{"id":209,"date":"2012-05-28T16:16:44","date_gmt":"2012-05-28T16:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/assetmapping\/?p=209"},"modified":"2012-06-01T14:58:14","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T14:58:14","slug":"social-assets-in-action-project-launch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/assetmapping\/2012\/05\/28\/social-assets-in-action-project-launch-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Assets in Action Project Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 24th of May, In the glorious sunshine, we launched the Social Assets in Action project – phase two of the asset-mapping project in East Dunbartonshire.<\/p>\n

The aim of the event was to introduce all key stakeholders to the project, to engage and excite them about being involved and to convey the relevance of the project work for them. In total, there were 45 participants representing a range of local agencies and services from across the local authority.<\/p>\n

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Mark Richards, East Dunbartonshire CHP, and Andy Martin, East Dunbartonshire Council, introduced the day and set the scene, explaining how the work built on the positive response to the assets work showcased at the, ‘Stop…See Me…Listen =\u00a0 Better Outcomes’ event, held in October 2011.<\/p>\n

Andy Martin talked about the recent IRISS Insight <\/a>(focusing on strengths based approaches for working with individuals) that was published and highlighted to the group that, ‘asset based approaches are not about ‘spinning struggles into strengths’<\/em> and urged the audience to see the project as an opportunity to re-connect with their values and to foster a well-being focus within their practice.<\/p>\n

I then gave a brief overview of the theory and evidence for the use of asset-based approaches and touched briefly on the project work from 2011 (which has been covered extensively on this blog).\u00a0 We also showed videos<\/a> from previous participants as well as presenting some comments from people who use services who had given their views about the project at an earlier event<\/a>. You can download my\u00a0Presentation<\/a> here.<\/p>\n

Fran McBride then gave an overview of the next phase of the project. She explained that there were three streams of work:<\/p>\n

-development of a digital tool for practitioners to use alongside people who use services. This tool will be developed in partnership with a range of practitioners in order to make sure that it can be easily integrated into usual work<\/p>\n

-extension of the community map to cover all of East Dunbartonshire. In order to facilitate this, there will be numerous events* held in the different towns and communities that will be opened up to a broader range of people<\/p>\n

-project evaluation. We want to uncover the impact of this work on people as well as documenting the process so people in other areas can learn and build on the project . We have commissioned Jenni Inglis from VIE<\/a> to carry out an independent evaluation of the project.<\/p>\n

Most of all, Fran set the tone for the rest of the day by highlighting that this is a collaborative project. We want everyone to get involved – to spread the word about the project to their teams, colleagues and people who use their services. It is crucial that as a project team we learn from the wealth of experience that exists locally – we have some ideas but also want to encourage others’ input as much as possible.<\/p>\n

It was then time to get hand’s on!<\/p>\n

Each of the tables were set up to provide a demonstration of the different processes that we used in last years project. We wanted to give delegates a sense of what it would be like to be a participant, but also to think about how they might use the different processes in their everyday work.<\/p>\n

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We asked delegates a number of questions:<\/p>\n