{"id":2,"date":"2011-07-08T11:45:16","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T11:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/assetmapping\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2012-04-16T15:57:43","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T15:57:43","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/assetmapping\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About the project (2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the mental health and assets mapping blog from IRISS!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re interested in how we can bring together people who use services to learn from and map their experiences about what helps them keep well within a local community.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traditional approaches to improving well-being, reducing health inequalities and achieving other social goals have focused on the deficits and problems of individuals and communities.<\/p>\n

Instead, we’re using assets mapping as we believe that using an approach that values assets identifies the skills, strengths, capacity and knowledge of individuals and the social capital of communities. This can provide a different story of place that is a positive and outcomes focused picture that values what works well and where health and well-being is thriving.<\/p>\n

An assets approach has in common with the concept of recovery the expectation that people using services can and want to take as much control as possible over the journey towards improved mental health and well-being. Thus, the approach is about looking within and beyond mental health service provision at the whole range of opportunities that afford a way for people to manage their condition and live their life in a way that best suits them.<\/p>\n

What will the outputs of the project be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The outputs from the project will be a visual representation of what exists to help assist positive mental health and well-being within the area that people can add to and learn from.<\/p>\n

We are\u00a0also interested in developing an approach to person centred planning that is based on the assets approach. We believe that by focusing on the skills, talents, aptitudes and networks of individuals that they will be able to personally identify what has the potential to improve their health and wellbeing and how using some of their existing assets can assist this.<\/p>\n

We are also documenting the asset mapping process so that others can learn from our experience. \u00a0We believe there is not a one size fits all – nothing you can download or buy and then go and do asset mapping – it just doesn’t work that way, however,\u00a0we have big ideas around creating a toolkit for asset mapping in the social care sector.<\/p>\n

Who is involved in the project?<\/strong><\/p>\n