Bannister Farm Cottage

At Bannister Farm Cottage, we provide 24/7 specialist residential support for people who have autism. The service is set out in three different sections, comprising of the main house where 3 people share and 2 individual units for specialist support.

The people that we support have high communication needs, so to help promote their independence and community participation, we provide them with the skills and tools to communicate their needs and wants to others in a way that is deemed socially acceptable which, in turn, reduces the number of behaviours that challenge.

We promote the use of independent living skills and education so people we support can make informed choices about the life they want to live. Everyone living at Bannister Farm Cottage has an individualised support package that suits their own specific needs. Everyone has their individual routines and structures which are known to them and help devise time lines to reduce anxiety.

Our approach to support

Our team of highly skilled professionals have a vast knowledge and experience of working with people who have autism. Each member of staff receives regular training in specific areas, including the triad of impairments, so they have the ability and understanding of the people they support and how they see things around them - this in turn will provide the team with the skills to help support people in a more person-centred way.

We work closely with a number of external professionals on a daily basis to ensure that there are no gaps in the each person’s history. We also have a number of internal professionals that work in-house on a weekly basis, for example: speech and language therapists; lifelong learning and education coordinator; occupational therapist and positive behavioural support practitioner. Having these professionals to hand enables us to react quickly to any situation to ensure limited disruption to people’s lives. Having the internal professionals in-house enables us to deliver person-centred training for each individual which in turn will strengthen the staff team.

All staff members have a full induction of the service and a week of being supernumerary to enable them to learn everyone’s support needs and aspirations. They will then be assigned a mentor to work closely with, which is ongoing until their induction and training is complete.