Carr Beck

Schemes: Carr Beck
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Carr Beck is a unique project, which provides accommodation for homeless women over 25 who choose to continue to drink.

Carr Beck works in conjunction with health professionals, social service teams and voluntary agencies to offer a holistic approach to clients' support.

Aims & Objectives

Our two core aims are:
• To support clients with individual packages of care and support
• To enable our clients to regain independence, self-esteem and dignity

These aims are met by providing high quality accommodation. The project is based on the belief that it is through the provision of safe, secure and decent accommodation that any improvement in the quality of the lives of women drinkers can be achieved. Tenants may stay at the project for as long as it remains appropriate to their needs.

Carr Beck provides an intensive support package using the support / care planning approach with an emphasis on multi-agency working. This is in recognition that the majority of tenants have multiple needs, including alcohol use and physical and mental health problems. We also provide wide-ranging practical support from assisting with shopping and cooking, budgeting and improving daily living skills to expanding their social networks.

Accommodation

The project is comprised of the core hostel and a cluster of six self-contained units in the community.

The core hostel is a large, two storey detached house built in 1996. There are two ground floor flats and four flats on the first floor, each self-contained, comprising a bedroom, bathroom and open-plan kitchen and living area. They are fully furnished to a high standard. One of the flats is fully adapted for use by women with mobility difficulties.

There is also a communal kitchen, lounge and ground floor bathroom adapted for wheelchair users. We also have a stair lift. The ground floor has offices and sleep-in accommodation for staff. The hostel is situated in Middleton, approximately 4 miles from Leeds City centre.
The six cluster units are fully furnished and are situated in the LS10 and LS11 areas of Leeds

Conditions of Occupancy

Tenants are given an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, fixed at six months which is reviewed every six months. Tenants are encouraged to take part in weekly house meetings, which provide an arena to discuss our service. Also, we encourage our clients to utilise LHC's complaints procedure if they are unhappy with their accommodation or support.

Support Services

A holistic approach is taken to service users’ needs: each resident is assigned a key worker and a co-key worker upon their arrival. Key workers co-ordinate the development of personal support plans which are constantly reviewed to help women to manage their lives, maintain their health and limit their alcohol consumption. Our support staff have expert knowledge regarding addictions and work closely with social services, detoxification services, health services and the mental health trust.

Staff Team

The hostel is staffed by four full time Project Workers, supervised by a Team Leader. The project is staffed 24 hours a day with sleep-in workers on emergency call between 10:00pm and 9:00am. The management team as a whole is responsible for the day-to-day running of the project, overseen by the Team Leader. The Team Leader reports to the Service Manager, who is based at the organisation's Central Office.

Referrals

Referrals to Carr Beck must be:
• Women with issues around alcohol, usually over the age of 25
• Single women
• Homeless or in need of more appropriate accommodation.

Making Referrals:

Carr Beck does not accept self-referrals. Referrals come from a wide range of sources; social work teams, Local Authority Hostels, Community Psychiatric Services and various voluntary sector agencies.

Once the team has received a completed referral form we arrange an assessment interview. This interview helps us to determine whether Carr Beck can offer appropriate support to the woman. The prospective client would then be invited to view their future accommodation. Referrals are discussed at our weekly team meetings. We aim to respond to referrals within two days and to come to a decision within seven days of completing the assessment.
As Carr Beck is only a small service we do operate a waiting list system, but enquiries are always welcome.

Appeals

Where a referral request has been refused and the applicant or their referrer is not satisfied with the reasons given, they have the right to appeal the decision. Appeals should be made within 10 working days of receipt of the written decision using the accompanying appeals form. Once received an appeals meeting will be arranged within 5 working days chaired by a Service Manager at which the applicant and their referrer have the opportunity to state why they disagreed with the decision. An appeal decision will then be made within 3 working days.