What Is a Strengths-Based Approach?
The strength-based approach prioritises a person’s strengths, interests, and potential, ensuring it is used in any strength-based interventions for health promotion. It revolves around putting individuals at the centre of the process, enabling young people and people of all ages to promote their own strengths and providing unparalleled insight. It also encourages service providers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the person as a whole, which gives people with complex needs positive aspects promoting their well-being and mental health.
The strengths-based approach opens many possibilities and is impactful for people. It emphasises positive outcomes and solution-focused therapy that focuses on people’s mental health, as it focuses on recovery and positive psychology.
Focus on “What’s Strong” Rather Than “What’s Wrong”
When this concept is put into practice, the strengths-based approach, also known as an asset-based approach in social work, focuses on the personal qualities of the individual receiving support services.
It enables people to discover hidden strengths and what support they have around them. This ensures all their strengths and talents are identified and considered in all social interventions, including community development settings and increasing social support.
The Strength-Based Approach in Social Care
The strength-based approach in social care is an approach that focuses on the positive attributes of individuals and communities rather than just their challenges.
Carers and any social or health professional can provide a strength-based approach. The collaborative process of social workers is crucial in recognising the strengths and aspirations of individuals, and the methodology places significant emphasis in social service research on fostering positive relationships between social care workers and people in need of support.
This approach of strengths perspective is the core duty of the mental health system, utilised to promote enhanced mental health and well-being and develop services more responsive to the needs of individuals and communities.
Application of Strength-Based Approach in Children’s Welfare
Children start exploring how the social world works from birth. Managing one’s emotions, behaviour, rights, and responsibilities takes time. This is an essential aspect of children’s ”being and becoming” process, which healthcare professionals must ultimately support.
Finding the moments when children need support and recognising their innate strengths is the primary goal when using the strengths-based approach. This approach motivates, empowers and encourages children to find the solutions to the challenges they experience and can improve community health. Creating the right conditions for a strengths-based approach is vital since it impacts the culture of the environment, letting children feel safe and supporting their welfare.
Children with Autism frequently excel in cognitive domains like visual, rule-based, and interest-based thinking. A developmental evaluation might determine the abilities to think and learn in children on the Autism spectrum. Therefore, working with the strengths-based practice on the child’s strengths will help them develop their skills.
Creating the right conditions for applying the strengths-based approach is all about creating a vision and values and forming a strengths perspective that is the change driver that will allow disabled children, children on the Autism spectrum and children with behaviour that challenges to thrive and enhance their well-being.
Application of Strength-Based Approach in Mental Health
Applying the strengths perspective to social work and the mental health system is a determining point. A strengths-based approach to mental health recognises and embraces that people are not defined by their mental ill health.
People with dementia, Alzheimer’s and related conditions continue to retain many abilities. Who they are as a person holds a more significant influence over their behaviour than their dementia characteristics. The strengths-based approach encourages the person to engage in activities and actions that utilise their retained abilities, or strengths, for as long as possible to enhance their independence and mastery of the environment by using their competent behaviours.
For instance, a person with cerebral palsy might not be capable of coordinating their hand movements or speaking. Still, they could be in the process of developing the ability to track items with their eyes. To facilitate communication via eye-movement tracking, a computer program is being developed. Carers working with people with similar challenges progressively focus on their strengths.
A strengths-based approach can also be applied to anxiety disorders, where someone may be unable to socialise or communicate due to intense anxiety. The strengths-based approach can help individuals engage in activities in a way which reduces their anxiety and helps them navigate the world.
Crucially, the strength-based approach and strengths-based practice can be effective for people with mental health needs since it is solution-focused using positive psychology.
Application of Strength-Based Approach in Elderly Care
Using a strength-based approach, older people can cope with change positively, primarily through a supportive relationship with their families and caregivers in social care.
Some older people will have dementia or memory concerns. Their psychological and emotional strengths should not be ignored in these circumstances but should be acknowledged. Some strengths may have developed earlier in life, and some may have developed later. The key to the strength-based approach when it comes to elderly care is to identify strengths and recognise them, then develop these strengths in family support programs that facilitate hope.
Older adults can acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, and undergo personal transformation. What supports this change is collaborative and strengths-based interventions that are therapeutic and empowering at the same time for an older person to achieve aspirations. In order to receive family support services tailored to their needs, older people must remain involved in decision-making.
