Key Highlights
What was this case study? How Oakfield Community used the Life Star and Spectrum Star to support and evidence its transition from residential care to supported living.
Why was the Star chosen? To help people being supported to set meaningful goals, plan activities and recognise progress, while evidencing the impact of the transition to supported living.
What was the impact? Oakfield Community reported:
- Greater choice, control and independence for people being supported
- Improved living skills, communication and wellbeing
- Increased confidence in making choices and expressing preferences
- Stronger friendships and community connections
- A shift in support practice from “doing for” to “doing with”
- Greater staff satisfaction through supporting people to achieve their goals
- Evidence of positive outcomes for local authorities, inspectors and funding bodies
“It’s all about the people we support. That’s at the heart of all we’re doing.”
— Melissa Shultz, Registered Manager
Introducing Oakfield Community
Oakfield Community is a charity that provides specialist supported housing for people who have learning disabilities and/or are autistic. It has two locations in rural Northamptonshire and since 2021 has been transitioning from a residential care model to one of supported living.
As part of this transition the locations have undergone extensive refurbishment, transforming single rooms to flats with en suite bedrooms and their own kitchens to enable people being supported to be more independent in their everyday lives.
Towards the end of the refurbishment project, Oakfield introduced the Life Star and Spectrum Star to support with evaluating the impact of the transition and to help people being supported and staff to plan activities and set goals.
About Life Star and Spectrum Star
Life Star has been developed for young people and adults with learning disabilities to have as much freedom, choice and control as possible in their day-to-day lives. It helps people and the service supporting them to make progress towards key outcomes like communicating, being safe and feeling good and choose where to focus next.
The Spectrum Star has been developed for autistic people to support understanding of their autism so they can live a positive and fulfilling life and make the choices that are right for them. It helps people and those supporting them to identify and make progress towards key outcomes like living skills and self-care, sensory needs and relationships and to choose where to focus next.
The transition to supported living and Outcomes Star
For Sharon Wykes, Managing Director, and Melissa Shultz, Registered Manager, the transition to supported living has meant a fundamental change in the way Oakfield Community supports people. Alongside the extensive refurbishment work the organisation has embraced an approach that supports people to develop their living skills, make choices and take greater control over their daily lives.
One of the most impactful transitions has been the introduction of the tenancies that people being supported now hold. As Sharon explains: “Having a tenancy gives a person more rights. With a tenancy, people being supported have the same rights as anyone else.” This has enabled people to gain greater security and formed part of the overall transition to more choice, control and independence.
To help support this journey, Oakfield Community introduced Life Star and Spectrum Star, giving people and staff a framework for setting goals, planning activities and recognising progress.
Discovering what's possible
As Oakfield has transitioned to supported living, both the way that support is delivered and the outcomes for people being supported have been overwhelmingly positive and even at times unexpected. Melissa explains: “Seeing the difference in the people we support from when it was residential to supported living – I can’t even put it into words, it’s so different…It’s helped open our eyes to ways we can support someone to achieve a goal, not just do something for them.”
Introducing the Stars has helped to create progress towards new goals that support greater independence and choice:
“We did a Star with one person who is very aware of money but did not necessarily understand what each coin was. Together we worked on this and she can now recognise individual coins like a pound coin,” says Melissa. Another person started using money for transactions but due to involuntary movements was throwing coins down. “Now she scans her card. When the money didn’t work we used the Star to help her find another way,” explains Sharon.
Other examples of people working towards goals to help them live more independently include someone who had never made a glass of squash for themselves. Previously there had always been a jug of squash available, but with support the person learned how to make a glass for himself. “It just gave him that empowerment,” says Melissa, “the first time he did it completely independently he had such a big smile on his face and told everyone about what he had achieved.”
Another person wore the same set of clothing each day for many years, but worked on a goal to learn how to use the washing machine in his flat. Once he had learned this, he began to wash his own clothing which meant he chose to wear a wider variety of clothes. Another person enjoyed having the television on, but waited for a staff member to turn it on or change the channel. He worked towards using the TV independently. “Now he can turn his TV on, get onto YouTube and find what he wants to watch without having to wait for a member of staff to come and do it for him,” says Melissa.
Many of the people being supported have also gained social skills and built friendships that had not been possible before. Sharon describes two residents who had both lived at Oakfield for 40 years but never really engaged with each other. Because they became neighbours when they moved into their new flats, they began interacting more and this progressed into a friendship where they invited each other around to have breakfast together.
Whether it is learning how to use a bank card, making a drink independently or building new friendships, the common thread running through these examples is that people are increasingly making their own choices and taking greater control over their daily lives.
Changing the nature of support
The people we support are really happy when they're reaching goals, and the staff are happy because they supported them to reach towards that.
The introduction of the Life Star and Spectrum Star has been part of a broader transition in how staff work with the people they support. It meant changing the way staff worked from a model of ‘doing for’ to ‘doing with’. This transition took time and training to change a habitual way of working with people. Melissa explains: “It took time and understanding that ok it might take a person longer to for example get themselves dressed or make their own breakfast, but it’s about supporting them and not doing it for them.”
“So residential is – we do. Supported living – we support”, adds Sharon.
Using the Stars with people initially felt challenging at times, but Sharon and Melissa found that once they became part of everyday practice, they helped break change down into manageable steps. It also helped to see where people could have realistic goals within their limits.
Staff began to report greater job satisfaction. “The people we support are really happy when they’re reaching goals, and the staff are happy because they supported them to reach towards that,” says Melissa.
Evidence of lasting change
While the individual stories behind the Stars are powerful, Oakfield Community has also been able to evidence the wider impact of its transition to supported living through the A Home of My Own study.
The report found improvements across a range of outcome areas, including living skills, physical health, communication and wellbeing. It also highlighted increased confidence, stronger community connections and positive changes in support practice.
Key findings from the 'A Home of my Own' report
The independent study found evidence of growing independence, confidence and choice, including:
- 88% improved in living skills
- 88% improved in physical health
- 75% improved in feeling good
- 100% improved in communication, living skills and self-care, and sensory needs among those using Spectrum Star™
- Increased confidence in making choices and expressing preferences
- Greater independence in day-to-day activities such as cooking, laundry and managing personal routines
- Stronger connections with family, friends and the local community
- Positive shifts in support practice, with staff increasingly focused on “doing with” rather than “doing for” people
For Sharon and Melissa, these findings reflect changes they have seen firsthand. People being supported are making more choices, developing new skills and taking greater control over their daily lives, while staff have increasingly moved towards a culture of supporting people to achieve goals for themselves rather than doing things on their behalf.
The Stars have also given Oakfield Community a valuable source of evidence. As well as helping people identify goals and recognise progress, the data and conversations generated through Life Star and Spectrum Star help demonstrate outcomes to external stakeholders.
Sharon believes this combination of individual stories and measurable outcomes has been particularly important. “It’s allowed us to demonstrate to local authorities, funding agencies and council inspections for example that we’re getting good outcomes. It’s evidence that what we’re doing is right.”
As Oakfield Community continues its supported living journey, the Stars remain an important way of supporting people to identify what matters to them, work towards meaningful goals and celebrate their achievements along the way. As Melissa reflects: “It’s all about the people we support. That’s at the heart of all we’re doing.”
Click here to learn more about the Life Star, and here for Spectrum Star