RelationalCentred Assessment and Planning: A Turn Toward Creative Potential and Possibilities

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Relational-Centred Assessment and Planning A
Turn Toward Creative Potential and Possibilities

• Care Matters Transforming LivesImproving
  Outcomes Conference
• The 8th International Looking After Children
  Conference
• Keble College, Oxford UK
• July 7-9 2008
• Gerard Bellefeuille, PhD
• Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton, AB, Canada
• bellefeuilleg_at_macewan.ca

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Aims of the Workshop

• To describe the doing of assessment and
  planning from a relational-centred perspective.
• To report on the preliminary results from a
  phenomenological study on the lived experiences
  of residential youth with relational-centred
  assessment and case planning.

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Traditional Models of Casework

• Non-relational, traditional models of assessment
  and case planning offer a rather simple view of
  casework in which experts are trained to assess
  the needs of clients and then arrange,
  coordinate, monitor, and evaluate for services in
  a sequential set of prescribed steps,

Expert
Assess Needs of
Set Goals
Service Actions
Client
Evaluate
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• In seeking to understand the lives and
  circumstances of children, youth, and families,
  the use of a singular and narrowly focused
  assessment and planning frameworks can fragment,
  reduce, and isolate parts such that the integrity
  of the whole is lost.

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Relational-Centred Assessment and Case Planning
Process

• Relational-centred assessment and case planning
  is an interactive process of determining and
  assigning value and meaning to what is known
  about the lives of those we serve while,
  simultaneously, formulating and determining the
  methods by which something is done to improve
  ones circumstances.

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At the core of relational-centred assessment and
case planning is the belief that all
psychological growth occurs in authentic,
mutually empathetic relationships (Bellefeuille
Jamieson, 2008).

• When we operate from a relational stance, the
  focus is not on what we do (i.e., methods of
  practice) but, rather, on who we are as
  practitioners.

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Underlying Premises of Relational-Centred Planning

• There are several important premises that
  underlie the practice of relational-centred
  assessment and case planning. These include
• 1. A non-individualistic construal of selfhood
• 2. The necessity of being in the moment
• 3. The view that relational-centred practice is
  inherently a creative process
• 4. A belief in the resourcefulness of people
• 5. A dynamic view of diversity that extends
  beyond issues of difference, and
• 6. A critical consciousness of social justice
  issues

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Premise 1 A Non-Individualistic Construal of
Selfhood

• Why is this important?
• From a non-individualistic narrative of self,
  knowledge is constructed through relationships
  that are, themselves, embedded in a cultural,
  socioeconomic, and socio-political context.

• Wilson becomes a key part of Chuck's existence
  on the island. "Once we show that Chuck is able
  to figure out the four basic elements for human
  survival - food, water, shelter and fire - then
  we deal with the fifth element, which is
  companionship," says

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• Embracing a relational-centred perspective when
  planning requires the human service practitioners
  to enter an open space that is shared with
  othersa relational space in which knowledge,
  understanding, and multiple perspectives are
  shared and co-created.

Space between
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Premise 2 Being in the Moment

• Relational-centred planning requires a focus on
  the uniqueness of the moment in which coming
  together with another is fully experienced within
  the relational dynamic of being in that moment
  while remaining open to new possibilities.

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• Being in the moment is a giving of self that is
  conveyed through being available and at the
  disposal of the other person within the state of
  unknowing. To know is to be aware and to be
  informed. Usually we take what we know as
  representing what is true, and in light of that
  truth we generate solutions to problems or
  reactions to previous actions.

• To not know is to not have information and will
  likely result in seeking and acquiring
  information in order to be informed or to learn
  that which is unknown.

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Premise 3 A Creative Process

• Relational-centred planning is a creative process
  rooted in imaginative thought and occurs by
  making connections between ideas and, or,
  experiences that were previously thought of as
  unrelated.

