The Pod

Who can refer to the service? 

Referrals for our core pathway can only be made by  Key Workers from Community Mental Health And Wellbeing Team and the Early Intervention Team – Referrers must be able to ensure that there is a named person from your team to carry risk and sign off Care Act Assessments.  

Who can be referred to the service? 

Citizens living with Severe and Enduring mental ill health who have a commitment of investment from a  Key Worker assigned to work with them for a minimum of 3 months. 

What information is the referring practitioner required to provide? 

The Pod cannot activate involvement unless we have received: 

• Up-to-date CPA care plan 

• Up-to-date Steve Morgan Risk Assessment 

• A completed electronic referral form

If we are sent all the information, what should you expect?  

The Pod's working hours are 8.30 - 4.30pm Monday to Thursday and 8:30 - 4pm on Fridays. The Pod is an appointment-based service. We will invite you and the person you have referred to an introductory meeting. This investment of your time is critical. We try and set up the meetings within 2 to 3 weeks of receiving the referral. This could be either in person at The Pod, via telephone or via Microsoft Teams depending on Citizen preference. 

What does a journey with The Pod look like? 

The Pod will commit to working with an individual for a minimum of 16 meetings.

The Citizen can Expect:

1-3 Meetings Foundation Assessment 

• The first session is a 3-way meeting between the citizen, the Development Worker/Social Advocate and the Care coordinator/key worker. This ensures the citizen understands that this is a collaborative working relationship. This meeting can be done face-to-face or virtually (whatever is best for the citizen). 

• The citizen is given the opportunity to voice their priorities.  For example, they may have a housing issue that needs addressing with immediacy, they may want to connect or reconnect with the local music scene, explore gaming, or their studies . They will be offered the opportunity to complete a Strengths And Needs Assessment.   

• The first couple of sessions are there to build rapport with the DW and share information about what the Pod can offer, including core work, the café and social activism programmes.  The citizen can then decide if the Pod is an appropriate service for them. 

2-8 Meetings – strengths and needs assessment  

• This is citizen led. 

• These typically take 5 meetings but can be less or more dependent on the citizen. 

• Sessions can be completed face to face, on the phone or over teams, depending on the citizen's preference. 

• The citizen is able to pause, reflect on or withdraw from the assessment at any time. Timeframes will be agreed as reasonable between all invested parties. 

• The SANA will be completed with the Development Worker. On occasions this will be a point of critical debate and always be a collaborative piece of work between the Citizen, The Development Worker and the Care Coordinator. The Care Coordinator will then sign off using Care Director. Development Workers cannot sign off SANA’s as Direct Payments do not sit with the budget of Internal Provider Services  

16-40  meetings  – Social Brokerage 

• We use the citizen's strengths, assets and solution-focused thinking. This encourages them to move away from the subculture of services. 

•  Social Brokerage has a focus on the city - its people, assets and outcomes. Social Brokerage is being part of something bigger. 

• We channel the interests and strengths of the citizen to help them explore their interests and passions. 

• The citizen will sometimes require a Direct Payment. The Pod will complete an application and SRF. These need to be signed off and sent to the panel by the Care Coordinator/Key Worker 

• Citizens will be encouraged to write a statement to inform the DP process and will be heavily involved in creating the application as a whole.  

• It is expected that the Development Worker/Social Advocate will present Direct Payment Applications to the panel. This needs to be facilitated by the person signing off the application. 

As Required Up To 40 Weeks Social Advocacy 

A Development Worker/Social Advocate is able to support citizens with social advocacy. Social Advocacy, as opposed to regular advocacy, uses Social Brokerage skills for social stressors. Co-research, coproduction, and finding the best person for the role. For example, this might be a worker from P3, or it might be a local expert, a trade union or a solicitor, depending on the issue and who the Citizen chooses to work with  

This work is appointment-based but can happen during any of the above stages.  

This will be citizen led and for a period may supersede the work initially referred for or worked on concurrently. 

Impacts and outcomes are regularly reviewed 

How long will I (as the referring practitioner) need to remain involved with the citizen? 

You are required to be involved for the duration of the citizen's involvement with The Pod. As a minimum, there should be planned telephone conversations with the Development Worker/Social Advocate and an involvement in your planning discharge meetings. During this time, it is the referring practitioner's responsibility to inform us of any key transitions, eg hospital admissions, change in team or worker, psychology involvement, contingency plans for the absence of worker 

What happens if I want to be discharged before the agreed end of The Pod's involvement? 

The Pod is unable to work with a citizen beyond the closure due to keyworker involvement. You will need to inform us at the earliest possible opportunity so that we can inform your planning and plan for our own closure.  

What is the difference between us and advocacy services such as independent advocacy or Voiceability?’ 

Organisations such as Voiceability are commissioned to provide Statutory Advocacy. The Pod uses the skills developed through Social Brokerage to develop their own arms of advocacy. The Pod Development Workers are not independent as they are employees of Coventry City Council. This means we are uniquely placed to reach into departments such as Housing and Council Tax. Development Workers do not have the training or expertise of an IMCA or an IMHA but have an ability to reach into the Council and across the City in order to ensure that Citizens social stressors are approached in a way they feel is appropriate, effective and rights-based.  

Can you continue to work with citizens whilst they are inpatients at Caludon, and can we refer a citizen to you whilst they are an inpatient?   

Where someone is detained on a section 2 or 3 we would encourage a referral being made to The Pod and for us to be involved in discharge planning.  If someone is admitted/detained whilst we are working with them then we can remain involved, the time frame for our involvement would be determined by the likely length of admission and the circumstances that sat behind the admission. 

Will The Pod team update Care Notes?     

The Pod are a part of Coventry City Council but not a part of Sec 75. We sit within Internal Provider Services and as such do not have access to Care Notes. All case notes and updates are made to Care Director.  

Produced by: Kirk Savage, Liam Nugent, Hannah Osborne, Mike Scorer, Sarah Laughton, Christine Eade

Version 5

July 2024