The Challenging Behaviour Foundation (CBF) is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year
We started in 1997 with no funds or resources – other than a belief that getting good information and support to those who needed it would result in better lives.
Our vision when we started was (and still is) that children and adults with severe learning disabilities, whose behaviour is described as challenging, have the same life opportunities as everyone else. Our ultimate goal is that there is no need for a CBF to campaign for this, because it happens.
Our Trustees have remained determined to focus our work specifically on children and adults with severe learning disabilities and challenging behaviour and their families, as these individuals and their families are often isolated, marginalised and excluded. This clear focus ensures that we are able to concentrate on the issues for this client group – and our approach has been that if we are able to get it right for these children, adults and families, we will be putting things in place that ensure that we also get it right for others. Person centred approaches to support for people with complex needs will deliver better outcomes at every level.
Working in partnership is a core CBF value and we work closely with other organisations in the learning disability field, to ensure we are co-ordinated and avoid duplication. In fact, in the past 15 years we have been able to build some great relationships with all the key stakeholders in the sector. We take a strategic approach and aim to be a key player in influencing and practice - we launched the challenging behaviour national strategy group (CB-NSG) in 2008 as a vehicle for a broad spectrum of stakeholders with an interest in challenging behaviour to work together.
The CB-NSG now has almost 150 members from children and adults services and across education, social care and health. It includes clinicians, other voluntary sector organisations, people with learning disabilities and families, regulators and researchers. The strategy group has worked on a number of high profile projects, has jointly produced resources and influenced Government and other stakeholders on issues around challenging behaviour.
The CBF was founded by a family carer, and families are at the heart of all our work. Our information service has expanded and developed and we are now able to provide a range of resources including information sheets, DVDs, newsletters, training courses and individual telephone support (all free for families). Since 1997 we have helped numerous families who have found themselves isolated and lacking in information at key times of their child's lives. Even without advertising at the beginning we were receiving enquiries from families who were in need of support.
Our family support work during the last 15 years has grown to meet demand – and these family experiences enable our national influencing work to be informed and based on real life experiences. The combination of this bottom up and top down approach is more likely to enable us to achieve good outcomes for more individuals and their families. Our vision of not needing to exist remains, but so many families and individuals still in need of our support and intervention means that it is not likely to be achieved just yet.
Visit: http://www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk/
