I.C.O.N.

(Identifying Current and Ongoing Needs)

This is the assessment and intervention framework for all young people at Apple Orchard. All disciplines contribute to its completion and it is reviewed in collaboration with the young person, therapist Head of School and his keyworker.

The I.C.O.N. document incorporates the Care Plan, Good Lives Model, Psychometric outcomes and Personal Education Plan. The process of completing I.C.O.N. allows each young person to identify and agree a series of S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-limited) on which to focus over a twelve week period.

Working in this way enables the young person to take smaller steps toward a broader aim and helps him to maintain a sense of direction and achievement. The young person is therefore placed firmly at the centre of a continually updated and transparent assessment of individual need, with clearly recognisable targets for change.

I.C.O.N. adheres to the five outcomes for young people from the Every Child Matters framework; Be healthy, Stay safe, Enjoy and achieve, Make a positive contribution and Achieve economic well-being, and is informed by the National Minimum Standards for Children’s Homes. This means that the needs of all young people at Apple Orchard are identified and met both in relation to their general care and their specific therapeutic goals throughout the whole of their placement. The young person’s progress in relation to the aims identified in I.C.O.N. is recorded in I.C.O.N.’s “Progress Tracker” every 12 weeks via Apple Orchard’s internal reviews and L.A.C. review meetings.