The intervenor service in the Devon area supports children and adults who are deafblind or single sensory impaired with additional physical or learning disabilities. It is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in accordance with the Domiciliary Care Standards. Deafblind people who are assessed as requiring an intervenor service will receive one-to-one support from an Intervenor.
Services for children
An Intervenor after school time and at weekends means the children can access various activities which they would be unable to access on their own.
Activities for children receiving the intervenor support include horse-riding, archery, swimming, arts and crafts, massage, music, Rainbow Guides, train trips, cooking and outings to various places of interest which provide stimulation of the senses.
We have recently been awarded funding through the ‘Aiming High for Disabled Children’ initiative which has enabled us to start the GOT (Get Out There) Group for young people aged 11-19 years living in Cornwall who have a visual or multi sensory impairment. The group enables these young people to access a whole range of activities during weekends and school holidays. There is a strong focus on developing living skills, sensory simulation and socialising.
Services for adults
Intervenors can organise holidays for individuals, either individually or as a group. For the last few years many of the individuals accessing our services have enjoyed a camping holiday at a specially equipped site in Surrey. The intervenors work on Monday to Friday generally between the hours of 9.00am and 5.00pm or 10.00am and 6.00pm.
The Intervenor team
The service is provided by a team of full time and part time Intervenor and it is open 48 weeks of the year.
Intervenors are recruited to meet the needs of the deafblind person they will be supporting. Deafblind people or their carers can be involved in the recruitment process.
All of the Intervenors attend a five day Intervenor training course which focuses on specialist forms of communication, the importance of consistency, structure, practical strategies to build high levels of trust, perceptiveness and relationship building with families. In addition, all Intervenors are expected to complete specialism induction modules within their six month probationary period. Sense induction training and mandatory training is provided and staff are encouraged to complete an NVQ in Health and Social Care during the first two years of employment.
Download our calendar of Intervenor training courses (.pdf, 608kb)
Contacting the Intervenor service
The contact details are below.
Sense
Sense Intervenor Service
Providence Court
37 Northernhay Street
Exeter
Devon
EX4 3ER
Telephone 01392 426374 or 01392 433269
lisa.burwood@sense.org.uk
lorna.mackie@sense.org.uk
More about the service
Read the service's Statement of Purpose (pdf, 237KB) to learn more about the service.
