Jennie Fleming

• Nottingham University,
• Fellow at Nottingham Trent University

The way that we work with people, because we consult with them, and address their concerns, it gives them the confidence to think, ‘Actually I can change things. I will make a difference.’ (Manager) Standard Eleven: Participation Service users should be centrally involved in the planning, development, management, commissioning and evaluation of ser...

When it comes to quality and standards, we should have our views taken into account as service users and carers. Service users’ and carers’ voices need to be heard at all levels of the process of setting standards and improving quality. (Harding and Beresford, 1996, p 3) Standard One: Evaluation Services and support must be audited to ensure that p...

Never mind the glossy brochures, the enlightened promises, our daily experience tells us a different story…. How many times do we have to hear a bewildered voice on the phone exclaiming, ‘It never dawned on me that they would do nothing!’ as yet another family member discovers that a much loved relative does not qualify for help. (User-led organisa...

Other publications linked with the Standards We Expect project: • • Person-centred support: A service users’ guide (foreword by Ossie Stuart, Disability consultant) • • Person-centred support: A guide to person-centred working for practitioners (foreword by Moira Gibb, Chair, Social Work Reform Board) • • Making change: A guide to running successf...

Based on the largest independent UK study of person-centred support and written by an experienced team of authors, this book explores with service users, practitioners, carers and managers what person-centred support means to them, what barriers stand in the way and how these can be overcome.

There may be some difficult questions we have not engaged with about how we deliver effectively for everyone. There is inequality in the system now. How do we get the balance right? (David Morris, Senior Policy Adviser to the Mayor of London [Disability and Deaf equality], quoted in Beresford, 2009, p 16) ‘We must have someone to go to when it goes...

I’m beginning to worry we’re creating another fashion. People talking about personalisation who know nothing about it. We need to take a step back to develop and be clear about definition and to do a hearts and minds, service users and carers, workers and general public. (Ivan Lewis, Minister for Social Care, Seminar, Launch of Institute for Public...

By far the greatest number … described the good things about their social workers in terms of their relationship with them. ‘I can talk to her/him,’ ‘there when I need him/her,’ ‘listens,’ ‘easy to talk to/discuss problems with,’ ‘explains things to me.’ (Harding and Beresford, 1996, pp 7-8) Standard Eight: Practice Services should support a positi...

Of adults with a learning disability living in the community, 52 per cent live with their parents and 12 per cent with other relatives. (Disability Rights Commission, 2007, p 34) Standard Five: Carers Policy and practice based on person-centred support should ensure appropriate support to service users, their families and friends, instead of placin...

There are stories of our elders who are vegetarians being provided with meat dishes from the meals on wheels service … of an Asian elder, a Hindu living in a residential home, being given beef. There is a lack of respect, inadequate provision for dietary needs, skin and hair care, language and emotional needs…. The list is endless. … ranging from s...

Introduction In this part of the book we offer a few more detailed accounts of some particular people we encountered in the Standards We Expect project which we have drawn upon. By offering such in-depth flesh and blood stories, we hope we can offer further insights into both the experience of person-centred support and some of the barriers that ca...

‘There are some individual support workers who are extremely person-centred and who really get what it means. But organisations, because they’re organisations, don't get what it means really.’ (Manager) Standard Seven: Reducing organisational barriers Organisational barriers in the way of person-centred support, created by increasing bureaucratisat...

We have our own mindsets and agendas. I will give you a classic example. I went on a visit yesterday to see a person with learning disabilities. [She] was with her partner. They had got gas heating and I said, ‘How can we support you?’ and they mentioned central heating, and I said, ‘I work in social care.’ So when you think of person-centred appro...

Appendix One contains more information about how we carried out the project, the Standards We Expect on which this book is based. The accent in the project was very much on people's direct and meaningful involvement – as service users, carers, practitioners and managers. As well as being a participatory research project, it was also a development p...

More often than not, big change programmes fail. Failure is a real possibility…. Organisations which constantly reorganise themselves tend not to perform well. (David Nicholson, Chief Executive, National Health Service, Guardian Public Services Summit, 5 February 2009) Introduction In the last chapter, we learned how service users and others emphas...

Good standards of practice and care will only be achieved if organisations have a learning culture which supports the training and development of staff. At an organisational level these developments address structures, culture, systems, human resources and leadership. At an individual level this means keeping up to date through training and post-re...

The proposed project Here we set out in more detail, for readers who are interested, how we carried out the project on which this book draws. A shorter account is provided in Chapter One. The Standards We Expect project grew out of one of the programmes of work of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), a leading independent funder in the field of so...

This paper discusses in detail just one group meeting utilizing the social action group work approach for a group of women in Peru wishing to establish themselves as a knitting association. We describe the context of the work and the different elements and challenges when facilitating the workshop. The meeting was part of a community development pr...

Self-directed Groupwork and its values and methodology have taken root in a range of disciplines and in peer, volunteer and professionally facilitated groups addressing a diverse range of issues and across many countries. It has promoted and sustained the mindset and practices needed for achieving social justice through social action and community...

U R Boss was groundbreaking in two ways. First, it aimed to work in a deep and detailed participatory way with young people in the criminal justice system, and second, it involved young people directly in campaigning work to change policy and practice.

