Using digital technology to support strengths-based, person-centred working in day opportunities

What is the project?

This project sees the day opportunities team at Torfaen County Borough Council using an online digital app to support its work to embed a person-centred, strengths-based approach.

The app is called ForMi and supports individuals and their families to take ownership of their own personal plans, record their achievements, and monitor their progress and outcomes.

For the local authority, it provides evidence of the impact of its interventions.

The introduction of the app started with a small trial. The team has since continued to refine its use of the app and is now sharing its learnings with teams in other parts of the local authority.

Why is the work being carried out?

Traditionally, care plans and reviews have been standardised written documents, which can make it difficult to collate, record and share information in a user-friendly way.

This project introduced an interactive model, where the individual is able to shape the plan themselves by recording what’s important to them, their goals and the support they need.

Using the app, people record entries using words, pictures or short videos. Families and professionals can see the pictures of the individual and the activities they’ve been taking part in.

The approach is inclusive, as people who use care and support have access to see what’s being recorded. It gives everyone involved, including individuals and their families, more control.

The team say the approach has also given staff more space to be creative in the service they provide.

Where and when is the work taking place?

Torfaen first started using ForMi in 2021. The app has also been used in Denbighshire, Flintshire and Swansea.

Who’s involved?

This project has involved close collaboration between Torfaen County Borough Council and the developers of the ForMi app. The council has been able to influence the development and enhancement of the app through regular feedback. The organisations have learned from each other and treated each other as partners during this project.

The ForMi app itself received funding from the Small Business Research Initiative, while the team at Torfaen received internal funding for the project.

The council has also worked with other local authorities who are looking to introduce the app to their services.

What have they learned from the project?

Using the digital tool has supported individuals who access the service to take control and ownership of their own plan and their goals.

The project has boosted confidence among the individuals who use the app, as well as communication between the service, individuals and their families.

It has also given the service a new way of communicating with people who might not be able to read, enabling them to record their progress through picture, video and audio formats.

The team stressed the benefit of having a culture that supports a shift to strengths-based and person-centred approaches, and a determination to overcome early challenges. These challenges included:

• the time needed to complete data protection impact and risk assessments
• encouraging staff to adopt the new way of working.

To support the introduction of the app, the team at Torfaen took steps including:

• starting with a small group of staff and encouraging this group of ‘early adopters’ to support colleagues as they started to use the app
• using real-world examples – with the permission of service users – to highlight the benefits of the app to staff
• creating a safe environment for staff to test the app using ‘dummy cases’
• using staff feedback to identify where more training might be needed.