Summary of focus group in Knockbracken Park, Belfast Trust 18 April 2016

1.  Host: Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Training and Development

2.  Attendees

Attendee / Organisation / Designation / Service target group / PiP Award
Fergal O’Brien / SHSCT / Promoting Wellbeing Manager / All POCS / L&S
Erik Cownie / UU / Lecturer CD course
Grainne Nelson / BHSCT / Training and Development / Children’s Service / Specialist
Yvonne Cowan / BHSCT / Community Development/ PPI / Non Social Worker
Patricia Burns / BHSCT / Training and Development / Children’s Service / Specialist
Jack Gilliland / BHSCT / Carer / Direct Payments
Dave Milliken / BHSCT / Service user / Direct Payments Project Board Self Directed Support
Karen Burns / BHSCT / Early Intervention service- Family Hub / Children’s services / Practice Teacher
Allison Smyth / Education and Skills Authority / Regional Training Officer for Education and Welfare Officers / Responsible for all awards

3.  Responses to questions

3.1. Definition of Community Development

·  Definition of community development Inclusion/ diversity (2)

·  Empowerment; empowering communities to help the vulnerable and those in need (4)

·  Involvement/ Participation (5)

·  Multi-disciplinary across all programmes of care

·  Active Citizenship

·  Planning change

·  Person Centred Approaches- I feel in Children’s services there is a lack of person centred approach values- could help with listening to service users despite statutory responsibilities (2)

·  Leadership

·  Partnerships between different elements of the community, statutory, voluntary and community provider organisations (3)

·  User led/ users as experts (5)

·  Networking

·  Strengths based

·  Co-production

·  Collective action / collaboration/ togetherness (3)

·  Team

·  Building Capacity- education (3)

·  Bringing people together

·  Local Support/ Neighbourhood based (2)

·  Focus on legislation, policy and regulation as drivers/ justification of action

·  Focus on theory/ evidence of effectiveness/ measurable outcomes ( 2)

·  Cost effectiveness

·  Could be PQ/ PiP credits

·  Getting to know the issues faced by the community

·  People having their say

·  Contributing to making the community better

·  Easy access to information

·  More club activity at night

·  Could be geographic or community of interest e.g. Hospital, Self-directed Support, User group

3.2. Can you give an example of when you used a community development approach in your work and how this benefitted service users/ carers

·  [

3.3. Which of the above topics do you think are most relevant to social workers and managers and how do you think they will ultimately benefit service users and carers?

·  Funding

·  Self-Directed Support/ personalisation- letting service users know how to direct their own care (6)

·  Service user involvement best practice models including as independent trainers(6)

·  Family Hubs

·  Definitions, values etc

·  Importance of voluntary/ community sector in meeting needs

·  Partnership Work

·  Policies/ governance(2)

·  Needs led services

·  Cultural awareness- integration of newcomers/ asylum seekers to enable settlement, belonging, understanding

·  Voluntary training umbrella organisations which provide training with community groups on particular issues e.g. Volunteer Now on Safeguarding

·  Research and evidence in CD

·  All of the training with the exception of Good Governance, funding.

3.4. What else should be taught which would be most relevant to your work?

·  Most of this is valuable but there needs to be more skills based training- facilitation skills, conflict management, negotiation skills, tools for engagement and involvement of service users/ carers(4)

·  Speaking a common language

·  Leadership

·  PPI strategy

·  SDS/ Direct payments

·  Service providers to help service users

·  Social workers to be encouraged not to “silo” service users/ carers into services but to make best use of statutory/ voluntary services

·  Family group Conferencing(2)

·  Person Centred values for childcare social workers

·  Preparation for practice skills training for all programmes of care

·  Community resources including resources banks

3.5. Community Development training courses are being developed for newly qualified social workers, experienced social workers and qualified social work managers. Have you thoughts on what the most important information on community development would be for staff at each of these levels?

