Elmore publishes review of 2021-22
Oxfordshire mental health, complex needs, and domestic abuse service provider Elmore Community Services has today published its review of 2021-22.
In 2021-22, Elmore:
Supported over 1,000 people across Oxfordshire with a wide range of needs.
Continued to respond to the unique need created by the pandemic and work with the distinct challenges thrown up by lockdowns and social distancing, embracing a new mix of home, community-based, and embedded care.
Continued to deliver long-standing services such as our tenancy sustainment, New Beginnings for Adult Survivors of CSE, and mental health and complex needs floating support services. In the case of the latter Elmore secured funding to increase the size of our team to support the rising need in the community.
Set up new services such as Rise & Shine with Connection Support, Fresh Start for homeless people with complex needs with Homeless Oxfordshire, and Elmore’s contribution to the extended Oxford Safe Haven provided by Oxfordshire Mind.
Consolidated recently established services such as a High Intensity User project as an alternative to A&E for frequent attenders and a mental health service and domestic abuse service as part of the Family Solutions Plus (FSP) model, working with victims and perpetrators, to support families to address the problems that affect their ability to look after their children.
Continued to work in traditional ways, based in the community, and embed workers within multi-partner teams, for example with our FSP services and the embedding of complex needs workers in an Oxford homeless hostel with the Fresh Start service.
Continued to work in partnerships that we helped to found years ago, such as Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership, strengthen newer partnerships such as Family Solutions Plus, and immerse existing services into exciting new partnerships such as New Beginnings for Adult Survivors of CSE entering the new Oxfordshire Homelessness Alliance. We have similarly led on the development of the Community Mental Health Framework (CMHF) within Oxfordshire.
Secured funding to extend into Buckinghamshire through the Community Mental Health Framework and Berkshire by providing personality disorder and mental health floating support services respectively, and innovated a new way of working alongside Oxfordshire’s Complex Needs Service through Elmore’s Assistant Team Therapists.
Set a new strategy called ‘Holding the Hope’ which set out our shared values as a team, our mission and vision as a charity, and our plan for achieving our goals.
Launched a new website as part of a collaborative project with service users and the team, and promotion of Elmore Community Services on new social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This has led to a significant increase in our visibility, supported by an increase in our appearance in broadcast and print media.
Trialled new ways of sharing information about our work, with new digital and print leaflets and posters as well as podcast series about Elmore’s modern slavery research, Flipping the Narrative to end sexism and misogyny, Empower & Enable to support minoritized people to get mental health and domestic abuse support, the independent evaluation of our New Beginnings service for Adult Survivors of CSE, and Elmore’s support to people with personality disorder (PD) as we launch a new PD service.
This year has involved a significant focus by the Board on strategic issues such as managing Elmore’s finances to be sustainable, tackling the significant demand for our services, introducing a Quality Framework to enhance service delivery, developing our equality, diversity, and inclusion work, and updating a wide range of policies.
Elmore continues to support clients by providing services, working alongside them to shape Elmore itself, and campaign on the issues that matter to them including the reduction in Universal Credit funding. The team met with the Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds and Oxford’s Lord Mayor Councillor Mark Lygo.
Elmore has trained workers in the storytelling methodology and invested in data analysis, so that we publish more reports which shine a light on who we support, the needs people have, our interventions, and why Elmore’s model works. Integral to our reports has been a mix of stories, case studies, and data analysis which shows that we save the public purse significant sums of money by providing our services in our own particular way. In line with the aims of our strategy, Elmore is demonstrating its cost-effectiveness as well as its impact on people.
Tom Hayes, Chief Executive of Elmore Community Services, said: “This annual report begins when the world began to emerge from the pandemic and ends as we face increasing demand for our services and cost-of-living pressures. This year Elmore has supported more than 1,000 people in Oxfordshire for the first time ever, and we have been commissioned for the first time to provide services in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. In line with our new strategy, we will become a Thames Valley service provider. The Elmore team has been exceptional and I am very proud of everyone.”
Jack Lyons-Wainwright, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said: “The Board of Trustees is a proud partner of the staff team at Elmore, and we are delighted by the work of our case working and management teams. Elmore is filling gaps that otherwise would not have been filled. Our team is supporting people excellently, and on behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to commend the work they have done in this annual review.