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Premise 4 Belief in the Resourcefulness of
People

• The belief in the resourcefulness of people is
  central to relational-centred planning. This
  entails a focus on peoples strengths and
  resources that fosters a climate of hope for
  seeing beyond current conditions, because when
  people begin to hope in relationship with one
  another, they are presented with previously
  unrecognized
• opportunities to discover
• unexplored possibilities

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Premise 5 Discoveries in Diversity

• Relational-centred planning considers diversity
  beyond the usual issues of difference (i.e.,
  colour, gender, religion, disability, age, and
  politics) by exploring and understanding how
  difference has to do with experiencing ourselves
  and others from each others perspectives.

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Premise 6 A Critical Consciousness about
Issues of Social Justice

• Relational-centred planning calls upon
  practitioners to recognize their moral obligation
  to use their knowledge and skills to consider how
  social injustices, such as those based on class,
  race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation,
  have an impact on human disconnection and
  suffering.

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Premise 7 A Personally Transforming Endeavour

• Finally, to talk about assessment and
  intervention planning as relational requires
  human service workers to function more as
  conscious practitioners. This is particularly
  important in view of the fact that human service
  practice is often situated within bureaucratic
  structures of the human services system and
  manifested across various institutional settings,
  including group homes, institutions, schools,
  non-profit agencies, and government services.
  These settings are regulated by long-standing
  cultures steeped in administrative requirements
  that can run counter to relational-centred
  practice.

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Relational Capabilities

• "I believe we can change the world if we start
  listening to one another again. Simple, honest,
  human conversation. Not mediation, negotiation,
  problem solving, debate, or public meetings.
  Simple, truthful conversation where we each feel
  heard, and we each listen well. This is how great
  changes begin, when people begin talking to each
  other about their experiences, hopes, and fears.
  (Margaret Wheatley, 2002, p. 3)

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They include The capability for

• Being in the moment
• Maintaining an attitude of openness
• Enhanced curiosity
• Authenticity
• Social justice praxis
• Interpersonal collaboration
• Improvisation
• Listening relationally
• Achieving

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Interpersonal Collaboration
Social Justice
Authenticity
Enhance Curiosity
Being in the Moment
Listen Relationally
An Attitude of Openness
Achieving
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Reality as Appearance

• Truth is not what we discover, but what we
  create. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Parable of Plato Cave

• The parable of the cave is about the distinction
  between appearance and reality. Some prisoners
  were being held fast in a deep cave, with their
  heads bound so that all they can see are the
  shadows of things cast on the wall before them,
  shadows cast by human images and shapes of
  animals wrought in stone and wood and every
  material carried in front of a fire burning some
  distance behind the prisoners heads. The bearers
  of the objects are hidden behind the wall and so
  cast no shadows but occasionally they speak, and
  the echoes of their words reach the prisoners and
  seem to come from the shadows. The prisoners are,
  in Platos view, removed from truth or reality,
  although they do not realize this and would
  object if the suggestion were made to them. If
  they were freed and made to turn around towards
  the firelight, the prisoners would be dazzled and
  unable to make out the objects that cast the
  shadows on the wall. If they were compelled to
  look directly at the fire, it would hurt their
  eyes, and they would probably prefer to go back
  to the comfortable and familiar darkness of their
  prison. If they were forced out of the cave
  entirely, out into the sunlight, it would be even
  more painful, and objects outside the cave would
  be even harder for them to make out.

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• Relational-centred planning involves appreciating
  and understanding that we bring our own
  perspectives into our practice.
• Given that appearance is a matter of perceptions
  and perspective, we need to be able to step back
  and understand what we think we know to be
  true.

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• There are two influential lenses that shape the
  way we view ourselves, others, and the world in
  general the theoretical perspective lens (i.e.,
  the theoretical change frameworks that we are
  taught) and the life-position perspective lens
  (i.e., our own constructed life stories).

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Theoretical Change Frameworks that Underpin CYC
Practice

• The theoretical change frameworks, which are
  among the foundational elements of professional
  knowledge, reflect our beliefs about people, and
  they influence how we construct our
  interpretations of troublesome behaviour and
  potential for change (Ricks Charlesworth,
  2003). Calling into question the assumptions
  about human development and change inherent in
  theoretical frameworks brings to bear a level of
  analysis and reflection essential to competent
  relational-centred practice. It is important to
  understand that the theoretical frameworks we are
  taught affect not only the way we explore the
  lives of those we serve, they also impact how we
  approach the issue of change. The frameworks
  shape the questions we ask, the assessments we
  make, and, ultimately, the interventions we
  choose.

