One of my responsibilities is to mentor and support the staff team to understand the legal framework and implications of it. There was also work to be done around the social care aspects, in particular working with Jack to become more socially included.
Over the first few months, I observed that when Jack was being supported away from his home and in particularly in shops, cafes and pubs he would walk with his head down, behind his staff. He rarely spoke to anyone he did not know and on many occasions choices were either made for him or he wasn’t given enough time to choose. Working with Jack and understanding the risks posed, things started to change straight away.
We try to enable Jack to take the lead at every opportunity, if it’s safe to do so. We have experienced tremendous results with Jack increasingly taking control, making his own decisions in most aspects of his life, and becoming super confident in situations like asking shop assistants for items he can’t find and ordering drinks/food face to face. It’s all about working in a facilitative and safe way: supporting Jack to take the lead and empowering him.
A major interest of Jack’s is wrestling. He has a collection of over 50 videos and DVD’s on this subject, and more recently since his interest was promoted, he has attended live wrestling events.
The teams’ facilitative approach continues to pay off and compliments from others on how Jack has developed his interaction skills keep coming. Recently Jack borrowed one of MacIntyre’s fleet cars for a weekend. We planned, during the week, activities we could do with the use of the car and one of the activities Jack suggested was to dispose of a sideboard and garden chairs that he no longer uses. I suggested visiting a furniture restoration shop to see if they would give him money for them. Jack was eager for this to happen. We borrowed the car on a Friday afternoon and set about this activity straight away. We loaded the sideboard and chairs into the car then drove to the shop.
Arriving at the shop Jack remarked “I’ll talk to them Mark, I’ll ask them” This is something he exclaims on a regular basis now. Facilitative practice followed. Positioning was key. I had to be close enough to Jack to keep him and others safe and to be able to step in or back when needed. He showed the furniture he wanted to sell to Karen, the owner of the shop, along with an explanation of why he doesn't need it anymore: the conversation was flowing! Karen offered Jack £20. He was very happy with this.
Whilst waiting for the money, Jack noticed a shelving unit housing DVD’s. He took a look and found a selection of wrestling DVD’s: his favourite! He decided to buy one and again I could step back. Another member of staff from the shop, Gail, began talking with Jack: chatting away about wrestling and looking at the other wrestling DVD’s in more depth.
Karen then shouted us over to hand Jack his money and a receipt. Whilst finishing the interaction with Karen, Gail brought a 2nd DVD to us “Here you go, take this one as well, for free”. Jack was so pleased and smiling and holding the DVD’s out in front of him he thanked everyone on our way out. Of course we had the rest of the evening still to go and Jack continued to inform myself and two members of his family (visited one, phoned the other) what had happened “Got a free one” and “Lovely ladies in the shop”.
Throughout the evening I thought “WOW, this is pure job satisfaction”. As part of a committed staff team I have worked hard at promoting inclusion, friendships and confidence and today, by effectively using the facilitation skills it had again paid off. I recorded back at the service how good this had made Jack feel and thanked staff for their facilitative approach which had led to this great outcome. Pre 2011 this wouldn't have happened.
I revisited the shop the following day and informed two ladies how special and important they had made Jack feel. They gave yet another compliment on how polite and chatty Jack was and this was gratefully accepted and passed on to the staff team.
I sat down with Jack and another member of staff and explained how proud I was that he had taken control and because he remained confident and friendly, look what happened!
The shop owner invited us to return any time, even if it was just for a coffee. We did!
The name of the person supported has been changed in this blog.
Mark Evans
Senior Support Worker
Warrington