Evaluations
“...there needs to be a fundamentally
respectful and ethical relationship between services and the people
they assist”
Michael Kendrick
We
were commissioned by the Thistle
Foundation in Scotland to develop an Evaluation Process that would
explore quality in the newer more individualised services and that
could also be used and understood by everyone. The Five
Dimensions of Person-centredness was the result. The process
has been developed to be used by mixed teams of people who
are fascinated by how services work – people who use services, carers,
professionals are all team members.
We believe that organisations have patterns and routines
that are
difficult to see when they are lived from the inside, year after year.
Yet these patterns may be the reason why things stay the same and why
the same problems keep coming back. This means it's hard to identify
what is really happening unless there is a clear feedback process.
Organisational change often fails because it doesn't
address
the broader social and cultural issues that affect people who use
social care services.
Using the Five Dimensions approach we explore with you
the patterns and processes in the delivery of a service that contribute
to unique, empowering support and right relationships- we provide a
reflective process to help improve services, raising awareness about belief
systems and how things are happening?
“The process of 'serving' people well
is not a function of a simple adherence to procedures or the use of a
technology. On the contrary, it is a task that usually draws heavily on
those involved as 'servers' to be very present to, and responsive to,
the person being served. It involves many elements of one's
total person,
including one's perception, insights, integrity, ability, limitations,
character, values, strength, time and energy. Far from being some
remote, detached activity in which all choices are objectified, it is a
task which intensively engages one's subjectivity. It should not
surprise us that human beings find serving others to be very
challenging, if not frequently overwhelming.”
Michael Kendrick
For more information about the Five Dimensions download
a flier here
And for information on our evaluation work involving
people who use services in the process see here.
