Design EditorLoreto Soto Ponce Shekhar Mukherji

Tel: 01604 717249Content Address E-mail: mentaurnews@mentaur.ltd.ukLoreto Soto Ponce Suite G2, Barratt House Website: www.mentauruk.comShekhar Mukherji Kingsthorpe RoadHerculano Castro Northampton NN2 6EZ

March 2013

Mentaur Group

News

New Specialist Unit

Evergreen HouseIntroducing a new format of support for young

people with Autism.

e are proud to announce the Wopening of

Evergreen House, our new specialist service in Bedford to support young people with autism and associated needs who are taking their first steps towards independent living.

Evergreen House introduces a novel living arrangement that enables people using the service to benefit from the security of an assured tenancy agreement coupled with 24 hr regulated specialist care and support.

Joint National Conference Mentaur Group & BILD

My Life as I get older - age, autism and wellbeing

he Mentaur Group, along with The British Institute of Learning Disabilities T(BILD) organised a national

conference on the many issues surrounding autism and ageing. The premise was that as we age, our needs change and, as people with autism age, their needs change too.

The conference, which was held on 3rd February 2012 at Milton Keynes, was illuminated by new research and information presented through the workshops and nationally acclaimed keynote speakers: Dermot Bowler, Adam Feinstein,& Carol Povey.

For more information on this and other conferences, visit our website www.mentauruk.com

he Mentaur Group, with its many years of Texperience in providing

personalised care and support, is now moving to share its knowledge in this area beyond the shores of the U.K.

Our European conference on ‘Personalisation’ includes invited experts from a wide range of specialisms in the social care sector. This European conference on ‘Personalisation’ brings together different models of social care operating in a range of European countries.

The conference will be held in the city of Oporto on Friday 3rd May 2013 at the Fundação Cupertino de Miranda Conference Centre. Visit

The final programme and registration details will soon be available.

www.facm.pt

Conference Announcement

Finalists for the 2013 Laing & Buisson Independent Specialist Care Awards

inalists in the category of ‘Autistic Spectrum FServices’, Mentaur Ltd has

been nominated in recognition of its Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) specialist services. Mentaur’s ASD services have been tailored specifically to the individual needs of adults with

ASD and have demonstrated the capacity to change the life experiences and choices of users of these specialist services.The awards ceremony will take place on 12th March 2013 at the Lancaster London Hotel.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder Services:

Celebrating Our 25th Year Of Operations

We congratulate our Operational Director, Isabel Melo, on being honoured by the Portuguese President for her excellent work in social care and intra-European collaboration. Details on page 4.

Stoke House is recognised by Northampton PCT

toke House, one of our first agency. It’s always nice to be complex needs units, was recognised for the good that we Srecently recognised by do in enhancing the lives of our

Northamptonshire PCT "for good users of service. Their response practice, continued development to the award was also uniformly and commitment to excellence positive and ranged from "didn’t achieved during annual we do well?" to it’s "comforting to assessment". know".

The home scored over 98% The awards are endorsed by following Quality Monitoring Nene Commissioning and Corby Assessment for the period Healthcare Clinical between 1st April 2011 and 31st Commissioning Groups. The March 2012 and was found to event, organised by NHS continue to maintain the same Northamptonshire, took place on high standards of service. Monday 21st May. Stoke House

was one of only two units Manager, Lorraine Gates, said "I supporting people with learning am happy that our efforts have disabilities who received this been acknowledged by such an award.important external evaluating

NHS Northamptonshire Quality Monitoring Team

Stoke House is a residential care home for adults with learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder, epilepsy, mental health

and associated needs. The home specialises in challenging behaviours and

complex needs.As an individualised service, Stoke House

promotes independence by supporting transition, which enables people to have informed choices and control over their

lives wherever possible.

Mentaur Contributes to the professional future of the EU

s part of Mentaur’s commitment to the development of fresh graduate students, we embarked on a project to work in conjunction with European universities and provide placements for students Awho want to pursue a career in Social Work or HR in the Social Care field.

