Independent Living Services

 

QEF’s Independent Living Services at Dorincourt, situated just outside of Leatherhead in Surrey, provides a unique service to young adults with physical and learning difficulties. The focus is on raising skill levels and confidence to promote greater levels of independence and awareness of choice.

Dorincourt specialises in supporting the transition from childhood to adulthood so many of our clients are in the lower end of our age category of 18 to 65, coming to the Dorincourt after school or college. The service provided is unique in that it is entirely person-centred with each client setting their own goals through individual learning plans and having a full and active daily time table of sessions and activities. These all have the focus of enabling people to become as independent as possible, from money management to shopping, from planning a social life to arranging and directing any support that they need.

Dorincourt also provides daily input from a range of relevant services and therapies. Health psychology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy are on site while a range of activities is provided by both QEF staff and visiting tutors.

This person-centred approach is driven by the team of Life Coaches, who take the lead on ensuring that each client gains maximum benefit from their time at Dorincourt. In addition, Dorincourt also offers the chance to experience different styles of living for limited periods of time to enable clients to make a more informed choice of how they would like to live when they leave Dorincourt. This provision includes a 6 bed group home and 14 self-contained independent living flats. Clients can use these flats to take some responsibility for their own welfare, often for the first time. They can put the skills they have learnt into practice, within a supportive setting, before they move on into their chosen style of living.