Celebrating Families Toolkit Launch

The Celebrating Families Toolkit was officially launched on the MacIntyre stand at ADASS's National Adult and Children Services Conference last week in Manchester.

The toolkit is the result of the learning gained from the partnership project with Helen Sanderson Associates. It uses person centred thinking tools in creative and fun activities that you can do with family and friends of all ages.

You can download it from MacIntyre's website (click here to go straight to the page)

I'd be interested to hear stories from anyone who tries out the activities in the toolkit!

Improving the way we communicate with family members - Book Review of Crucial Conversations

I know that from both perspectives, many family members and staff who support individuals very often find themselves in a conflict situation where they don’t see eye to eye with the other party. I have heard from both sides about the worries and pressures of having to confront an issue or bring something up that is difficult to address.




I read this book recently and found it to be full of really useful insight and techniques for improving the quality of our conversations – particularly when it is a difficult or important subject matter. So I thought I’d tell you a few key things from it here.

Entering the ‘shared pool of meaning’
• Seeking to understand your own thought processes and assumptions and how that is shaping the things you are saying to the other person
• Seeking to understand the other person’s behaviour / perspective – why would they be saying / doing that?
• Not jumping to conclusions about the other person’s motives or actions but inviting them to share that information with you

Being aware of your emotions – make it a safe place to talk
• Welcoming the honest perspective of the other person
• Choosing not to feel threatened or defensive
• Spend time making it safe if conversation is starting to shut down.

Staying focused on what you really want
• Prepare before the conversation about what you want to achieve
• Keep focused on that goal and don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked into defending yourself / winning the battle

It’s an easy book to read and there are loads of examples. There is also a very useful chapter on what to do if you really can’t reach consensus with someone.

I strongly recommend reading it as I’ve found it relevant for every context of work and personal life. At the moment it’s not very expensive on Amazon.

If you do read it, let me know what you think.

Staying Connected to Family and Friends

I’m looking forward to sharing with you about the things I’m learning from families in my role and telling you about how the Families work in MacIntyre is developing.

At the moment, I’m working on the next stage for MacIntyre following on from the work around Celebrating Families with Helen Sanderson Associates. There will be a free toolkit coming out in the next few months from the work I did last year which I’ll post a link to on here.


I was at the Derby Roadshow last week, asking people how they stay in touch with others and who are the important people in their lives. Although many people lead very active lives, I was disappointed to hear that for some of the people we support, they don’t have anyone in their lives who is not paid to be there.

Here is a website link that has a couple of person centred thinking tools that you can use to help think about someone’s relationships and come up with places and activities that may stimulate some new relationships and contacts for people. http://www.shop4support.com/ and click on Plan My Support. Go to the section called What do I have and you will find tools called "My Community Connections" and "My Relationships and Networks". This site has lots more tools and exercises that can be really great! If you use any of them, please let me know how you get on with it.

I’d love to hear from you about the great ways that you are supporting people to stay in touch and continue to develop relationships with friends and family. Also, I’d be interested in any challenges you face in dealing with families and if there is anything that I can do to help.