Keys To Citizenship

A guide to getting good support services for people with learning difficulties.

We are all equal. We are all different. We are all citizens. Being a citizen means making your own choices about how to live life to the fullest. This book helps you ask the right questions so you can find the answers that are right for your life. It shows you the path to finding meaning, making a home, managing your money, and filling your life with love, support and freedom. Once you hold the keys to your life in your hands, you can make bold choices and follow your dreams. No dream is too small or too big. See what you can achieve, and don't ever stop!

Unlike other animals, which are born with strong instincts, we humans must learn how to live socially—and we learn from the people around us. As a result, we’re closely linked to the community we’re raised in. Our daily lives and identities are affected by the common experiences shared with the people in our community. We learn the community’s values, history, and rules. When we become part of a community, it becomes part of us. Citizenship is the state of being an active, engaged, and productive member of a community. As citizens, we get certain rights, but also certain responsibilities. To be good citizens, we must live up to these responsibilities. That’s because we share our future with the other individuals in our community. Our actions affect them, and theirs affect us. A community can only grow and flourish through time if good citizens do their best to improve it. We all have a sense of right and wrong, but we don’t always follow our better judgments—good citizens must also live ethically, or morally. Whenever we decide not to live ethically, we risk hurting the people around us and ourselves. Being a good citizen has immediate rewards. Ethical living and good citizenship can improve your academic and social success, your happiness and quality of life, and your future prospects for professional success. By being good citizens and living ethically, we encourage others to do the same. This book provides ten tips on how to be a good citizen and live ethically—ethics 101, consider the consequences of your actions, be a good neighbor, take every opportunity to make friends, be respectful, obey the law, know and stand up for your rights, know your rights, stay informed, and get involved. The book also provides reasons why readers should care, and how they will benefit their community and self by being a good citizen and living ethically.

This valuable text offers a range of practical, person centred and evidence based approaches to tackling challenges faced by professionals working with people with learning disabilities. It helps the reader to analyze issues relating to person centred practice and citizenship and considers the implications of this key government initiative for health and social care professionals. The authors aim to support professionals in working through this changing agenda, whilst identifying the interface between their own professional practice and person centred approaches to working with people who have a learning disability. The book includes well referenced practical approaches to the subject area, alongside creative and innovative thinking. In addition, the book also: Explores the historical context of learning disability services and how this has contributed to the development of person centred services Introduces a range of practical person centred thinking tools that can be readily used within professional practice Contains a model to inform the delivery and integration of person centred practice within professional practice Considers the contribution of a range of different professional roles to the person centred and self directed support approach Evaluates the relevance of person centred thinking and planning to people from different cultural backgrounds and those undergoing the transition from adolescence to adulthood Person Centred Practice for Professionals is key reading for students, academics and professionals working or training to work with people with learning disabilities.

“This helpful text represents another brick in the wall for social workers and social work students seeking to make sense of personalisation/person-centred support, personal budgets and the changing role of social work in the future … This book will help all concerned with social work make better sense of what this should look like - if it is to support social justice, inclusion and equality.” Professor Peter Beresford OBE, Brunel University and Chair, Shaping Our Lives "This informative text bases the Personalisation discussion on real life examples and perspectives, providing a balanced account of the opportunities and obstacles faced by all stakeholders engaged in this agenda .... The final chapter on managing change provides the reader with an opportunity to step forward in time and consider how Personalisation might be located within the historical timeline of delivering social care and whether concepts of co-production, empowerment and citizenship can in fact become central to this agenda. A book to get you 'thinking' and 'doing'." Ali Gardner, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK "The authors have written a timely and highly topical book on the impact that Personalisation has and will have upon the world of Social Work. They do so in a very accessible way through highlighting the benefits of the model to all concerned, but crucially they explore some of the many concerns. In particular they address the anxieties expressed by qualified social workers upon their future role. … I shall certainly draw upon the text for my own teaching and learning and will encourage students and practitioners to do the same." Paul Hollingdale, Course Leader, University of Huddersfield, UK Personalisation remains a huge talking point in the world of social care. This timely book addresses the tensions, opportunities and challenges faced by social workers attempting to implement personal funding and support. Written by three academics with extensive first hand experience of supporting people in personalised ways, the book highlights the ethical dilemmas and complexities of frontline practice and is grounded in a pragmatic and creative approach to personalisation. The authors offer an honest representation of positive aspects of personalisation and examine areas that cause concern. The book also: Contains scenarios based on realistic examples of supporting service users and carers Recognises the political, social, cultural and individual factors that interplay in personalisation Provides a balance between an academic understanding of personalisation and application in practice Presents a vision for what the future would look like with fully implemented personalisation in adult social care

Good governance is key to the sustainability of organizations and improving quality of life for all. Governance is much more than a set of rules, it is a culture and a climate of responsibility, accountability and fairness that is deployed throughout an institution. In this new book the author outlines the keys to good governance.