Consolidation / Specialist / Leadership and Strategic
Introduction to community development / Application of model to practice / Leadership
Skills/ values / principles underpinning approach / Links with voluntary/ community sector / Improved facilitation skills
Examples of how this model can be applied to day to day practice theory / Understanding that services should be user led rather than other way round / Networking skills
Input from service users on expectations/ hopes/ outcomes / Facilitating CD models/ methods and drawing on relevant policies/ legislation/ procedures(2)
Need to be able to link up learning from CD on SW undergraduate course to PQ course / Managers rarely hear voice of service users(2)
Types and nature of organisations in each community / Knowing that there is more to a service user than just a recipient of services
Why use CD?
Yes to all the statements suggested for different levels but facilitation skills especially important(2)
Need to encourage building links between social work staff and community based service providers
Learning about client and getting to know them

3.6. Would managers benefit from a training session on how to improve outcomes for service users, carers and the communities they serve through critical examination of voluntary/ community sector contracts to ensure that the contracts encourage good community development principles and practice?

·  Definitely benefit from training session on how to improve outcomes

·  Evidence based feedback from service users

·  Yes- PPI and CD principles and practice- includes mentoring and evaluation

·  Stipulating how those who have contracts have consulted/ talked to service users/ carers et c

·  A review of voluntary/ community sector contracts would be valuable to determine what is good CD morally, practically and administratively

·  To prevent CD approach being misused to meet budget limitations and resource issues for stat services

·  Yes Leadership required- social work staff need support to move away from resource led environment

·  Managers need to know that a user (person)is not just a collector of services, but may need more non-traditional services such as help with house work, gardening, education on direction from the user

·  Yes managers need to know how the money is spent and if it serves the community

·  Yes contracts are one size fits all approach

·  Look at outcomes but not necessarily from service users point of view or including their voice

3.7. How would you judge success following success of courses?

·  Measurable outcomes- more meaningful involvement from service users involved in everything including consultations, service development, service changes, monitoring, evaluation, training , new building, policies, practice, interview panels(5)

·  Commissioners of services listen to service users and are challenged

·  Not just listening to service users but valuing them

·  Service users encouraged to lead but supported through process

·  CD being seen as a core theme/ idea in SW practice similar to safeguarding, service user involvement and risk assessment

·  Change in staff attitudes

·  Formal links with community organisations

·  All of the examples on the sheet and measure self-esteem/ confidence baseline at outset

·  Measure of educational outcomes for service users

·  Social/ emotional/ behavioural outcomes

·  Staff- accreditation for successfully completing course

What difference would you like to see in social work staff/ managers on completion of the course?

·  New partnerships with service users, carers ( 2)

·  A good understanding of the value of service users and carers

·  A vision of empowering service users and carers as a standard not an optional extra

·  Seeing the user/ carer as the decision maker and the social worker as the facilitator

·  Better knowledge of gaps; greater responsiveness and less duplication of services provided within communities

·  Less hesitancy and suspicion about engaging with community organisations

·  Continuing to use CD approaches

·  Staff having better awareness of the communities that they are working in

·  Negotiation skills

·  Conflict management

·  Facilitating public meetings or workshops/ improved facilitation skills(2)

·  Partnerships/ collaborative working/ formal / established links between stat/ com (2)

·  PPI training

·  Leadership from managers and full involvement from staff

·  Active engagement with community

·  More creative/ innovative ideas

·  Improvement of outcomes and wellbeing for service users

3.8. Do you feel that service users/ carers/ voluntary sector groups could provide training input into these new courses? If so how do you feel they could make the biggest impact?

·  We have brought users and carers and vol sector into PPI training but it has to be relevant to staff e.g. if its health visitors and early years teams or older persons service group- could be befriending

·  Just not to deliver input about their experience but to deliver content etc (3)

·  Service users/ carers could be part of the interviewing/ selection process, course review/ small study groups

·  Sharing recommendations about what works/ how / why

·  Service users as researchers/ facilitators/ experts (3)

·  Value of SU involvement for own confidence

·  Vol sector sharing expertise/ experience/ wisdom

·  Stats need to go to service users/ voluntary sector

4.