Developing Skills for Community Care A Collaborative Approach

Fundamental reforms in community care and welfare generally, demand new skills, new ways of working and a new relationship with service users. Collaboration is a key idea at the heart of this cultural change. Until now, there has been little guidance to help practitioners turn the rhetoric into reality. For the first time, this book offers a practical basis for working in a collaborative way, which fully involves service users. - - Drawing on a development project which included service users, carers, practitioners and managers, the book pioneers a collaborative approach to developing collaborative skills. It takes the reader through the processes involved and identifies essential skills. Key questions like: - ? What are collaborative skills? - ? How can they be evaluated? - ? What would a bottom-up approach to skill development look like? - - are answered through numerous examples and exercises. This book will help health and welfare agencies and practitioners to work with people in the more collaborative and participatory ways that are now required.