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When exploring theories, consider these
questions

• 1. What theoretical orientations have influenced
  your beliefs about people and change?
• 2. Do you have a preference for working with
  individuals, families, groups, or communities?
  Explain your preference?
• 3. What areas do you inquire into when exploring
  someones life circumstances? Who do you ask?
• 4. What premises do you use to give meaning and
  significance to the information?
• 5. Is your philosophy congruent with or does it
  compliment the clients worldview?
• 6. What is your philosophy regarding cultural
  backgrounds within and outside the dominant
  culture?
• 7. How does your theoretical lens limit your
  perspective? (What are you likely to mishear, or
  not see?)

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The Life-Position Perspective Lens

• The life-position perspective lens requires being
  mindful about ones own life storythe life
  experiences that influence how we position
  ourselves in relation to others.

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• Relational-centred practitioners commit to
  developing a better understanding of their
  prejudices by engaging in an ongoing process of
  examining the field of vision in which they
  conduct their thinking. Like glasses on our face,
  we do not see our filters we see through them.
  The more we use them, the more they become us. We
  do not realize that they are there. One way to
  expose our filters is to examine our
  conversations. Consider, for instance, the
  contrasting statements in Figure 2. Conversations
  about practice sound very different from a
  relational stance.

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Whats in it for me?
Whats in it for us?
This is a real challenge, but possible.
This is crazy!
Professors give us all this theory, but whats
the point? My agency is more about control.
This is great stuff, and it is up to me to be a
leader and look for opportunities to make change.
We dont know how to handle this kid. He needs
more than what we can provide.
What can I learn to do in order to have more
success with this type of behaviour?
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A Co-Constructed Process of Thinking and Doing

• A relational orientation regards assessment and
  planning as a dynamic, relational process of
  meaning-making that points to new possibilities
  in perspective and opportunities for change. As
  Dachler and Hosking (1995) explain, meaning has
  no ultimate origin and can never be finalized,
  because it is always in the process of being
  made. Thus, relational-centred planning is best
  understood as a process of ongoing and flexible
  inquiry that allows information to fold in on
  itself repeatedly, allowing for validation and
  clarification. It is a process of respectful and
  compassionate inquiry into the others
  experiences of what matters and opportunities for
  change that are jointly negotiated, monitored,
  and revised. This requires a continuous and
  changing picture of what is needed and wanted.

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The two key premises for success in
relational-centred planning are these

• that success is built on a deep understanding of
  what people need and want, and that everyone is
  involved and engaged in the process.

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• From the opening moments of connecting with a
  client, practitioners use the assessment and
  planning process to involve everyone in attending
  to the relational context, listening to and
  allowing the sharing of stories, opening up new
  possibilities and perspectives about the self and
  the world, facilitating engagement in hope and
  opportunity, and making transparent the childs,
  youths, or familys ideas about how they want to
  experience their lives in the future.

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• It is important to point out that aspects of
  assessment are, in fact, interventions, and all
  interventions result in opportunities to observe
  and assess what matters and what does not. In
  relational-centred planning there is no
  artificial distinction between assessment and
  planning except that both assist the practitioner
  to observe and understand the person or persons
  involved.

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• Remembering that relational-centred planning is
  the intervention, then intervention planning is
  synonymous with being on a journey in which
  people are engaged in meaningful conversations.
  These meaningful conversations transcend the
• limits of personal perspectives
• and take on a quality of inquiry
• characterized by engagement,
• listening, and respecting, while
• unravelling and making feelings
• and values transparent.

