Our Approach

Everything we do is tailor made for individuals, because we know that no two people are the same. Our aim is to make hopes and dreams a reality.

At Positive Futures, we respect and value the uniqueness of each individual and tailor our support to meet these unique needs.

Our philosophy is that everything is possible. When we’re told something is impossible, it may take us a little longer, but we’ll do that, too.

This approach is what makes us different.

Helping people live the life they want

“The Life I Want” – empowering adults with a learning disability, acquired brain injury or autism to have choice and independence to live the life they want now and in the future.

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A variety of person-centred tools are used throughout “The Life I Want” process to help us learn and understand what a “perfect week” looks like for each person. By thinking about what each person would like to do with their support hours, we can begin to assess what is achievable, and how we can ensure the person receives the right amount of support to enable them to achieve the life they want.

By empowering the people we support to make their own decisions, and by challenging our own thinking about how we can fulfil these wishes, the people we support can achieve greater choice and independence to live life as they choose.

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Positive Futures’ “The Life I Want” process gives people power to transform their own lives

The story of 3 ladies who completed “Planning Live” shows how this approach gives people power to transform their own lives.

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A pioneering project is helping people with a learning disability, acquired brain injury or autism to tailor their own support for a better life.

“The Life I Want” approach was introduced in Positive Futures in 2014.

It has helped to give three women supported by Lakeland Supported Living Service in Fermanagh greater control of their own lives.

Positive Futures’ Chief Executive, Agnes Lunny, said: “The key difference between this and any other kind of support is that it looks not just at what’s important for the person, but what’s important to them. What’s important for them might be, for example, making sure that they’re safe. But what’s important to them are the things that make life worth living. It might be as ambitious as a desire to visit New York, or it might be more modest, like wanting to go to church on Sunday.”

One of the three women involved in the pilot project in Fermanagh, Breege Corrigan, wanted to go to bingo. Now, she attends every week with a staff member she chose to support her. Eveline Elliott has an interest in gardening. Now, she’s involved in her own gardening project, again with a staff member of her choice. Davida Monaghan is looking for a placement as a volunteer and is being supported to do so.

All three women – who share a house – have been the key players in deciding what’s best for them.
The process starts by bringing together a team including family members, friends, professionals and other relevant people to take part in what’s known as a Planning Live event, which takes place over two days. It uses a number of person–centred tools to decide what’s working or not working in a person’s life. It then establishes what a perfect week would look like from that person’s point of view. The final step is to hold a second event to use all the information gathered to provide a package of support that’s just enough to enable people to fulfil their wishes and lead more independent lives. By avoiding “over–supporting” someone, it hands over control to the individual in question.
By empowering the people we support to make their own decisions and by challenging our own thinking about how we can fulfil these wishes, the people we support can achieve greater choice and independence to live life as they choose.

Some examples of this include:

The three women involved being able to spend time in each other’s company without staff involvement.

Davida and Breege being able to use their existing staff support to enable them to go on a three–day break.

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Positive Behaviour Support

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) is a person centred, values-led approach that promotes respect, dignity, inclusion, and a life without unnecessary restriction. PBS is about working in partnership to improve the quality of a person’s life and that of the people around them. This includes children, young people, and adults, as well as older people.

PBS provides the right support at the right time for a person so they can live a meaningful life which includes participating in activities and learning new skills that promote independence.

PBS is an evidence-based approach that uses different methods to gather information to enable us to understand what a person is communicating when they are engaging in behaviours of concern. By understanding the behaviour, we can change the way in which we support the person to reduce the likelihood of the behaviour of concern occurring. Knowledge and understanding of behaviours of concern also enables us to empower the people we support to develop new skills and less harmful ways to get their needs met.

Our PBS team are there to guide and train staff to support the person effectively and in a way that best suits the person’s individual needs. Our training is accredited by the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) and Positive Futures is a member of the Restraint Reduction Network.

Our Services