Application Form

Apply To Contact Hostel

How Do I Apply?

 

First, there is a written application and if it meets the criteria for admission then you will come for an interview. This is where we will talk to you about a support plan and risk assessment. If there is a waiting list, you will be put on it but places are given according to need. Contact supports girls and young women who are vulnerable or at risk.

Contact considers referrals from a range of agencies including the City Centre Project.
(C.C.P. – 52 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE. Phone – 0161 228 7654.)

 

Assessment and Support Planning

At your interview your needs and possible risks are assessed. This is to make sure that Contact is the right place for you. Any problems are discussed so that we can find the best way to support you.

  • Because things change, we review the support plan on a regular basis. This all depends on what you need and why. Things that change like your education or health mean that your needs also change.
  • Who is ‘we’? What are ‘reviews’? Reviews are where staff from Contact will talk with you about what support you need and any changes that are happening in your life. It is important that you are part of this: it’s your life!
  • Sometimes there will be other agencies at the meeting. Contact aims to work with other agencies as part of a policy of transparency and sharing of information that will best support you the client.
  • Contact has a policy of continual professional development for its staff and management team.
    This means that the staff can give you the best support possible.
  • ‘Who works there?’ There are female support-staff from all sorts of backgrounds who work at Contact. There is someone on site 24 hours a day so there is always someone to talk to if you want.
  • ‘Who lives there?’ Contact provides supported accommodation to girls and young women who are aged between 16 – 19 years old. We can support you if you are pregnant but only until 24 weeks gestation. We can help you find more long-term support before you have the baby.
  • Unfortunately, due to the structure of the building we cannot support people with a disability who need special access or equipment.
  • ‘What is my space and what do I share?’

You have your own furnished room with its own sink. You also have a key to lock your room. The other facilities are shared so it is important to remember that you must clean up after yourself!

 

Security, Health and Safety

  • Your security and your health and safety are very important! These things are important to you, to the staff who work here and to the whole community. This is why we update our health and safety policy on a regular basis and everyone is informed of this too. This is why we ask you to be in by certain times at night!
  • If you have a crisis or an emergency we will help you get the appropriate help.
  • Contact has to provide a safe living and working environment. It’s the law! Staff at Contact regularly check the whole building to make sure it is safe and this includes your room. This means that you must keep your room clean and tidy.
  • Health and Safety is important for everyone. If you see anything wrong with the building then tell a member of staff or you can write it down in the book on the ground floor by the entrance.

 

Safeguarding and Protection from Abuse

  • Contact has guidelines in accordance with current legislation on safeguarding and protecting adults and children that are reviewed on a regular basis.
    This means there are rules to make sure you are safe.
  •  Staff follow these guidelines to make sure that you are safe from abuse and that you understand what risks there are.
  • What is abuse? What do you think this is? We asked the service users here and asked them what they thought. Look at the end of this book to see what they and the staff at Contact thought about this.
  • ‘If I think I am at risk of abuse who do I tell? Tell someone! This should be a responsible adult such as your key worker, a member of staff, a teacher at school, a social worker, a CCP worker, a college tutor…
  • ‘I’m not happy! How do I complain?’

You can tell staff, or the management of Contact, or you can write to the trustees of Contact.

  • ‘I’m worried about making a complaint.’ Contact has a complaints procedure. If there is a problem then we want to change that. Making a complaint will only help us to make things better.
  • Contact has a whistle blowing policy. This means that anyone – staff or service users – can raise serious concerns within Contact rather than overlooking a problem or ‘blowing the whistle’ outside.
  • If you don’t want to talk to someone at Contact, you can talk to someone from a different organisation.
  • Contact is committed to  a multi-agency approach to safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.

 

Fair Access, Diversity and Inclusion

  • Contact has a commitment to fair access in its allocation process.
  • Respect and understanding that people are equal and different is very important. There is a zero tolerance policy on bullying.
  • Fair Exit is just as important as fair access. This means that there are rules that Contact must follow if they want to ask a service user to leave.

 

Client Involvement and Empowerment

  • ‘How do I know if Contact is right for me?’

Making an ‘informed decision’ means that you can find out about Contact before you accept or reject an offer of accommodation here. You will have some written information to take away, we will talk with you at the interview and you can always ask us anything you want to know.

When you live at Contact, you will have a key worker who will go through your support plan and risk assessment. Support is there to make sure that you are safe and secure and in a stable environment.

  • ‘What about my views?’ What you think is very important and we will always consider your views, especially if they affect you.
  • ‘What can I learn?’ It is important that you learn the skills to become an independent adult  in the future. This means that you can learn all the different things that you should know so that you can live independently in the future. At Contact, you can learn everything from how to cook to how to look after money.
  • ‘What about studying?’ To live at Contact you must be in Education or Training of some sort so that you can work towards qualifications or a paid job in the future.
  • We can help you if you want to go to school or college, or if you don’t know what you want to do we can get you some good advice, work experience or voluntary work experience. Whatever you want to do, we can help you but you can’t just stay in bed!
  • Good Conduct Contract -This is an agreement between you and Contact. Learning how to live with people and learning how to become independent means that your behaviour is important too.
    We can help you but remember that you are in control of your life.
  • ‘What if I don’t …’

If you don’t go to college or training, if you don’t come to your support sessions, if you don’t follow the rules…then Contact is NOT the place for you!

  • ‘…but what if I do…?’

Then Contact will help you to help yourself to a better future for as long as you need that support.

  • ‘What about life after Contact?’

At Contact, we have a referral, allocation and moving on procedure and process of support that makes sure that your next step is the right one. For some people this is further supported accommodation but for others it will mean their own flat.