DISC's Independent Living Service Delivery Unit focuses on independent living and accommodation support for individuals marginalised in the community. Through the National Supporting People Initiative the SDU helps hundreds of people settle into independent living in the community, especially those with a history of offending, drug & alcohol problems, mental health problems and homelessness. We also provide specific support to young people leaving care, vulnerable young parents and to serious young offenders referred to Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programmes (ISSP).
DISC's housing support services aim to provide choice through the flexibility and diversity of delivery. We involve service users in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of our services. We ensure all staff have the appropriate qualifications, experience, skills, training and support to maintain a high quality service.
Through the National Supporting People Intitative our services help hundreds of people settle into independent living in the community, especially those with a history of offending, drug and alcohol problems, mental health problems and homelessness. Our work focusses on the following key themes:-
Floating Support
To enable people to move toward and settle into independent living within the community. We currently provide this scheme to the following groups of people and geographical areas:-
- Single people aged 16 – 25 (Sedgefield, Durham City, Chester-le-Street,
Easington, Wear Valley, Teesdale and Stockton) funded by Supporting People. - People over the age of 16 with mental health problems – Darlington –
funded by Supporting People. - People with a history of substance misuse problems living in Bradford.
- People living in Lancashire in need of support in their tenancy.
- Young people who are engaged with the Youth Offending Service in
Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland - funded by South Tees Youth
Offending Service.. - People aged to 16 to 24 in Hartlepool with a focus on access to employment and training – funded by Hartlepool Borough
Council.
This project aims to give advice and assistance to all those clients referred by the Darlington Community Mental Health Team. The outreach service is held in several locations around Darlington. We offer help and assistance in finding accommodation from all sectors and support our clients into the tenancy. The client is then signposted and/or referred, if necessary, to other agencies for ongoing independent living support.
Support For Famillies
Our project in Sunderland is funded by DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) to provide support to families who have been evicted, or who are at risk of eviction, due to their anti social behaviour. A substantial amount of support is provided which includes liaising with Social Services, Health, Education, Police, Housing Providers and the Local Authority.
Our project in Easington is for anyone at risk of eviction due to their anti social behaviour.