Testimonials

My daughter has been with the Medusa Project for just over 2 years. She was discharged into their care after spending much of the previous 3 years in hospital for mental illness.

Over the 2+ years, Medusa have worked to provide her with support on many levels. They have balanced her needs for support, for risk-management, and for increasing independence as time has passed. These are not easy things to balance, to judge well, and to provide consistently but this is what Medusa do.

Art therapy provided on site is a great advantage. Boundaries and House Rules, not excessive but aimed at sharing accommodation with respect for each other and learning to live together, are clear from the start.

We have benefitted from the age range which Medusa covers, of 16 – 21 years. If my daughter had needed to move out at 18 she would not have been ready. It is particularly important to have stability around this time as CAMHS provision stops and gives way to adult services – a time well-known for increased risk for some young people. Medusa gave us stability and consistency while the changes to adult services took place. The value of this cannot be overestimated.

I do not yet have words to express how hard it was as a parent to see my child have such serious health needs, and to agree to her need for care provision. I do not think we could have improved on Medusa as a second-best to home, and I am so grateful for their care, warmth and humanity in looking after her.

‘A’

My experience at Medusa was a memorable one.

Staff were always there when I didn’t feel great and would support me with everything. Even if I didn’t want to chat, they would just do activities like playing cards, art-work, bath-bomb and jewellery making.

The time I would have in the cabin with me-time (Art therapy) was always a great place for me to let out my feelings, especially when I could not speak to staff. It was a space that was about me doing what I wanted from just sitting to doing art-work, talking and exploring my feelings, it was a great space to get rid of my emotions.

The other residents were kind and good fun to be around, we’d do things like go shopping together, watching movies and playing games.

There could be so much more to say, but overall, it was amazing!!

Leon G

I am sharing my thoughts as a Mother.

From the moment my daughter and I were greeted at Medusa to the saying of our “goodbyes”, the staff team have been amazing. I shall start unusually by summing up of our experience of Medusa as caring, patient and supportive, please read on as to my reasons why.

My daughter has been in a very difficult place both in terms of her mental and also physical health at times. She has a range of diagnosis which we all sometimes feel in a muddle with and her behaviour can be challenging and upsetting.

I am very involved in my daughter’s care of which the staff team have respected whilst also keeping my daughter’s right to privacy in the forefront of their work. They kept me regularly updated and we all worked together to provide the best possible care for my daughter.

Medusa is well managed and has a great staff team with them clearly having a passion and being dedicated to the work which they do. It is clear that they are experienced and work together to the benefit of the young women and each other. The team have managed and reviewed risk, working with my daughter, myself and the many other professionals around her.

My daughter is studying for her A levels of which they were very encouraging and supportive to the degree of simply taking her up a cup of tea first thing to get her out of bed for class! It is the simple touches like these that mean so much, slowly build up trust and are what makes it stand out.

Medusa is clean and it is clear that whilst it is staffed, that it still has that key “homely” feel which helped my daughter to settle in with the other young women.

My daughter only left because the placement ended suddenly due to reasons beyond mine or her control. We really do need more female-only therapeutic placements. There is a huge need for them.

I would happily recommend Medusa.

Many thanks to the team.

K

The Medusa Project is not just a supported living; it’s a family.

When I first came to the medusa project, I was so hopeless and felt like I had no purpose.

The staff at the project helped me get back up on my feet and see that I did have hope and was not alone. I was able to be myself there and never felt judged.

They helped me with small tasks such as changing a lightbulb to much greater ones like rediscovering my self-worth. The Medusa Project team showed me the love and care that I did not receive growing up.

They didn’t just change me; they saved me.

M

Dr. Philip Collins – Consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Medusa is a trusted provider of consistent residential care and support for young women with severe emotional and psychiatric conditions who require residential placement.

The Lewisham adolescent mental health service has worked collaboratively with the Project to support a number of residents who suffer with complex psychological and psychiatric conditions.

The project is a valued stakeholder in our work as an NHS mental health service for adolescents to provide consistently high-quality assessment and treatment to troubled young women in residential care.

The project has consistently offered a caring and psychologically containing space for troubled young women to get their adolescence back on track and to begin to believe in themselves and their ability to have a meaningful and safe existence.

The project is able to calmly manage risk and work in a thoughtful, pragmatic and kind way with young women who often struggle with intense emotional instability and who may have lived chaotic and highly risky lives.

I have seen many young women psychologically and psychiatrically improve during their time at the project.

Brendah Malahleka – Former Service Manager, Business Strategy, Fostering, Placements & Procurement.

The Medusa Project has been a preferred provider for Lewisham Council since the establishment of the Semi-Independence Preferred Provider Framework (PPF) on 1st October 2008.

The Medusa Project is one of a very few therapeutic service provision for care leavers aged 16+.

The Medusa Project has been one our top Preferred Providers during the inaugural decade of the Preferred Provider Framework in children’s services.

This is evidenced through the following:

• The ability to comply with the requirements of the placement.
• The extent to which placements meet the child(ren)’s care plan(s).
• The provision of agreed management information.
• Effective communication between The Medusa Project and Lewisham CSC as the placing organisation.
• Value for Money.
• Managing standards of care issues.
• Managing safeguarding concerns.
• Excellent approach to diversity issues.
• High quality of working relationship between agency and placing organisation.

The Medusa Project exceeds minimum standards in residential care and the requirements of the Lewisham Children’s Social Care-PPF.

Such is the effectiveness of their methods of working with vulnerable young people exhibiting challenging behaviour, that I have commissioned them to undertake training of Lewisham foster carers in behaviour management. This training has received very positive feedback from foster carers and the training is now part of the rolling programme of core training for Lewisham foster carers.

Geraldine Baker – Former LYPS Team Manager, CAMHS Practitioner South London and Maudsley.

The Medusa Project has worked very closely with Lewisham CAMHS over the past few years, to help support some very complex and at risk young people, enabling them to remain well in the community.

Through such close collaborative working, many young people have avoided multiple hospital admissions.

The Medusa Project is aware of the need for consistent and multi-systemic support structures in their work, and offers a highly valued model of practice and management.