Page 10 - Community Living Magazine 35-3

support
What model? We just get on with it

As an increasingly grumpy Tim Keilty approaches his 50s, he is Now people tell me: “That’s like the
confident that he knows what good support is but is less sure market-approach-to-making-community-
centred-planning-happen”, “that’s adding
about the plethora of models used to badge it social value”, “that’s local area
coordination”, “that’s blah blah” etc.
They ask: “Which models and
am nearly 50. Yesterday I got a letter fostered relationships with the ones who approaches did you use to support people
through the door for SunLife’s over-50s look out for him. I’ve been in the shops to do the honey? Person-centred active
I e insurance. with him and talked to shop workers. support? Systematic instruction?”
lif
In my 20s, I wanted to change the In lockdown, he did not get cash as We just watched YouTube videos.
world, in my 30s I would have settled for usual but vouchers for a supermarket. This
changing the system of social care, in my meant he couldn’t go to the paper shop, What’s the difference?
40s, I attempted to see if I could change which he does every day. The newsagent So we are trying to do good support. I’m
an organisation, here’s to my 50s… rang me, worried as they hadn’t seen him. not dismissing any of the models and
Very disrespectfully during my 20s, two We now use his support money to pay approaches – in fact I’d fight to the death
colleagues and I used to make gentle fun his paper bill monthly. He is seen every to defend them.
of a social worker (behind his back) who day by someone who cares enough to But there is a danger we alienate
at the time was probably in his late 40s. make a phone call. people by badging models up
We used to call him the Fonz. He was a People respond to this story by when organising our
good social worker, probably brilliant, but saying: “That’s just like ABCD!”, conferences and sniping from
had the audacity not to unthinkingly “That’s ISFs” or “That’s just like my our dugouts. There’s not a great
accept our new way, which at the time story of my support-community- deal between any of them.
was person-centred planning. centred-person-development- My personal “model” is a
He had the essence of what we were matrix-relational-model.” distillation of all the stuff I’ve
saying (or preaching) but did not use quite Or is it just good support? heard and read over the years,
the same language, so he was not allowed first summed up by advocates of
on our team. Full of beans inclusion John and Connie Lyle
Now I am the Fonz. I am grumpy, For ages at work, we’ve been trying O’Brien, Jack Pearpoint and Lynda
unflinching and there’s no space in my to get involved with what’s going on in Khan: “Listen deeply, search for capacities,
head for new things. I hope the 20-year- our town. We have tried to be nosy and seek connections, be open to yes.”
olds now aren’t too harsh on me. helpful, not jump in with solutions but The brilliant work of Simon Duffy is
Anyway, recently, I’ve told a few stories wait to find out what needs to be done crudely summarised by me as: “Give
about my work and people have been and what people need help with. people control of the money and let them
kind – but then tried to badge my story The hope is that people we support can crack on.”
with their stamp. show or find their purpose and make And a great question from Richard Orr
their contribution. at Inclusion WA in Australia sums up what
Stubbornly alone Recently, we resurrected the Green I try to do when figuring out how to
There’s a man I support who lives Beans Market, a community market at support people: “How can we be most
stubbornly and perilously alone in his our railway station, something that helpful in your life?”
bungalow, hates support and barely needed to be done. I hope people won’t reply: ”That’s just
tolerates me. At the market, we sold honey we had like the questions/model/thinking in…”
As a good support worker, I’ve made it made after meeting a beekeeper at the I think Wolf Wolfensberger, the great
my business to know what’s going on and community garden who loves keeping bees theorist of disability policy and practice,
know people where he lives, I’ve rung the but doesn’t like the messy and time- said something like “there will never be a
police about his dodgy neighbours and consuming task of honey production. unified movement of devalued groups
because they all devalue each other
Sweet something: does too much”.
learning to make As the Fonz would say: “Exactamundo.”
honey to sell at Green As I morph in to the Fonz, I’m worried
Beans Market require that there’ll never be a unified way of
“person-centred,
active support” or changing the world because they all have
some YouTube videos? a slightly better way to do it. n
Tim Keilty is special projects manager at
New Prospects Association in the north
east, a fellow of the Centre for Welfare
Reform and of Citizen Network, and a
paid supporter representative for Learning Tim Keilty
Disability England

10 Vol 35 No 3 | Spring 2022 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk