider how people relate to one another, how they think and behave, their experiences of the world and how they function in their everyday life. This will include exploring people’s social, economic, cultural, spiritual and physical health experiences. Counselling psychologists use psychological and psychotherapeutic theory and research. They work to reduce psychological distress and to promote the wellbeing of individuals.
We are very fortunate to have a registered Chartered Psychologist as part of the Blossom Living team. Our psychologist will deliver 1:1 sessions and informal drop-in visits for our young residents. Our psychologist works closely with the staff and will contribute to team meetings and LAC reviews. They will also have input on the initial referral assessments to help identify the level of emotional support required by the young person.
Our counselling psychologist employs useful techniques to help the young person to engage in sessions. The key to successful engagement in counselling/therapy is for the young person to feel safe in being able to talk, without feeling under pressure to do so. Our psychologist also contributes to staff meetings and supervision, incorporating coping mechanisms and techniques to further help our staff support residents who may be going through personal difficulties and challenges.