Active Support Newsletter
After the initial support from the Project we started to discuss in our staff meeting what staff were doing and what the people we were supporting were not. We discussed simple things like who answered the door, who booked the taxi and who made the tea, just little things. These activities tended to be done by staff, almost subconsciously. We spoke about why we tended to do these things for people and came up with ‘that it was simply quicker’! We started to think differently and began to slow down a bit and thought about quicker not being better and that it is our role to support people to take part more in their own lives even the mundane activities and not us!
We started to offer more choices for people by giving them the opportunity to do and try new things. We had support from SALT and introduced pictures so that it was easier for some people to choice an activity or to choose what to do next. Some people would just say yes to everything. We noticed a big difference in choice making when we introduced visual communication. We also changed the way we would ask so that it was not a question eg ‘its time to……
Staff attitudes are different now. We tended before to be more staff focused than person centred focus. Support before the Project was good but now its great. We are working ‘with’ a person more now rather than ‘for’ a person. You see it happening when you go into the Service. You will see staff just giving enough support and not working independently; people are working together.
We did have resistance from some staff to start with it was hard moving from caring to using Active Support. The Service was more staff centred than person centred. Staff and team attitudes have changed. People we support are more confident and want to do more. In many cases they have always been able to do more, we just did not always give the person an opportunity to do it! One person has had a significant reduction is weight loss as they are now walking more and supported to think more about what they are eating. Looking at more informed choice.
Case Study
Client A- Aim to be able to use a mobile phone so that she has the security of being able to contact staff in emergencies and can also use it to make contact with her friends.
Step 1 Buy phone
How this was achieved.
1. Supported by her key worker to go to the phone shop, to look at what is available, discussed with her the options, prices, pay as you go, contract etc. Key worker helped her to look at the money she has coming in so they could work out if she could afford the contract price.
2. Chose the model she wanted, discussed taking out an insurance and the benefits of having an insurance on the phone. Key worker helped her to complete the contract and made sure that she understood what she was signing.
Step 2 Setting phone up
3. Brought the phone home and key worker helped her to charge it, explaining how it worked and the need to keep it charged up so that she could use it. Given support to set it up, explaining about how to set it on silent as well as have it ringing. Helped to take a photo so she could set it as her background.
Step 3 How to use the phone
4. Over a period of several weeks she was shown by her key worker how to answer the phone, make calls, text, put contact numbers into the phone and how to use the camera, this had to be shown on a considerable number of occasions until she was confident to do it herself.
Step 5 Monitoring to ensure client was confident and competent and everything was working well.
5. Key worker looked at clients bank statement on a regular basis with the client to ensure that the monthly payments were going out alright from her account and that she was able to afford it. Discussed with her if she was having any difficulties, which she was not.
What went well?
The client was very keen to be able to have and use a mobile phone so she was eager to learn and sought out the staff to help her. She took every opportunity to practice and phoned lots of people initially.
What difference is this making to her life?
She now regularly uses the phone to let us know that she is on her way home from her work placement giving her a sense of security. She has privacy when making or taking her phone calls as she can now use her own phone in her bedroom. It has given her greater independence and more privacy and she feels ‘normal’ (like every other young person) as she has her own phone and she has a sense of achievement because she can do it all by herself now.
Carol Stark
Practice Manager
Prospects