A new model for strengths-based social work with adults has been introduced to promote effective strength-based practice in elderly care. The framework underlines crucial aspects, including:
- Knowledge and co-creation
- Values and ethics skills
- Theories and methods
- Experience to enhance well-being
Social work professionals must engage in self-reflection, supervision, and quality assurance to implement this approach effectively.
Main Principles of the Strength-Based Approach in Social Work and Social Care
The strengths perspective is a strengths-based practice of making commitments that honour diversity and justice, promote empowerment, and engage in critical inquiry and reflection.
Strengths perspective never limits people to their traumas, challenges, conditions, or adversity; it views them as opportunities and catalysts for change. The most important elements identified included having hope and developing trust in one’s thoughts and judgments.
Recognising every individual in the wider community in social care helps to identify strengths and brings an engagement in the systematic assessment of strengths.
We will now focus on the main principles that create aspirations for change and growth.
Setting Goals
Caregivers who work in social work and care environments will significantly improve the lives of the people they support by setting goals for applying a strengths-based approach to their strengths-based service delivery.
By setting goals to implement this approach, caregivers can help safeguard the individual’s autonomy, resilience, capacity for decision–making, and overall well–being. This approach can lead to more effective and empowering care and ultimately enhance outcomes for people receiving care.
Strength Assessment
By preparing for strength assessments, caregivers can help the people they support to achieve their goals and live more fulfilling lives.
Caregivers who apply a strength-based approach must be prepared to assess and utilise peoples’ personal factors and character strengths. This requires technical knowledge of various assessment tools and techniques to identify these strengths. Caregivers should also be aware of the principles of strengths-based case management and how to implement them positively in their practice.
Focus on Strength
Caregivers play an integral role in supporting people by focusing on their strengths and interests.
Clinical psychology suggests that character strengths are essential in developing positive behaviour and enhancing one’s abilities. For instance, individual struggles with substance abuse. In that case, a caregiver can utilise strengths-based case management to identify the individual’s strengths and interests and develop a plan that helps them use these strengths in their recovery journey.
Encouraging Relationships
Creating an environment where meaningful and respectful relationships between the caregivers and the people they support are celebrated is a crucial part of the process.
One example of a strengths-based approach in caring communication is active listening. Caregivers can demonstrate active listening by giving their full attention to the person they are supporting and showing empathy and understanding for their experiences.
Another example of engaging communication is recognising and appreciating the individual’s unique qualities and aspirations. The person might be passionate and possess music or art talents. Caregivers can work collaboratively with the person they are supporting to identify their strengths and how to use them to achieve their goals in the field.
Autonomy in Choices
Enabling individuals to make their own choices when applying a strength-based approach empowers them to take ownership of their lives and builds their self-efficacy. It also helps foster a sense of autonomy and independence, leading to greater satisfaction.
Promoting Independence
A person with a physical disability may need assistive technology to help them communicate or perform daily tasks. Providing them with the necessary technology and training will enable them to take charge of their lives and become more independent.
Goals and Benefits of the Strength-Based Approach
The goals and benefits as positive outcomes of applying the strengths perspective are numerous and life-changing to the people who require support using the approach.
Creating a positive and supportive environment where they can showcase their potential to grow, develop resilience, and the ability to cope with challenges is monumental. T
The most significant benefits can be recognised by:
- Utilising an individual’s skills, knowledge and interests
- Improving social connections
- Individual freedom
- Living a fulfilling life
Importance of a Strength-Based Approach
A strength-based approach in social work and social care is crucial for effective service development and improving outcomes for individuals and communities.
Research evidence supports the effectiveness of this approach in promoting resilience, enhancing self-efficacy, and fostering empowerment among individuals and communities.
By adopting a strength-based approach, social workers and care professionals can enhance the quality of their services and promote positive change in the lives of the people they support.
Unique Community Services Practices Strength-Based Approach
With our strengths-based practices rooted in Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), we at Unique Community Services adapt to the needs and aspirations of the people we serve, having the utmost respect for the lifestyles of individuals.
With innovative healthcare solutions and humanised practices, our expert clinicians tailor our care and adapt it according to the person’s strengths and skills. Their focus on language and communication ensures that the people we support feel heard, understood and given a chance to transform their lives.
We understand your loved ones need high-quality, humanised support to encourage them to thrive and reach their full potential.
Our expert clinicians will guide your loved ones on the journey to discover their unique strengths and potential and use them to overcome barriers and achieve their goals.
Contact us today to get information on how we can together make a positive change and impact in your loved one’s life. With offices in Bristol and Manchester, our services are available across the UK.
