Social Relationships in Capable Environments
At Positive Support Group our main goal is to support people to achieve higher quality of life and increase well-being.
Environments which allow us to thrive in the most important areas of our lives are sometimes called capable environments based on original research by Peter McGill and colleagues. A huge part of this relates to social relationships.
We had the pleasure of speaking to Darren Bowring; Associate Director of Mental Health and Wellbeing at Government of Jersey and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Positive Behavioural Support about his thoughts on this topic.
PSG: How would you characterise capable environments
Darren: There are two parts to this. One is the support for people that live in those environments. Capable environments allow people to flourish and lead to high levels of quality of life – and thereby lower levels of behaviours of concern. So we can talk about that in terms of the quality-of-life factors and our prime aim of working with that person to promote their quality of life. The other part sometimes gets missed - our work with, and support for, the people who are directly supporting those individuals. In terms of my PBS work, when I gointo family homes, schools, residential provisions, I always sit down with the people that are providing support and actually listen to them and their experience while showing empathy, social compassion and kindness. I try to find out what they think is going on, what they think we need to do better, what support do they need, and come up with solutions together with the person they support. Given that they are the ones delivering the PBS strategies, we need to promote their well-being and mental health and work alongside them in a collaborative and equal partnership.
PSG: What are your thoughts on quality of life in the context of social environments and social relationships?
Darren: I’ve written a paper with Martin McMahon at Trinity College called “Not Such an Ordinary Life”. This was based on the ‘manifesto for an ordinary life’ – developed by the charity Stay up Late. The charity was originally set up to challenge the fact that shift patterns used to change about 8:00 or 9:00 o'clock in the evening in learning disability and care homes, so people used to end up going to bed early just because the night staff would be coming on overnight and there would be no staffing support to accompany them for activities. So the charity supports people to stay up late and go out, e.g., to pubs and gigs. And they now have things like gig buddies who are accompanying people to concerts and bars.
- This charity came up with some criteria of what constitutes a good (and ordinary) life based on what people with learning disabilities had told them. It was all about working, having a home you like, being able to hang out with your friends, being treated well, and to have relationships and a sex life. We compared the number of adults known to services that that had a learning disability who were in a relationship, owned their own home and were in paid employment with the statistics of the general population in Jersey. We found that overwhelmingly, people in Jersey without learning disabilities were in relationships. The vast majority owned their own homes and around 50 to 60% worked. But among the people with learning disabilities hardly anyone was in a relationship or owned their own house. Very few of them worked and they had had low socio and economic status and income. This showed that most people with learning disabilities do not have ordinary lives – they don’t have lasting relationships and loving relationships with partners. And they typically don’t have a workplace to come into and meet colleagues and make friends, and find potential romantic partners there like many of us have in a small island like Jersey!
- A few years ago I was at a conference and had been asked to speak about research on behaviours that challenge in Jersey. Yet at the same time, I thought of how these same people have no relationships, they've got no homes to call their own. They're not working and are reliant on benefits. They're reliant on other people to make decisions and lack choice. Those conditions are not compatible with capable environments, that's not quality of life. No wonder people are challenging others at times to assert some level of control or to get their needs met. We can not talk about people’s behaviour and ignore focusing on improving the lives they lead.
PSG: Do you have any thoughts on practical ways to support capable environments on a day-day basis?
Darren: One thing is trying to pair staff up with individuals with common interests.
So if you've got one adult who likes going to the gym, we can pair them up with a group of staff who equally enjoy go to the gym. So the staff and that individual can all go to the gym together, and isn't it great if you can go to work and do things you like and make you happy. So for me, having a capable environment is when we put the person we support at the centre, get the organizational and the staffing bit right, and prioritise the health and well-being of all.
If you’re interested in this topic, you can read the study at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TLDR-03-2019-0014/full/html
More on Capable Environments: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TLDR-05-2020-0007/full/html
