LOIS SEDDON November 2012

Consider the meaning of working in partnership in the context of working with families and young people

     Enables strength based approached Helps avoid dependency model To enable clients / young people to see you as a resource Reciprocity Hegemony – accepted norms co - opted and become jargon / expectations of society

        Collaboration?

Cooperation? Coordination?

Coalition? Alliance? Helping?

Sharing? 50 / 50?

      What assumptions are made about the concept?

What elements do we really understand about the concept?

What elements do we not really understand?

Is it a ‘common – sense’ concept?

Is it a self-evident concept? Is it a concept that means the same thing or different thing in different contexts?

   Partnership is significant in its own right. It is not an add-on to other issues.

It therefore warrants greater attention in relation to theory development

Information and guidance may be provided for parents or carers in terms of how changes in their behaviour can result in changes in their child’s behaviour. For example in encouraging a secure attachment. How do you work in partnership in this situation?

What do you have to set in place? What skills will you need?

How will you know that the partnership was successful?

Good in two senses?:  Morally good (underpinned by ethics) – relating to the on - going therapeutic relationship  Technically good – effective in achieving the outcome – working towards the achievement of a goal

 Working together with active participation / involvement.

 How does the practitioner recognise connectedness?

     Sharing decision making power.

Can shared power and ‘jointness’ really be achieved?

Should we accept an inevitable power imbalance? If so we need to be able to compensate / redress the imbalance? Consider the specific challenges here associated with safeguarding.

  physical power – for example, a person who bullies others and intimidates other people with their words and/or body language personal power – for example, someone who has charisma and can ‘win people over’  negative power – for example, someone who can stop things from happening  expert power – for example, someone who has professional knowledge or the experience of being a parent

(Handy Charles B,Understanding organizations, 1993, OUP

     Expertise of practitioner being greater than parent Parent wants practitioner to provide a solution Although interactions may be undertaken with care and respect the practitioner leads and the parent / young person complies Does not take account of the importance of the parent’s or young person’s role knowledge /power / expertise – undermines their power still further Not considering the implications for enabling parents / young people to cope with complex situations – could encourage dependency .

  It is important to recognise, acknowledge and manage inequality between the provider and the service user. It may be the role of the practitioner to compensate

 Accepting that these are complementary.

 The client / young person will have experiences in a range of fields, unique to themselves, and so will the practitioner

 Service users have rights to take risks

  Involving parents / young people in identifying the things that are important to them and enabling them to be part of the solution. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says that children and young people have a right to say what they think about matters that affect them, and a right to have those views taken

   Differences of opinion can be both creative and destructive Conflict arises when there are differences between people over: values   facts priorities  goals

(Charles Handy 1993)

   Value accorded to individual input.

How will race, class, religion, culture and language affect the development of partnership working?

The practitioner must reflect on discriminatory and oppressive stereotypes and attitudes and their effects.

 How much of the practitioner needs to be revealed to the client / young person?

   Each partner has rights to information Remember 90 per cent of our communication is non-verbal Encouraging people to say how they feel is key

 Respect  Genuineness  Empathy  Humility  Quiet enthusiasm  Personal strength and integrity  Intellectual and emotional attunement  Resilience of professional to absorb the differential

 Partnership refers to negotiated practice in which users are active participants engaged with professionals in deciding on a course of action.

 Each partner has something to contribute with power shared and roles respected. Such partnerships are backed by legal and moral rights.

   Most clients believed that professionals knew best and wanted access to professional expertise.

They also identified the most effective partnerships were those resulting from a negotiation between those with personal experience and those with professional expertise.

Respect is a consistent theme. This includes clients’ views about how they should be perceived, addressed and treated, and that indifference, impersonality, inattentiveness or rudeness all constitute a lack of respect.

 Baldwin and Sadd, in their discussion of partnership work between the University of Bath and the Wiltshire and Swindon Users’ Network, (20) describe how they now use the word ‘ally’ rather than ‘partner

    The essence of partnership is sharing. It is marked by respect for one another, role divisions,, accountability, competence, Each partner is seen as having something to contribute, power is shared, decisions are made jointly and roles are not only respected but are also backed by legal and moral rights. (SCIE 2008) (citing Jo Tunnard, 1991)

 Willingness of both parties to engage  How will you manage the complexities of partnerships with involuntary users?

       Nature of parent / child / young person problems Barriers to engagement Motivation to change Attitudes and beliefs about services Expectations of outcome Socioeconomic circumstances Culture

 Getting to know the family / young person will shed light on the pace at which you may need to work – for example the frequency of the meetings needed to develop the relationship.

      Rushing the planning Failing to identify clearly the reasons for working in partnership (the purpose and goals of the partnership).The practitioner may need to repeatedly clarify and promote the key purpose. Lack of time for those in the partnership to get to know one another Not enough time to gain an understanding of each other’s role and responsibility within the partnership A lack of trust A failure to look at how a partnership is doing and to measure its achievements (through monitoring and evaluation)

Reflecting on: Before the meeting

 How were they / you feeling?

 What were they / you thinking?

During the meeting

  How are they / you feeling?

What are they / you thinking?

 How are they / you behaving?

After the meeting

 What next?

 Concentration/active listening  Prompting, exploration and summarising  Empathic responding  Enthusing and encouraging  Enabling change in feelings, ideas and actions  Negotiating  Communicating and making use of technical knowledge, expertise and experience  Problem management  interpersonal communication, including with users and carers with particular communication needs  advocacy  working in an empowering way  demonstrating respect  using written agreements  critically reflecting on explicit and/or implicit feedback.

 resilience

       Establishing and building a relationship Helping the person explore their current situation Helping them formulate a clearer understanding of situation Establishing agreed aims and goals Planning strategies Supporting parents / young people while the plans are implemented Evaluating or reviewing the results

   It is generally accepted that, when you are supported yourself, you are in a better position to support others.

Formal Support – line manager / clinical supervision Informal support – colleagues / networks / websites

    Clear partnership goals do not just happen.

They come about through a process of identifying needs, gathering information It is essential to maintain a strong sense of the part you play. As a general guide, it is helpful to think of your role as enabling others (family / parents / young person) to do the work.

    To explore the tacit knowledge / skills of practice we need to deconstruct the concepts This entails challenging assumptions, but first those need to be identified.

It means unpicking the elements and systematically exploring the characteristics as we experience them.

It involves considering the challenges to achieving successful practice, but before that we need to be clear about what successful practice is.

    Think of an example in practice of working in partnership.

What are the qualities of that relationship?

Is it a good partnership?

Think about your own experience of partnership working, and the thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears, you have about it.

    Working in partnership: what do I need to learn?

What practical skills do I need to develop?

Who’s going to support me?

Preparing for visits (ContinYou 2005)

  http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf /w/working%20with%20parents%20in%20par tnership.pdf

http://www.continyou.org.uk/school/study_su pport/files/working_in_partnership_to_suppo rt_families