“Many people I’ve worked with talked about their situations as their fault. But you know what? Most of the time it was the system that failed them. We failed them. That’s hard to face up to.”

“What we get to do is build relationships, learn and understand people. I genuinely think by having different conversations, people are actually safer.”

Practitioners felt it was easy to get caught up in the pressures of the system and they knew this impacted on the way they wanted to work with people. Sometimes, on reflection, they felt that they were working with the system rather than with the person. Practitioners said that they felt increased pressure when they were working with those who were involved with lots of other agencies. They shared how they often felt helpless and frustrated with the way people were treated when they are caught up in systems and processes. Often, these processes actually prevented people from being able to move forward in their lives. Practitioners expressed how difficult it was to work with people when they are trying to challenge and change the system.

“People are losing their children because of how social services focus on mental health, deficits, and they treat parents going through tough times. Yesterday a mother gave up and handed her children to a relative. Solicitors didn’t feel able to challenge.”

“It can be tough to work alongside someone when they are experiencing negative situations or damage caused by the system.”

Practitioners shared how they had conversations with people they were working with about understanding their situation within the context of the system rather than the view that there was something wrong with them. They explained that they felt that this helped people to think about their situations in a different way in order to gain hope and motivation to move forward. They felt that having honest conversations with people was an important part of their work.

“I love asking people ‘you know what, what do you like doing?’ I love finding common interests with people… I have political debates with people talk about what a progressive society might look like that would support them properly. We talk about systems, we talk about systems change. And I think people find that really empowering.”

Practitioners explained that when they had been able to flip the conversation with people they were working with, so that they were aware of the impact the system was having on their lives, they often felt more in control or it made them angry at the system and their situations rather than at themselves.

Reflection:

Strength-based working can help people see things from a completely different perspective, simply by contextualizing their situation and their experiences, and this in turn can create a different mindset which in turn can support the ability to transition through their tough time.

“Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I’m like ‘oh my god, what do I do? How do I help?’ Then I end up trying to fixing things. It never ends well.”

Practitioners explained that often the people they worked with had an expectation that they would do things for them and ‘fix’ situations. Having strength-based conversations that focused on the person’s ability to do things for themselves were hard because it went against people’s previous experiences of services.

“Sometimes people have been in the system for quite a while. And this is what they’re used to… This is what they want, they want you to make the phone calls, fill in the forms and write letters. And so yeah, I guess it’s about, having that that real-life conversation and explaining, you know, that this is going to benefit them in the long run, because they will have those skills too.”

Many practitioners felt that the system had created a dependency on services through the focus on ‘issues’ rather than people’s strengths. Changing this narrative and expectation was a really challenging part of their role as they worked with people so that they could value themselves, do things for themselves and see their own worth. Sometimes practitioners felt it was very difficult not to jump in to try and fix things for people and they needed to really learn to sit back and listen to people.

“Not fixing helped me a lot with other relationships. Like when I’m talking to my friends or my partner or whoever and they are telling me about how hard their day was. I’m so much better at just sitting back and listening and being there with them and the hard time. I’m not like have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? Have you tried that?”

In addition to the difficulty of resisting the urge to fix people’s problems or provide solutions, practitioners also shared how this fixing mentality could have a negative impact on their relationship with the people they work with. Often people would just want someone to listen and understand, not try and solve their problems.

“I meet with someone who was in a really low place. They would say… ‘I want this. I want that.’ I was like, ‘we could do this or why don’t we do that’… he was like ‘no no no…’ He shut down all my ideas and gloriously told me they were terrible. I knew I was wrong, but it was so hard to stop, even though I knew he really didn’t want solutions.”

Reflection:

Practitioners want to help, so they can end up taking over and ‘fixing’, focusing on the problem and not the person. People and services have grown to expect it to be that way, so when choice is introduced, or people are encouraged to lead on the solutions themselves, that can seem unfamiliar territory to everyone.

“What do you do? You just sit there while you’re being paid… having a cup of coffee? But of course, it’s not just having a cup of coffee. That’s the point of connection or contact with people… it’s everything else that’s going on between you in that time, you know?”

“I actually find, that because I try and advocate for people I’m working with and be a voice that’s not necessarily always listened to… I then sort of get coined as the soft one, if that makes sense. Like the person who is always, asking people to consider what they’re thinking and challenging things and that’s not… it’s not nice for me.”

Practitioners explained that they had experienced conflict from colleagues within their own organisation and also from other services and even the Local Authorities. People felt that they were often having to challenge others around the use of deficit language or their approach to working with people, and this often put them in an uncomfortable position. People felt that there was a real lack of understanding of strength-based work and it was often regarded as ‘fluffy’ meaning they were looked upon as not being as important or knowledgeable as their peers.

“People think I just get paid for having coffee, they have no idea how difficult some days can be for me.”

Some practitioners expressed that this lack of understanding left them feeling isolated and unsupported in terms of their wellbeing because their job was perceived as ‘easy’.

Practitioners also shared that where their organisations were good at listening and did try to embrace strength-based work throughout, they didn’t experience this kind of conflict from colleagues, and although external challenge still existed, it was easier to deal with because they had the support of their organisation.

Positively, practitioners spoke about the difference in approach being noticed by people they were working alongside, who saw strength-based working as a positive thing.  Practitioners also noticed that when others saw strength-based work in practice it generated interest from those not yet working in this way.  For example, the use of strength-based language and space for people to lead their own journey and determine goals sparked interest as a new way of working.

“When you’re around other people who have the same strength-based approach it makes it easier. It’s a conversation rather than a battle.”

Reflection:

We can work together to develop a better understanding of strength-based work, to share the impact of strength-based working with individuals, to support the practitioners who are working in this way. There are a lot of great people out there doing great work, everyone wants the best for those who are experiencing tough times.

“I think something our team never anticipated was that some of the biggest pushback and struggles were going to be internal, within our organisation, who brought us in to do this work.”

Practitioners found it frustrating that their organisations had the best intentions about working in a strength-based way, but in reality, that there was an assumption that strength-based work was only relevant for those working on the ground and could remain as just a ‘delivery approach’. Without the change of wider culture, practice and internal systems, strength-based working had a limited impact and barriers were experienced internally as well as externally by those trying to deliver in this way.

For example, although practitioners were often told to put the person they were working with first, they were also having to meet the demands of the organisation so that prescriptive contracts could be fulfilled. The two didn’t always match and more often than not, the contract requirements were prioritised.

“I feel like they’re not listening to my needs. They’re not really respecting the way I work in that sense, because they’re telling me work a certain way, but they’re not going to make any effort.”

Where there was a lack of understanding from colleagues and managers this created internal challenge that added a layer of extra difficulty to an already challenging way of working. Being strength-based was often reduced to a buzz word, without any intention of wider change and reflection. These frustrations have led to people feeling conflicted, unsupported and that they had no choice but to find a different role and move on from their organisations.

“This job has caused me a lot of anxiety and stress that I didn’t need. And I didn’t think I was going to have. My senior management took on board all the stuff about working in this way… but on the ground, from last week, we’ve been told to do timesheets, as if we’re in school. That’s not how I thought it was going to be.”

Reflection:

Practitioners felt that their organisations as a whole needed to buy into a strength-based way of working. When people experienced an organisation that fully bought into a strength-based approach, there was opportunity for real change. They felt supported and part of a collective that were modelling something different together which gave them a sense of solidarity and motivation to drive strength-based work forward.