Welcome to Your Odyssey.
Welcome to your new home.

Sometimes young people are unable to live with their families and are taken into care by the local authorities. This is when you could live at Odyssey. It accommodates boys and girls aged 11-18.

Odyssey is staffed 24 hours a day 7 days a week. All staff have experience of working with young children, adults or vulnerable people and are passionate about working within the home to support you. You will have your own Key worker who will work with you in line with your Care Plan. We have both male and female staff here. There is always someone to talk to.

You will be introduced to the manager and to your key worker. Staff will be given your care plan, that will tell us how we can support you. The rules of the house will be explained. You will look around the house and be shown to your room. Staff have an outline of your history so you don’t have to repeat yourself all the time.

You will have your own bedroom, which staff are able to lock for you. Staff will knock and ask permission before entering your room, however there may be occasions when staff will have to enter without prior permission such as a health and safety matter. Some bedrooms have their own en-suite bathrooms and all bedrooms have a double wardrobe, chest of drawers, desk and chair.

We at Odyssey would encourage and support young people to try and keep their bedroom tidy, clean and organised. Young people are responsible for their belongings.

ALLOWANCES: During your time at Odyssey you will receive weekly pocket money. More details of the allowances will be given during your introduction to Odyssey.

Saving & learning to manage money is important. We can assist with arranging a bank account and budgeting skills. Pocket money is given to you on a Saturday morning.

Take up an active hobby

Being active is all about having fun. If we don't enjoy it, we won't keep it up. We all deserve to spend some time doing something we enjoy.

Green fingers

Why not swap the living room for the garden? Gardening is a great way of getting outdoors and being active. You could even have fun growing your own veggies too! Staff at Odyssey will encourage and support young people to participate and pursue hobbies of their own interest.

Odyssey staff will always encourage you to have a healthy and balanced diet. We ensure that any specific dietary needs are met. We aim to encourage young people to take part in the cooking and planning the weekly menu's. Supper will be ready most evenings at 6pm, where we enjoy eating together where possible.

YOU MAY NEED TO ESTABLISH A SLEEP ROUTINE TO ENSURE YOU GET ENOUGH SLEEP TO ATTEND SCHOOL OR COLLEGE.

Your key worker will support you in establishing, if needed, a routine that enables you to have enough sleep to enjoy your day.

TIPS FOR GOOD NIGHT SLEEP:

Try to keep the following sleep practices on a consistent basis:

Stick to the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends. This helps to regulate your body's clock and could help you fall asleep and stay asleep for the night.

Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual. A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime, conducted away from bright lights, helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make it more difficult to fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep, or remain asleep.

Avoid naps, Especially in the afternoon.

Exercise daily

Evaluate your room... Clear space= Clear mind &peaceful sleep

Staff at Odyssey will help you to learn life skills that you will need for independent living. Staff will encourage you to play an active role in the day to day running of the home.

WE WILL SUPPORT YOU IN EDUCATION

WE WILL SUPPORT YOU WITH HOME WORK

DESK PROVIDED IN BEDROOM FOR QUIET STUDY AREA

We will ensure that you are registered with local health professionals i.e. G.P, Dentist and Optician.

Staff will ensure that your medical records are confidential and kept safe

RELIGION

• You will be supported to celebrate your religion and religious holidays

•Have access to the appropriate religious material

•No religion? That’s Ok, this is also respected

BIRTHDAYS

Your birthday can be celebrated:

How you like it

Its OK if you do not want to celebrate it.

Staff will work with you to make the day as special as possible

• Not to be discriminated against on the ground of race, culture, beliefs, gender or sexuality

•To receive an education that supports my personality, my talents and my emotional and physical abilities to the fullest extent.

•To enjoy my own culture and to use my own language.

•To be protected from abuse including sexual exploitation, prostitution and involvement in pornography

•To be kept free from illegal drugs and from being involved in their production and distribution

•To be protected from physical abuse, neglect or degrading treatment feel free to speak with your key worker further about any of these issues and for details about how to make a complaint

You will be provided with the information on how to make representation or a complaint if you wish to do so. You will be provided with the support to understand the process and your right to raise an issue or concern in relation to the home or the care you receive. This will be without the fear of criticism or adverse consequences.

