Needs Assessors & Advisers
We believe that one of the reasons for the high quality of our support is our senior staff’s strong background in Band 4 provision.
Needs assessors who regularly allocate students to Beacon say that they do so because of the positive feedback about our service, in particular:
Our pro-bono policy
We will never leave Beacon students who cannot access funding without support. One of our students was unable to receive DSA or University support whilst on a placement year in France: Her dually qualified mentor/tutor who provided weekly support through our free scheme reports:
Andrea was distraught at not being able to access DSA funded support during her placement abroad. During this time, our weekly pro-bono mentoring sessions was a space for her to share and navigate her anxieties around transitions, language barriers, cultural adjustment difficulties, and managing her wellbeing around work responsibilities. I’d like to think our weekly sessions made a notable difference to her placement experience.
Sotiria Karagianni BA (Hons), MBPsS, CSMCOSCA
Tiwtor/Mentor Sgiliau Astudio Arbenigol / Specialist Study Skills Tutor/Mentor
Our ADHD and ASC coaching programmes
These have been written by our in-house specialists to dovetail with DSA support. The support is based on gold-standard research into successful US ADHD and ASC college coaching. It incorporates metacognitive psychoeducational strategies that have been proven to improve executive dysfunction.
Our ADHD and ASC support workers complete our accredited in-house training before being given access to our full coaching programme so they can deliver the best support possible to our ADHD and ASC students.
Feedback for our ADHD programme:
I was very impressed with the knowledge and skills level of Beacon’s ADHD mentor…. I have worked as an Occupational Therapist in a Brain Injury Service for 25 years, so I have a reasonable understanding of the basics… I was very impressed by your ADHD PowerPoint programmes.
Free ADHD and ASC screenings for Beacon students
Many students come through to us because ADHD and/or ASC traits are discussed during their needs assessment, even though at this stage there may be no formal diagnosis. Beacon students are able to book an ASC/ADHD screening with our in-house diagnostic assessor who is able to request a medical referral where there is sufficient evidence. At present, we have had 100% successful GP referral from the screenings we have conducted.
Support staff trained in Assistive Technology
We strongly believe in the importance of training our support workers in AT so they can help their students to incorporate AT within their sessions. We regularly invite AT providers to demonstrate their technology to our team as part of our monthly staff bitesize CPD sessions.
Other benefits from accessing support at Beacon:
In-person support
Post-Covid, Beacon swam against the tide, which at that time was for DSA support to continue to be delivered remotely. We recognised the importance of assisting students to return to ‘normal’ as quickly as possible. Whilst we appreciate that many of our students are happy with remote support we recognise the value of in-person support and will always check with our students if this is something they wish to access.
Although we cannot provide in-person support for every location, we do have a large coverage of in-person support available across the UK and will always be transparent when responding to queries about our capacity.
Prompt response times
We understand that our students’ needs are often immediate and we endeavour to always come back with same day replies to any queries or concerns.
If a support worker is unable to provide a session, for example, as a result of illness, we will always endeavour to put temporary cover in place.
Student feedback:
I really appreciate you replying on a Sunday to try to put emergency support in place for tomorrow.
Thoughtful student–tutor matching
We believe that effective support starts with finding the right person. Students can share their needs assessment report with us which we will use to match them with the ‘best fit’ support worker. In the absence of a NAR we invite students to tell us about their disability, subject, location, support preferences, and we will do our best to match them with the right member of the team according to their needs.
Regular Student Checks
We will regularly check in with our students to make sure their needs are being met. We also send out student satisfaction forms so students have the opportunity to provide us with feedback about their support. This allows us to make any changes that may be required.
Specialist support, developed around students
We are proud to have developed particular expertise in ADHD and Autism support, and have gained a reputation within the sector for being to the fore with ADHD provision. We place a strong focus on executive function tools and the practical solutions these can provide for students in higher education.
Our live availability tracker
This allows assessors to see where we currently have capacity, making it easier to identify suitable provision and make informed recommendations.
A commitment to quality
The high quality of our support is also due to Beacon’s robust in-house CPD programme. We encourage our staff to continually update their skills and knowledge and we hold whole team training events to facilitate this along with the dissemination of best practice. Our mentors and tutors are encouraged to engage in peer support and also have open access to our Mental Health and ASC/ADHD qualified team leaders.
Our approach is also informed by our extensive experience supporting students with executive-function difficulties, including challenges with organisation, planning, initiation, motivation and task management.
Making support easier to manage
We have invested in systems designed to make the process of accessing and delivering support as straightforward as possible.
Our Pathway digital system makes session logs and timesheets easier to manage for both students and staff, reducing unnecessary administration and helping everyone keep track of provision.
We aim to respond to new referrals within 24 hours and work closely with assessors and advisers throughout the process.
In the last 12 months, 100% of student feedback forms report students being satisfied with their Beacon support, with more than 70% reporting that they are very satisfied.
Talk to a real person.
Get in touch and we'll help — no jargon, no pressure.