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‘A glass half-full’ – how an asset approach can improve health and well-being

‘A glass half-full’ – how an asset approach can improve health and well-being. Trevor Hopkins Principal Consultant – Healthy Communities. Introduction and outline. ‘Deficits’ and ‘assets’ approaches The dilemma A glass half-full A new policy anyone? Further information.

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‘A glass half-full’ – how an asset approach can improve health and well-being

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  1. ‘A glass half-full’ – how an asset approach can improve health and well-being Trevor Hopkins Principal Consultant – Healthy Communities

  2. Introduction and outline • ‘Deficits’ and ‘assets’ approaches • The dilemma • A glass half-full • A new policy anyone? • Further information

  3. A deficits approach • Much of the evidence currently available to describe and address health inequalities is based on a deficit model • This is a ‘pathogenic’ approach to health and well-being • The deficit approach focuses on the problems, needs and deficiencies in individuals, families and communities • It then designs services to fill the gaps and fix the problems • As a result the community and individuals can feel disempowered or can become dependent • People become passive recipients of expensive services

  4. Features of a deficits approach • Policymakers see systems or institutions as the principal tool for the work of society • The structure is designed to permit a few people to control many other people • People are seen as the clients or consumers • This approach produces a great deal of the same thing, whether goods or services, but to overcome this... • Services are targeted at specific needs or problems, communities and even individuals become ‘segmented’

  5. An assets approach • Values the capacity, skills, knowledge, connections and potential in individuals, families and communities • It is a ‘salutogenic’ approach which highlights the factors that create and support health and well-being • It requires a change in attitudes and values • Professional staff have to be willing to share power • Organisational silos and boundaries get in the way of people-centred outcomes and community building • Never do for an individual, family or a community what they can do for themselves

  6. Assets • What makes us strong? • What factors make us more resilient and more able to cope in times of stress? • What opens us to more fully experience life? • What do asset rich workplaces and communities look like and how can they support health development? Deficits Risk factors: • Teenage pregnancy • Body Fat • Cholesterol • Smoking • Excess alcohol and other drugs

  7. The dilemma . . . People and Communities havedeficiencies & needs Individuals and Communities havestrengths, skills and talents

  8. Health Assets - Health Deficits Well-being Not well Health Illness Identifying & connecting assets Assessing needs & managing risks Salutogenesis Pathogenesis Assets Needs

  9. Health Assets - Health Deficits Well-being Not well Health Illness Identifying & connecting assets Assessing needs & managing risks Salutogenesis Pathogenesis Assets Needs

  10. A glass half-full: how an asset approach can improve community health and well-being http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=18364393

  11. The principles • Assets: any resource, skill or knowledge which enhances the ability of individuals, families and neighbourhoods to sustain health and well-being. • Instead of starting with the problems, we start with what is working, and what people care about. • Networks, friendships, self esteem, happiness and feelings of personal and collective effectiveness are good for our health and wellbeing.

  12. The practice and opportunities • Appreciative Inquiry (AI) • Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) • Community asset mapping • Large group methods World Café, Participatory Appraisal, Open Space, Story Telling • Joint Strategic ‘Assets’ Assessment • Work on resilience and well-being • Co-production • ‘Mass Localism’ • Big Society?

  13. This requires a big shift in emphasis • Changing from servicing people’s needs to facilitating their aspirations • A move from targeted to universal approaches • Redressing the balance between needs and assets or strengths • A shift in emphasis from the causes to ‘the causes of the causes’ • Solutions that are developed by people and communities not by specialists and professionals

  14. A new policy anyone?

  15. Everyone should have the opportunity to be a producer of their own and their community’s well-being It takes everyone to build a healthy, strong and safe community.

  16. Recommended reading • 'A glass half-full - how an asset approach can improve community health and well-being' - Jane Foot and Trevor Hopkins Publisher - IDeA, March 2010 - Free download at http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/aio/18410498 • 'Health Assets in a Global Context - Theory, Methods, Action' - Antony Morgan, Maggie Davies, Erio Ziglio (Editors) Publisher - Springer, August 2010 • 'Neighbor Power - building community the Seattle way' - Jim Diers - University of Washington Press • Building Communities from the Inside Out - a path towards finding and mobilizing a community's assets - John (Jody) Kretzman & John McKnight - ACTA Publications

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