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• Life story development is a dynamic process that
  generates new meaning and insights that enable
  clients to identify themes in their stories.
  Clients also gain insight into their lives by
  asking questions about these elements

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• how they feel their current situation or life
  circumstance developed (i.e., Could you help me
  understand . . . )
• what approaches or practices have been tried to
  resolve issues (i.e., I am curious about . . . )
• to what degree have efforts been or not been
  successful (i.e., In what way . . )
• what clients have considered but havent tried
  (i.e., How might it have been helpful to . . . )
• what they might consider in future (i.e., How
  would it make a difference if . . . )

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• This type of inquiry explores the unique meaning
  that clients assign to their experiences, and
  this unique meaning can then be considered in
  planning. In essence, the processes of
  relational-centred planning shift from fact
  gathering to exposing and discovering personal
  truths and meaning, from setting goals for the
  client to co-creating intended outcomes or
  success indicators, and from establishing service
  plans to engaging in conversations and activities
  that expose opportunities for change that are
  developmentally enhancing.

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Think/Do, Think/Do, Think/Do

• The planning process is both a way of thinking
  and doing.

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• The think/do process occurs at three levels in
  our minds what is happening at this moment? what
  was happening in this session? and what is
  happening overall for the person(s) being served.
  It is necessary for the practitioner to monitor
  these three levels of functioning for him- or
  herself and for all others involved in the
  assessment and planning processincluding the
  think/do of other practitioners. The assessment
  and planning is a complex process of relating
  through the acquisition of story and meaning
  making, in order to determine success indicators
  and move forward on a path that is still under
  construction.

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The Preliminary Pilot Study

• What it is like for youth in residential group
  care
• to be on the receiving end of relational-centred
  assessment and case planning.

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Method

• A qualitative grounded theory approach was
  utilized.
• In-depth qualitative interviews focused on
  understanding intervention from the perspective
  of youth, while grounded theory allowed patterns
  emerging within these perspectives to be mapped
  and formed into a model explaining the process
  youth go through when negotiating intervention.

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• Model building took place by inductively deriving
  theory from concepts and categories emerging in
  data and deductively testing these notions
  through questioning participants and also by
  theoretically sampling new cases in attempts to
  both verify and falsify emergent theory (Strauss
  Corbin, 1990, 1994, 1998).
• This iterative inductive-deductive cycle was
  repeated, and sampling continued, until
  theoretical redundancy was achieved such
  redundancy occurred when no new information about
  these patterns and categories were emerging in
  interviews, and until the model developed from
  data remained robust and consistent in the face
  of new information.

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Sample

• Sampling was theoretical allowing participants
  to be selected in ways that allowed notions
  emerging in data to be examined (Miller
  Fredericks, 1999 Strauss Corbin, 1990, 1994,
  1998).
• Theoretical sampling is a term coined by Barney
  Glaser and Anselm Strauss in 1967 in the context
  of social research to describe the process of
  choosing new or to compare with one that has
  already been studied. It is one of the tools of
  qualitative research.
• The goal of theoretical sampling is not the same
  as with the probabilistic sampling the
  researcher's goal is not the representative
  capture of all possible variations, but to gain a
  deeper understanding of analysed cases and
  facilitate the development of analytic frame and
  concepts used in their research

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• Recruitment took place between November 2007 and
  January 2008 and began with two Alberta child and
  youth care agencies. Because agency staff
  approached youth they believed would be open to
  involvement, only two of the 15 youth approached
  refused to take part.
• Youth ranged in age from 14 to 18 (mean of 16)
  11 youth were male. Eight youth were White, two
  were of Asian decent, and three were Aboriginal.
• All participants signed informed consent forms
  before taking part in the study.

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• Questions were open-ended, probes were used and
  in keeping with the grounded theory method,
  questions were modified as the research
  progressed to explore concepts and categories
  emerging from data. Participants were interviewed
  in their own group homes or in a similar private
  location of their choice. All interviews took
  place individually.
• Interviews lasted 4090 minutes and were
  audio-taped and transcribed.

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• Staff in both homes were given a 3 day training
  workshop on the relational-centred planning
  process and literature to read
• Discussed the process in weekly meetings

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Preliminary Results

• The findings identify four themes.
• Feeling more empowered to make decisions
• Feeling a greater sense of ownership over goals
• Experienced their consellors as being more real
• Being heard or listened to

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• THANK YOU!