The Leonardo da Vinci programme funds practical projects in the field of vocational education training and one of their initiatives is to give individuals work-related training abroad. The ERASMUS programme is similar, although it mainly concentrates on the European Higher Education Area and aims to foster innovation throughout Europe.

The aim of both programmes is to support and complement the activities of European Union members, to improve the quality of policies and training practices and to promote the cooperation of all those involved in the development of education and training.

The project has been a great success for the company and we take pride in being able to do our bit in contributing to the professional future of the EU.

Lorraine Gates receiving the award.

Tough Times Call for Innovation

he Mentaur Group was invited to present a workshop on “Creative approaches to improve specialist residential services” at British TInstitute of Learning Disabilities (BILD) Annual Conference: Tough times

call for innovation, held at Milton Keynes on 5th October 2012.

This workshop aimed to encourage people to look at how to differentiate residential and support services through the application of innovative approaches which help justify the label: ‘specialist’. By hearing about some of the initiatives Mentaur is pioneering in its own services, including the use of technology and the implementation of research into enhanced quality, attendees were encouraged to think about how to make their own services stand out. Visit the Conferences section on our website to see Herculano’s presentation:

http://www.mentauruk.com/WebPages/Conferences&Research/Conferences/Conferences.asp

MENTAUR at the BILD National Conference

International Project

he Mentaur Group is currently involved in an international project that aims to Tdevelop a multi-touch based platform for

people with ASD of all ages and which allows related stakeholders to be actively involved in the therapy/support process. The products to be developed in the ASD Multitouch project include:

?A set of interactive applications for touchscreen platforms designed to improve the skills of people that use them. During use the applications automatically collect and send to the Web portal various usage statistics, which can be analysed ?An expanded framework that provides support features for the applications that run over it, which facilitates future

new software additions via a plug-in system?A Web portal that offers a number of services to support the above products, such as storage and analysis of the

collected usage statistics for analysis by professionals?Social networking facilities integrated in the Web portal, which allow the exchange of information between involved

stakeholders and encourage community building

The ASD Multitouch project will also create several versions of the software, targeting various platforms, like Touch-screen tables running software under the X86 architecture and Windows 7 operating system and Mobile platforms, namely ARM-based iOS and Android operating systems.

The ASD Multitouch project will offer a complete and unique solution for computer based ASD therapy/support, which currently does not exists.

The ASD Multitouch project at a glance

sabel Melo, our Operational Director, received extraordinary recognition and a prestigious award Ifrom her home country Portugal, for the

outstanding work she has done at the Mentaur Group. The decision was announced on 6th June 2012 at a grand ceremony in Lisbon, which was led by the Portuguese President himself.

This 5th edition of the award, called “Prémio Empreendedorismo Inovador na Diáspora Portuguesa” (Prize for Entrepreneurial Innovation in the Portuguese Diaspora), received the highest number of nominations in its history. 141 Portuguese entrepreneurs from 34 countries were nominated and Isabel unanimously acclaimed as the winner! In a twist of fate, June 2012 not only represented this extraordinary achievement in Isabel’s life; but also marked Mentaur’s 24th anniversary!

[International Award]

Mentaur Group Director wins Portuguese President Entreprenurial Innovation Award in Portugal

The “Prémio Empreendedorismo Inovador na Diáspora Portuguesa” was created in 2008 by COTEC –Association for Innovation – under the patronage of the Portuguese President. The award seeks to publicly honour Portuguese citizens living abroad that have distinguished themselves for their entrepreneurial, innovative and responsible roles in the country they live in. They also must be an example of effective integration between the corresponding economies and have helped stimulate the cooperation between Portugal and the respective host country.

This prize's importance is such, that Isabel was interviewed by "Sociedad Civil", a well known Portuguese current affairs TV programme. The interview was aired on 18th October 2012. On 3rd November, Isabel was invited to become one of the funding members of the newly created UK branch of the “Academia do Bacalhau”, a Portuguese fraternity first founded in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1968. Today, there are 51 Academies and over 70,000 members around the world. On this occasion, the Academy also took the opportunity to honour Isabel for the award which she received from the Portuguese President.

Isabel Melo receiving award from Portuguese President Cavaco Silva

Isabel with other awardees and the president