We want you to feel and be happy living at the home, “so if we can help, we will” Throughout your time living at the home the information will be readily available on how to make a complaint, you will also be supported through consultation at house meetings and key working sessions.

Please don’t wait to be asked, seek out staff to talk to them about your grumbles or concerns.

Your complaint will be acknowledged in writing from the senior management team, and a resolution meeting will be held with you if you wish to proceed. A solution will be sought to resolve any issue that you might want to raise.

This might include involvement from third parties, the home will endeavourer to find a resolution for you in a constructive and timely manner.

The home will actively support you to access advocacy and advice, numbers are also held within this guide to make contact with an advocate, but you can also contact your IRO or social worker, we can help you with this also.

“Remember we can’t fix everything but we will try our best”.

You can also contact Ofsted – 0300 123 1231

Topic’s to talk about

• Decisions about your future

• Discussions about your rights

• Choice about your daily living

WEEKLY HOUSE MEETINGS will allow you to raise any issues or worries you may have, as we believe your opinion is important.

You will be encouraged to have active involvement with the decision making for your house.

Bullying, whether verbal or physical is strictly against Odyssey house rules and will be reported to your social worker.

If you are being bullied or think someone else is being bullied, speak to a member of staff.

Emergency Services 999

Non Emergency 101

Child Line 0800 1111

NSPCC 0808 800 5000

Ofsted 0300 123 1231

Local Police

Registered Manager:

Responsible Individual:

FIRE SAFETY:

What to do if there is a fire:

DO

Stay calm

Press the nearest fire alarm.

Make your way out through the nearest fire exit

Meeting point

DON'T:

DO NOT open any doors other than the ones you need to escape through

lf a door feels hot, do not open it

Do not go back inside the house, until it is safe

Meeting point - TBC

•There is zero tolerance for the misuse of drugs of any type.

• No smoking or vaping in the home, front or back gardens. This is for all our safety. If you need support to not smoke we can help you with that.

• Any smoking or drug paraphernalia will be confiscated if brought into the home. If we have concerns you are taking drugs or bringing them into the home a room search will be conducted by staff and the police might be contacted.

• No loud music – speakers are prohibited in the home and will be confiscated (please have consideration for everyone in the home and our neighbours

• No physical contact or play fighting in the home, this is for all your safety.

• No washing after 9pm (this should be done during the day) if you need something washing at night for the next day please ask the wake night staff to support you.

• No cooking hot food after 9:00pm, if you are hungry take some snacks, or the wake night staff will support you.

• No personal belongings to be kept in the communal areas (please take responsibility for you own personal belongings and items. Odyssey will not be held accountable).

We like you to follow a bed time routine so follow your own individual plan for this, after 10:00pm the communal areas are closed, you have everything you need in your bedroom.

• Visitors can come to the home but this needs to be agreed and planned for and authorised by the manager.

• Please do not enter another young person’s bedroom unless authorised to do so. If you agree, then the bedroom door must remain open and staff will be checking on you, if you break this rule you will not be allowed to have friends in your room.

• Do not borrow or lend your belongings to other young people for example games, clothes or money. (Odyssey will hold no responsibility in lost or damaged items or belongings).

• We plan to check your room weekly for any health and safety issues, but this could increase if we have concerns you have items in your room that could cause you harm, you will be made fully aware of this. This is to comply with health and safety law, rules and regulations

• Odyssey works with a zero tolerance to any form of bullying.

• The team in the home are here to support and care for you, we do not use physical restraint with children in our care as we feel it is not nice to use this when working with children, so we would like you to respect this and not try and hurt the staff in anyway.

• We provide you with everything you will need in your room and bathroom, if you deliberately break items in your room you will be set up a repayment plan to replace the items that have been broken. We could decide together to not replace items if they keep getting broken, but we do want your room to be nice for you.

• Your own mobile phone use, you need to use your mobile phone if you have one as intended, if it is evidenced you are not doing this it will be addressed with you and your social worker. You must not take photos of the staff or your peers, including on TikTok or any social media

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