Working with Communities guide

United Response’s vision is a society where all people are equal participants, and have access to the same rights and opportunities as each other.

This means that people, whatever their support needs, have the right to enjoy the good things in life, and have recognised and valued roles in their communities.

Our work involves providing a service with the aim of meeting individuals’ needs, but simply working with people as individuals is not enough. In order to support people to lead full lives, we need to build on our person-centred approaches by working with the communities and neighbourhoods where people live.

We need to take an interest in the people who live there, find out what matters to them and learn how to build solutions together. This 20-page guide to working with communities explains how doing so will help create more opportunities for the people we support as well as help us discover how our work can make a difference to the lives of others.

It includes practical advice and case studies, and is paired with our 50 Things You Can Do Right Now poster, which lists ways you can find out what’s going on in your community.

Download our Working With Communities guide

Download our 50 Things You Can Do Right Now poster

Take a look at our related best practice resources:

Want exclusive first access to resources like this?

Sign up to receive our best practice e-newsletter

If you are looking for support, please visit our get support page.

Latest

Survey shows 100% of respondents find Easy News easier to understand than other news

Disability charity, United Response, has published Issue 28 of its award-winning accessible news magazine, Easy News, as it receives outstanding feedback from its readership.
Open mic night in Derby aims to raise funds to repair vandalised garden

Music lovers of Derby are invited to attend ‘Mic to the Max’ at Ryans Bar on Tuesday 29th August – an open mic fundraiser hosted by disability charity, United Response.
United Response statement on sleep-ins

The Government’s position on the interpretation of regulations around the National Living Wage is causing huge confusion. As a result the delivery of community based services, for people with learning disabilities, which are proven to work well, are under real threat.
United Response CEO takes on Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100

On 30th July, disability charity United Response’s CEO, Tim Cooper, will get on his bike for the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100.

Reporting a Hate Crime

Have you been a victim of a hate crime? Download our easy read reporting form.
Support guides

We produce a variety of support guides for both professionals, families and individuals. You can download all of these free resources on our website.
Enewsletter

Get all our latest news
Easy read documents

United Response is a leader when it comes to producing 'easy read' documents. Easy read uses plain English and short sentences, paired with images, to explain a topic or statement. This approach makes even complex concepts easier to understand.
Transforming Care resources

Our Transforming Care resources centre on the process of moving people with learning disabilities and autism from long stay institutions to community settings.
Positive Behaviour Support guide

At United Response, we believe that all behaviour is a form of communication that can tell us important things about the quality of a person’s life. This comprehensive booklet provides guidance on developing truly effective positive behaviour support plans.
Active Support guide

Active support is a way of providing assistance to people that focuses on making sure individuals are engaged and actively participating in all areas of their lives. Our 12-page guide outlines the importance of this approach as part of person centred support.
Promoting Person Centred Support and Positive Outcomes DVD

The person centred support DVD and accompanying suite of booklets is a training resource developed in partnership with The Tizard Centre. The video provides real-life examples that highlight the subtleties of these techniques in action, and explains how to implement them.
Easy read brochure

Our general brochure describes everything we do to help you live the life you choose.
Making Money Easier

Making Money Easier is a brilliant set of free guides that provide basic explanations of all things finance and money related. They are aimed primarily at people with learning disabilities, but are equally useful to those who get lost when faced with banking jargon.

Free specialist approach resources

We have a number of free resources to offer professionals based off of the specialist approaches we take to support people with disabilities, mental health needs, and more.
What we do

United Response provides a range of support services for adults and young people with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs or physical disabilities.
Become a support worker

Become a support worker for United Response and help disabled people in their communities at home. You’ll help them cook, clean, pay bills, apply for jobs, make friends and a thousand things in between.
Easy News

Easy News is the first news magazine designed to be accessible for people with learning disabilities, aimed to encourage discussion around news stories and keep readers informed about the world around them. Read the latest issue here.
Where we work

Find the details of your nearest area office and get in touch to talk to our expert staff about the support we offer in your area.
Learning disability

We work with young people and adults with a wide range of learning disabilities across England and Wales. To plan the right kind of support, we work closely with each individual and the people who are important to them. In this way, they get the support they want, in the way they want.
Mental health needs

Mental health needs can be complex, enduring and deep-rooted. Because of this, our approach focuses on early intervention to help prevent more serious problems from occurring.
For individuals

We utilise a number of core approaches to support people individually who have a learning disability, acquired brain injury, dementia, mental health needs, and autism.
Our directors

Our team of directors work across the charity's key functions and geographical divisions to drive the passion and dedication of all our staff.
ROC Wellbeing

ROC (Robert Owen Communities) has Wellbeing services in Devon and Cornwall, which we can support you to attend. ROC’s Wellbeing services offers you the opportunity to learn new and exciting skills and gain accredited learning qualifications at the same time.