Instantly with Dimensions we had the feeling we could work together. It just felt right…
Karen, mum to Ellen
Recruiting the right people
If we’re looking for a new colleague to support your relative, we’ll ask you to get involved.
As well as having the right values and skills, we make sure our support workers are well matched with the person they’ll support; this means looking for people with similar interests and complementary personalities. This is important to help with building a trusting and enduring relationship.
You can help us write personalised job descriptions. You can help us interview candidates and you can see how they interact with you and your relative. This helps us choose the best person for the job.
Colleague Appraisals
To help make sure our colleagues provide good support in the right way, each year we’ll ask for your feedback for their appraisals. This is an important opportunity to both compliment their work and raise any issues you feel need focusing on.
Everyone works better if they get praised. You can really help your loved one’s support to be successful by complimenting colleagues for a job well done. Just knowing you notice the little things can make all the difference.
if things are not going well, don’t wait for the appraisal. Speak up, and let’s catch things early.
A Person Centred Support Plan is the start of a relationship between Dimensions, a person we support and you as their family. It is active document, owned by the person we support, that lays good foundations for a full and happy life.
Every year, we celebrate the achievements and the life of the person we support through a Person Centred Review, which renews our understanding of what matters to the person we’re supporting, refreshes their aspirations and helps them to see what’s possible, identifies the things they’re finding a challenge and agrees how we can best support them to live the life they choose,
We’ll ask you for your close involvement throughout.
Groups and feedback
Each of our areas has its own way of working with families to meet local needs but some things are consistent:
Members of our executive team, board and other senior managers visit regularly to listen to families and the people we support.
Each region hosts at least one listening event each year to which families are always invited
Every year we conduct an anonymous family survey, asking for your views in order to improve aspects of our support.
To find out how to get involved, contact your Locality Manager or Operations Director. Find who to contact through our ‘Local contacts’ page
One Page Profiles
Everyone who works at Dimensions or is supported by us has a One Page Profile. This summarises who you are as a person and helps everyone to understand what is important to you and how we can work well together.
It enables us to match each person we support to each colleague who supports them.
We encourage you to create one too. It will help build strong relationships across your loved one’s support team.
The Family Portal
Have you signed up for the family portal yet? Contact your loved one’s manager to get set up.
The family portal, co-designed with Dimensions’ families, provides you with a brilliant new window into the daily life of your loved one. And by bringing you even closer, we think it will help make our support better, too.
Daily diaries, photos, notes, health updates… whatever your loved one consents to share will all be in the family portal for you to review at the click of a button!
Not with Dimensions yet?
Once your local or health authority has defined your relative’s ‘care and support plan’ and established your budget – usually a direct payment or individual budget – our Referrals and Assessment Managers can begin to work with you. You may need to ask to be referred to Dimensions.
Our assessment team will consider a wide range of support options and opportunities when thinking about how the support we provide can best meet your Care and Support Plan and budget. This is a collaborative process; getting the best outcome is not always straightforward but we have specialists in place who can help overcome particular challenges.
Almost everyone Dimensions supports has a learning disability or is autistic. Beyond that, we support people with a very wide range of gifts, abilities and needs; from people with complex health or behavioural needs to those simply needing a few hours support each day.
There is a strong sense of forward planning across the team, underpinned by integral knowledge of each person’s current and historical needs, as well as ongoing collaboration with family members and other professionals.”
