Resources

This page contains a set of articles and books for personal use. I occasionally also publish short new articles on a blog at capacitythinking.blogspot.com and invite comments and the Inclusion and Social Justice Articles directory is a good source of further reading on many key ideas.

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Real Inclusion and Empowering Practice (books)

The full books 'Real Inclusion' and 'Empowering Practice' are now available here. Click on the animation below to be taken to the 'Calameo' website where the image can be magnified or click HERE to read Real Inclusion FULL SIZE and click HERE to read Empowering Practice FULL SIZE. (These aren't simple 'html' pages so if you have any issues with accessibility please send me a short message so I can make them available to you.)

Articles on this site

Most of these articles are about issues around 'inclusion' and 'equality'. The first short article is about 'change' in a more general sense.

Change and 'The System
(extended June 2008)
This short article explores why those involved in supporting change in an organisation or society may find it useful to understand ideas of 'the system' and 'emergence'.

Circles of support - an introduction
This article introduces circles of support, also known as circles of friends. It is also available as a pdf file which may be more appropriate for printing.

Getting Support Right - planning support in person centred ways (pdf file)
The support and care services are awash with planning processes, and discussions over the best approach abound. We often speak to organisations that are intending to "implement" or "roll out"something that they see as a replacement for the old ways of working. If only it were that simple.

Independent Advocacy meets Person Centred Planning (pdf file)
This is a copy of a very short report produced after a workshop some years ago.

Monitoring and Evaluation: difficulties and possibilities (pdf file)
This document discusses ideas about good evaluation and monitoring strategies.

A short introduction to person-centred planning (pdf file)
This is a very short introduction to person-centred planning.

Notes which have accompanied courses

Good Questions (pdf file)
A reminder of some questions you may find useful when facilitating person centred planning.

About Me booklets (pdf file)
Notes about producing a booklet about a person (or for yourself) as part of person centred planning. Producing a booklet can capture some of the most important information from the planning process - in a form that can more easily be accessed by people who weren't present. It can provide a challenge to other deficiency based paperwork, by supporting a capacity viewpoint, and ensuring that the person is seen as an individual not a 'client', 'resident', or 'patient'. A well written booklet can help to safeguard the focus person's individuality. It can also help with the coordination of future planning or help with developing an understanding of the focus person.

Working with risk (pdf file)
This is a short list of questions which people have found to be useful when carrying out a risk assessment.

Dangers of Leadership (pdf file)
A single sheet of notes about what happens when leading change.

Key Ideas on Change (pdf file)
A single sheet of notes on change.

Key concepts in pictures (pdf file)
A three page document trying to capture some of the key ideas around person-centred working and planning using diagrams/pictures. This will mainly make sense to people who have attended training where these diagrams were used.

Path and Map handouts for facilitators (pdf file)
This handout is intended as a reminder, for people who have attended training on person-centred planning (and practised its use, and been a focus person), of some key points.

Facilitation tips (pdf file)
Like the one above, this handout is intended as a reminder of some key points around the facilitation of person-centred planning.

Five Dimensions of Inclusion (pdf file)
This very short handout is a reminder of the five dimensions of inclusion (five service accomplishments). This is based on the work of John O'Brien, Connie Lyle O'Brien, and Beth Mount.

Articles published elsewhere

You're looking good - have you lost weight?
This article discusses common conversations about weight and body image. It's published on Inclusion and Social Justice Articles

Emergence is not always 'good'
This article discusses issues around the idea of 'emergence' in the context of change in human systems. It is directed at the community of people who work and write about emergence, complexity, and systems. It was published in 'Emergence: Complexity & Organization' (vol 11 issue 2)

Emergence and Organisational Change,
Adding Weight in Independent Advocacy,
Being a regular,
"Planning" not "the plan", and
Telling stories,
are blog posts on capacitythinking.blogspot.com which haven't yet made it into a more formal article format.

External documents

Links to documents which may be useful.

Principles and standards in Independent Advocacy organisations and groups, Advocacy 2000 (pdf file)
Many Independent Advocacy organisations use this document to guide their work. It describes "the highest standard of practice for Independent Advocacy organisations and groups to aim towards." - Hosted on Inclusion and Social Justice Articles and also available as plain html web pages.