1 / 11

Empowering Community Connections: Building Skills for Meaningful Engagement

This guide explores innovative ways to foster community connections and support individuals utilizing services. It emphasizes the importance of shifting perceptions about people within communities, recognizing their gifts, and facilitating authentic relationships. By addressing the balance between what is important to individuals and for them, we can cultivate a culture of abundance rather than scarcity. The guide offers practical strategies for matching staff and individuals, understanding community dynamics, and developing skills that promote meaningful participation and connections.

kateb
Télécharger la présentation

Empowering Community Connections: Building Skills for Meaningful Engagement

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Thinking about community connecting Learning to see differently

  2. Building skills within existing services Supporting Dreams Connecting - Circles Relationships Communication chart Matching staff and those using services Collecting/reinforcing learning with the 4 questions Using what is working/not working Important to/Important for and the balance between them Clearly defining staff responsibilities

  3. What you see depends on what you are looking for • People who use services are seen as taking rather than giving • People’s gifts and potential contributions are overlooked • Services are scarce and few while community resources are rich and varied • A culture of scarcity causes opportunities to be overlooked and potential connections missed

  4. We have an un-natural view of natural supports • We see developing natural supports as if it were a recipe • Go to the same grocery store at the same time for 6 months, stir and get 2 natural supports • We don’t allow for the trial and error learning that we do when beginning the process that leads to friends • Leaving the work to 1 community connector per agency or area will leave most people lonely

  5. Broad success in Community connecting requires - • First and foremost a different way of thinking about people and their communities • A set of skills that can be taught • Having the thinking and the skills spread across as many people associated with each person as is possible • Expectations of everyone to try – carefully and respectfully – and that success only happens where it is OK to “fail”

  6. Connecting skills fall into 3 areas • How we look at each person • How we look at the communities in which they live and spend time • Putting the 2 together and then – • Knowing when and how to build on what gets started • Knowing when and how to sustain connections

  7. Looking at each person • Knowing what is “important to”, “important for” and the balance between them • Recognizing gifts – • What is the person good at • How are they smart • What do others see in them • How are they already contributing to the lives of others • Understanding these are complex and interactive

  8. Looking at communities • Having ways to see the varied possibilities in the communities – • Formal and informal associations • Places where people “hang-out” • How people pursue their varied interests • Where are the opportunities to contribute

  9. Connecting as process – an example • Look for places where the person would be welcomed • Find someone who enjoys spending time with the person (with staff present) • Someone who enjoys spending time with the person without staff being present • That person invites the person who uses services to do something somewhere else without staff

  10. The power of contributions • Connecting through volunteer work • Looking for the opportunities – • Setting up for the spaghetti supper • Helping during the flood

  11. Remember • Friends come from acquaintances – people move from the outside in • Some of our activity “buddies” stay as that • Most of us try 5 things to find 1 that works

More Related