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Information and resources for families

Families are so important to the people we support, that means you're important to us too! This section aims to include everything you need to know about how we work with you, as well as links to useful resources and websites.

Max's story - choosing Brandon

How we work with you

Our family charter

In consultation with people we support, their families, and staff, we have created a set of guiding principles on how we, as an organisation, work with families in a positive and productive way. We call this our Family Charter.

Creating a family profile

The family profile (Word doc, 76KB) is used to provide a short introduction to the family of a person Brandon supports. It captures key information. This information can help Brandon staff to understand what is important to your family, what you value, and how you and your relative like to be supported and communicated with.

We also encourage people we support and their families to complete a one-page profile about themselves. It can help to match the people we support (and their families), to the staff who support them.

One-page profiles and family profiles sit at the heart of person-centred organisations.

You don't have to complete a family profile, but if you do, we'll only share it with the people that support your relative.

Help us to support families

Recruitment

Where possible and appropriate, we look at ways that you can be involved in the recruitment of support staff for your relative. We think this is especially important where people are supported in the family home. If you're interested in being involved, please contact the person who manages your relative's support.

Special interest groups

In special interest groups, we discuss how to achieve best practice. We actively encourage family members to get involved in the various special interest groups. For more information, please email Julie Plant at julie.plant@brandontrust.org

  • Assistive technology
  • Children, young people and transitions (families)
  • Autism
  • Dementia (focus group)
  • Volunteering
  • Employment
  • Inclusion (focus group)

Training

We know that families are experts by experience. Sometimes family carers talk about their experience and expertise at staff training days. If you'd like to share your experience, knowledge, and advice as a family carer, please email julie.plant@brandontrust.org

Sharing stories

If there's a story that you or your relative would like us to share in Brandon's Family & Friends newsletter, on our website, or in our staff newsletter, please email communications@brandontrust.org and tell us more.

Quality assurance

We want as many people as possible to be involved in improving our services. We think great support happens when lots of people come together and share ideas.

  • Annual survey - Every year we send a survey to the people we support, and their friends and families. It's really important that you fill it in so that we know how we can improve and make sure we're providing a quality service.

Stay up to date

We produce a quarterly newsletter for the family and friends of people we support, called (you guessed it) 'Family & Friends'.

The newsletter is full of up-to-date news and stories about what's happening in Brandon.

You can sign up to receive it on the Family & Friends newsletter page.

We're always happy to hear stories you want to share, so if you'd like to get involved please email communications@brandontrust.org or call 0117 907 7200.

About Brandon

For general information on Brandon Trust and the services we offer, please take a look at our leaflet About Brandon Trust (PDF, 794KB).

Jargon buster

We recognise that a lot of confusing jargon is used in social care which often makes it difficult to get clear and straightforward information.

At Brandon, we always try to use plain English and a lot of our publications are written in easy read or other accessible formats.

If you do come across confusing language, here's a useful jargon buster which might help.

In the feedback from our annual survey, families told us that information can often be hard to find. We have collated a whole range of information here. If you have any questions, or think something is missing, please contact communications@brandontrust.org