This article reviews literature to provide context for a reflective narrative on a collaborative research project undertaken by disabled people, practitioners and academics. This approach required reconsidering many aspects of methodology and practice as the research relationships are altered. The article reflects on how the collaborative and parti...

U R Boss is a participatory project aimed at improving processes and outcomes for young people in the criminal justice system. • Resettlement was identified by young people as a major issue, both by the number of enquiries to the U R Boss legal helpline about resettlement issues and from the participation work done with young people by U R Boss pa...

U R Boss: Campaigning for change Early consultation with young people identified policing as a key priority for U R Boss The establishment of the role of Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and the elections to that position created a significant opportunity to develop a participatory campaign to promote young people’s interests and child-friendl...

p> In this paper we will briefly set out the principles and process of the self-directed groupwork model but our main focus will be on how people are putting the model into practice and changes we have observed in relation to groupwork tasks and facilitation within its application over the past 3 decades. Whilst we have found that self-directed gro...

In this paper we will briefl y set out the principles and process of the selfdirected groupwork model but our main focus will be on how people are putting the model into practice and changes we have observed in relation to groupwork tasks and facilitation within its application over the past 3 decades. Whilst we have found that self-directed groupw...

This article reviews literature to provide context for a reflective narrative on a collaborative research project undertaken by disabled people, practitioners and academics. This approach required reconsidering many aspects of methodology and practice as the research relationships are altered. The paper reflects on how the collaborative and partici...

There is much current interest in how the non-academic impacts of research can be analysed and documented. However, there are many methodological and practical challenges to the process. This JICS/NCCPE funded project was set up to try and address a small number of these via new and established methods. This briefing reports on findings from a join...

Led by both children's rights perspectives and methodological arguments, there is an increasing emphasis on children and young people's participation in health and social care research by researchers, policy makers and funding bodies - with many now considering the active involvement of children and young people a requirement. There is little explo...

The Centre for Social Action was commissioned by the Leicester City Council to evaluate its Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Strategy. This was a multi-stage project with a central element of consulting with young people. This article outlines the process that was followed in order to recruit, train and support young people through the process of being...

There is widespread agreement that care and support services must change radically if they are to meet the rights and needs of the rapidly growing number of people who require them. For the first time, Supporting people explores with service users, practitioners, carers and managers what person-centred support means to them, what barriers stand in...

Working with young people on research projects means we need to consider many elements of research methodology and approach. This article draws on the experience of the author and other writers to consider how young people’s involvement in research challenges current practice and influences research and researchers. It explores critically why so li...

The Centre for Social Action was commissioned by the Leicester City Council to evaluate its Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Strategy. This was a multi-stage project with a central element of consulting with young people. This article outlines the process that was followed in order to recruit, train and support young people through the process of being...

The paper describes a recent research project, which reviewed a 1970s social action group in Nottingham that helped the original group members (all of whom had appeared in courts, and many of whom were subject to Probation Orders in the late 1970s) reflect on its legacy 25 years later. As well as a youth centre they had successfully campaigned for,...

This article explores recent changes within the field of victim and witness services, and uses this to provide a background to the work of the Victims and Witnesses Action Group (VWAG) in the English city of Leicester. Issues raised included the difficulties of partnership working in terms of breakdowns in communication, competition for funding and...

This chapter provides two case studies of projects in the United Kingdom and United States using a social action approach to encourage youth participation and civic engagement. The authors provide a snapshot of U.K. and U.S. policy related to inclusionary practice in youth development work, along with testimony from youth participating in the two c...

The traditional approach to risk in youth research has focused on the identification and weighting of risk factors in what has been called the "risk prevention paradigm". This paradigm has been critiqued, not least for its lack of engagement with contextual and structural issues. This article draws on recent empirical work which attempts to foregro...

This paper considers work the authors have done with community projects to explore the meaning and usefulness of social capital. It sets out the model of social capital developed from this work, which has enabled the discussion and application of social capital to move from academia into local neighbourhoods and communities. It goes on to consider...

This chapter explores how the concept of social capital can be adapted and employed as a tool for participative evaluation of community-based work. It considers social capital as an excellent framework for evaluation and one which allows people to demonstrate the impact of their work with communities and inform their own practice and project develo...

Introduction This chapter explores how the concept of social capital can be adapted and used as a tool for participative evaluation of community-based work. The chapter draws on our experience of working with the Nottingham Social Action Research Project (SARP) as an example. (Parts of this chapter draw on material published recently; see Boeck and...

This article describes in detail how social action trainers approach the beginning stages of the groupwork process, which is recognised as a crucial stage in the formation of any group. Examples of how group members are facilitated to get to know each other, agree the purposes of the group, their expectations and the ground rules which should opera...

This paper deals with the experience of the two authors working in a number of different settings. Both have been for many years practitioners using the Social Action model, Jennie in England and Eamonn in Northern Ireland. Together we have also been providing training for youth social workers in Ukraine, on issues of Social Action and empowering p...

The article is based on the evaluations of three different projects working with young homeless people. The evaluations are all based on the young people's views and opinions of the projects. The paper set outs what is it the young people value about their contact with the projects. The factors include emotional and practical support, opportunity t...