In this video I outline 5 reasons to underpin why we should focus our attention on translating strengths principles into strengths-based practice.
You can also use the following link to also access a range of free strengths-based resources:
https://positiverisktaking.lpages.co/working-with-strengths-2/
Groucho Marx said “These are my principles, and if you don’t like them, well… I have others.” In this video I outline a number of principles of best practice when we are working with risk.
Use the following link to also access a free training webinar which introduces my simple 5-step process to risk decision-making, which also form the core modules of the Positive Risk-Taking Membership Site:
In 2013 Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, in south-east London, commissioned a piece of work from Practice Based Evidence and the Mental Health Foundation to explore ways in which ‘values-based practice’ can be practiced and evidenced more in the day-to-day work with service users and carers within the Adult Mental Health Directorate. So far, the programme has engaged with six pilot teams and produced a set of draft guidelines. In 2014 the programme explore innovative ways of implementing the ideas, and spreading ideas to staff in other directorates.
Now in 2015 the programme draws to a close with a focus on a specific group of people, explored elsewhere in a few podcast episodes, the team and ward managers. These are seen by the programme developers as the key people for embodying and promoting the culture change needed within teams in order to implement refined approaches to the day-to-day challenges of working with peoples strengths and focusing on person-centred values in practice rather than just words in policies and mission statements.
WHY FOCUS ON VALUES-BASED PRACTICE?
They influence everything we think, decide and do in day-to-day practice, though often in a more sub-conscious way rather than overt statements and discussions. Good practice is not about adhering to one set of right values, we should respect and embrace values diversity. Values can be very personal, professional or organisational statements, but the focus here is on the values that underpin the day-to-day language of focusing on the needs and priorities of the individual service user. Practitioners need to be supported to be able to work where values of the service user, organisation, or professional may differ or conflict. A recent high profile report in the UK highlights the need to put this approach to values-based practice into context:
Francis Report into Stafford Hospital “People must always come before numbers. Individual patients and their treatment are what really matters. Statistics, benchmarks and action plans are tools not ends in themselves. They should not come before patients and their experiences. This is what must be remembered by all those who design and implement policy for the NHS.” Excerpt from press release statement by Robert Francis QC in Stafford (5/2/13).
One product of the overall programme has been the development of brief practical guidelines linking together values and principles, working with strengths, positive risk-taking, and the role of person-centred care planning. A modified version of these can be accessed on request through The Strengths Revolution blog.
As 2014 draws to a close, and many of you take stock and use a little time to reflect, it is important to celebrate your achievements. For me, this blog and podcast show has been a pure joy to initiate and develop. However, it is underpinned by consistent strengths-based thinking, and I was particularly pleased to be able to publish ‘Working with Strengths…’ this year.
Why listen to the self-styled publicity of the author when you can take the word of an independent expert? The following are extracts from the Foreword written by my very gracious friend Professor Steve Onyett:
Radical in the sense of challenging the status quo. I love the notion of “funky” mental health services where we first break all the rules – not in a spirit of anarchy so much as in recognition of the fact that so many of our current assumptions simply don’t serve. We need more sacred fools who will run into the royal court and fart in front of the King or Queen in order to shake things up and reveal new and better ways.
There is no shortage of guidance around. There is a plethora of exhortations to be positive and focus on strengths from every direction. However, not so many get behind the rhetoric to look with clear and open eyes at how this plays out in reality. This requires that we look not just at what people say they do, but what they do do. It means that we need to look at what happens in practice and learn from that experience.
Steve Morgan is one of our greatest assets in this context. He has been at the forefront of the movement for strengths based practice in mental health services for a long time and has borne witness to both its successes and it’s disappointments. He has brought this invaluable perspective to bear here in a book that tells you pretty much everything there is to know about how things could be, while also equipping you for the stark realities of implementation in challenging contexts. He does this without judgement or cynicism, thereby leaving us with a sense of the possible and a range of first steps that we can take to make it happen. It has been said that a cynic is a passionate person that does not want to be disappointed again (Zander and Zander, 2000). Here Steve talks to the passion rather than the disappointment.
Sue Jugon describes her interest and influence on developing a unique assertive outreach team within a rural locality of Northamptonshire in England over 10 years. She explains how this type of service connected with her fundamental values and principles for working with some of the most vulnerable people.
She questions what services are actually doing to engage with people needing appropriate services, and the importance of identifying the staff members who she felt would work in different ways and form a genuine ‘team approach’. ‘Funky Mental Health’ is a description of Sue’s vision for the different type of service needed, and she identifies the need for ‘skilled misfits’ if you are truly going to deliver something out of the ordinary.
For the full content of this episode click on the links to iTunes and Sound Cloud (or go to Stitcher Radio):
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/strengths-revolution-steve/id867043694
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/018-sue-jugon-interview-part-2/id867043694?i=317187437&mt=2
The Strengths Revolution 