1. Strength based practice
Responsibility of the Personal Assistant
27th November 2018

2. Care Close to Home – our strategy for ASC
Our Vision
To help people to maintain or improve their wellbeing and to live as independently as possible.
What Do Islanders Need and Want?
I want information and advice to help me support myself.
I want skilled advice to plan my care and support.
I can plan ahead and stay in control at times of crisis.
My care and support is delivered by competent people.
Our 3 Core Delivery Areas
Promote Wellbeing
Improve Wellbeing
Protect Wellbeing
Evaluation, Performance Management and Use of Evidence
Our 4 Enabling Programmes
Competent, Confident, Critical Thinking Staff
Commissioning for Value and Impact
Personalised Care and Professional Practice
Partnerships and Integration

3. Challenge stereotypes
You all know we need to think and work differently – and how we work must change
Challenge stereotypes

4. What is strength?
“Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands
– and then eat just one of the pieces.”
Judith Viorst

5. What is a strength base approach?
“A strengths based approach to care, support and inclusion says - let’s look first at what people can do with their skills and their resources and what can the people around them do in their relationships and their communities. People need to be seen as more than just their care needs – they need to be experts and in charge of their own lives”
Alex Fox, Chief Executive, shared lives

6. What do we mean by strength based approaches?
It marks a fundamental shift in the way that ASC supports people across the Isle of Wight – focus on prevention and independence. Strengths-based approaches build on the individuals strengths skills, knowledge, connections and potential For the PA it is about providing proportionate support when needed – it is about being the empowerer Not about being the rescuer

7. OUR LEGAL DUTY
Under the Care Act 2014 local authorities are required to:_
‘look at the person holistically, considering their needs and agreed outcomes in the context of their skills, ambitions and priorities’

8. How is a PA involved Whole System approach
Strengths based assessment should have taken place
Outcome focussed
You are with the person – You see
their potential
Empower them to move the goal
posts

9. The PA Contribution to moving to a Strength based approach
FROM - DEFICITs
TO – assets and strengths
Starts with deficiencies and needs – what people can’t do
Starts with assets and the person’s gifts and strengths
Respond to problems
Identify opportunities and strengths through conversations
See people as clients and consumers receiving services – a passive recipient
See people as citizens and co-producers with something to offer
Focus on individuals – narrow, defined by their condition
Focus on communities/neighbourhoods and the common good and person’s place in that community
“Fix” people – focussing on what is wrong need an expert to find the solution
Support people to develop their potential- focus is on finding the solution yourself
Implement programmes as the answer
See people as the answer

10. The Wiity Conversation
What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What did you used to enjoy doing? What would you like to be better at? What would you like to do better? What would you like to do more of? What would improve your feeling of well-being? What do you think will help make things better? What will stop things getting worse?

11. Challenges
Building on strengths does not mean you ignore the fact that people do have challenges and there may be risks
Maximise potential to overcome this. Ask:-
What is preventing you from achieving what you want to do?
What can you do to change this?
What can help you to change this?
Success will be through the quality of the relationship you develop with the person

12. Strength based approaches – the first steps
Look at the person as an individual, consider what is working well for them and build on this
The individual will have a
perception of their reality ,
their story – start from there
Staff to have different conversations with people – ‘what matters’- not ‘what's the matter’
Collaboration leads to co-production of support rather than being just a consumer

13. Strength based approaches – the first steps
Stop doing things to people – doesn’t work
Listen to people - start doing ‘with Give permission to staff to work differently - to connect people to their communities – see yourself as enabling, empowering not helping
Giving permission and freedom to redesign and innovate
This approach is mirrored in care management AND provider services AND commissioning

14. Why should we adopt this approach?
To INCREASE:
Self esteem
Personal Choice and Control – encourage decision making
Sense of competence
Hopefulness
To PROMOTE:
Independence
Sustainable change through growth
To REDUCE:
Dependence