Community Participation

The SkillWise approach to Community Participation

How it works….

Community Participation support requires a combination of two critical areas.

Firstly, there must be a clear training and education component. This covers a wide range of areas and is focussed on skill development and the acquisition of knowledge that will lead to further training, education, employment, leisure and recreation opportunities.
Moreover, the skills and knowledge gained will also enable increased levels of social interaction and the enhancement of social networks through having an understanding of generally accepted social conventions and norms of behaviour.

The provision of the training and education programmes and initiatives must comprise a multi-faceted approach. This includes traditional classroom based teaching and learning methods, learning through observation (staff role modelling is important in this regard), role plays and experiential learning. The ASDAN teaching and learning programme provides an ideal educational foundation as it covers a wide range of learning areas all of which are designed to lead to increased independence, participation and social inclusion. Moreover, it combines all of the above teaching and learning methods.

The other critical component is that of brokerage or facilitation. In essence, "brokerage" consists of facilitating a process for people to connect with and access their communities and its resources. This involves supporting people into opportunities beyond direct SkillWise support. For example, this may encompass employment opportunities, further training and education opportunities (with Hagley Community College, CPIT or other private training establishments), together with mainstream leisure and recreation opportunities. Furthermore, it is the brokerage aspect of community participation support that enables people to further apply the learning and knowledge they have acquired.

The other important aspect to the brokerage component of community participation is that it leads to one of the principal outcomes, greater independence. This is achieved as people take advantage of more opportunities beyond direct SkillWise support (as discussed above). This enables friendships to develop and social networks to increase. From here natural supports develop and the dependency on direct support reduces. Furthermore, as people move into paid work they will become more financially independent. This will enable people to have more options and greater financial means to participate in social activities they would not otherwise to able to.

The outcomes…

The essence of community participation is concerned with enhancing quality of life. In short, this is achieved through supporting people to have the same sorts of experiences and opportunities as non - disabled people in wider society. It is important to acknowledge "community participation" does not occur in isolation from other areas of a person's life. In fact this area of support can overlap and intersect with most other areas of a person's life.

Accordingly, there are a number of key areas that make up the framework of community participation outcomes. These include; " social relationships " self-determination, autonomy and personal choice " recreation and leisure " independent living skills " control of finances " physical and material well-being " employment These key outcome areas form the basis of client planning and information gathering processes.