Thinking about community connecting Learning to see differently

Supporting Dreams Collecting/reinforcing learning with the 4 questions Important to/Important for and the balance between them Building skills within existing services Clearly defining staff responsibilities Using what is working/not working Matching staff and those using services Communication chart Connecting - Circles Relationships

What you see depends on what you are looking for People who use services are seen as taking rather than giving –Peoples gifts and potential contributions are overlooked Services are scarce and few while community resources are rich and varied –A culture of scarcity causes opportunities to be overlooked and potential connections missed

We have an un-natural view of natural supports We see developing natural supports as if it were a recipe –Go to the same grocery store at the same time for 6 months, stir and get 2 natural supports We dont allow for the trial and error learning that we do when beginning the process that leads to friends Leaving the work to 1 community connector per agency or area will leave most people lonely

Broad success in Community connecting requires - First and foremost a different way of thinking about people and their communities A set of skills that can be taught Having the thinking and the skills spread across as many people associated with each person as is possible Expectations of everyone to try – carefully and respectfully – and that success only happens where it is OK to fail

Connecting skills fall into 3 areas How we look at each person How we look at the communities in which they live and spend time Putting the 2 together and then – –Knowing when and how to build on what gets started –Knowing when and how to sustain connections

Looking at each person Knowing what is important to, important for and the balance between them Recognizing gifts – –What is the person good at –How are they smart –What do others see in them –How are they already contributing to the lives of others Understanding these are complex and interactive

Looking at communities Having ways to see the varied possibilities in the communities – –Formal and informal associations –Places where people hang-out –How people pursue their varied interests –Where are the opportunities to contribute

Connecting as process – an example 1.Look for places where the person would be welcomed 2.Find someone who enjoys spending time with the person (with staff present) 3.Someone who enjoys spending time with the person without staff being present 4.That person invites the person who uses services to do something somewhere else without staff

The power of contributions Connecting through volunteer work Looking for the opportunities – –Setting up for the spaghetti supper –Helping during the flood

Remember Friends come from acquaintances – people move from the outside in Some of our activity buddies stay as that Most of us try 5 things to find 1 that works