Care Act training: promote individual wellbeing

This theme explores promoting individual wellbeing, the importance of focusing on the individual and what this means, and how and when we must promote individual wellbeing.

Training videos

What is individual wellbeing?

How can we promote individual wellbeing?

Outcomes of promoting individual wellbeing

Key messages

What is the legal duty?

• The duty is to promote individual wellbeing.
• Wellbeing is embedded throughout the Care Act – it conveys the ethos of the Act.
• It is a primary duty.
• It must be individual – personalised.

What is individual wellbeing?

• Individual – understanding of individual wellbeing is gained through strengths and relationships-based interventions and interactions.
• Wellbeing – there are nine wellbeing areas.

When do we have to promote individual wellbeing?

• Applicable to all social care interactions and interventions, even to individuals (adults and carers) without an appearance of need for care and support.

What does promoting individual wellbeing look like?

• Promoting individual wellbeing does not require the purchase of a service or even having care and support needs, it could be free.
• An individual feels empowered, respected and as much an active participant in the process as he/she can be if:
  • they are listened to, and what is important to them is properly considered
  • they are supported to explore a wide range of options and opportunities and enabled to make decisions
  • their personal outcomes have been appropriately explored and they have been enabled to consider ways in which personal outcomes could be achieved as much as possible.

Outcomes of promoting individual wellbeing

• Individuals are empowered:
  • to understand their circumstances and areas where change may be necessary
  • to utilise or build on their existing strengths to enable them to achieve personal outcomes
  • to explore creatively ways in which outcomes can be met, and therefore maximising choice.

Reflective questions

Find below a set of reflective questions that will help you embed the above key messages in your social care practice.

1. Am I clear on what the nine areas of wellbeing are and the broadness of their reach?
2. Am I ensuring that in any intervention/interaction with an individual (i.e. carer/adult) that I am exploring proportionately the nine areas of wellbeing?
3. When undertaking an assessment of needs or carer assessment, am I exploring the adult/carer needs around the nine areas of wellbeing and the adult/carer’s personal outcomes around the nine areas of wellbeing?
4. When determining eligibility, do I have enough evidence in my assessment to respond to whether the inability to achieve specified outcomes has or has not had a significant impact on the individual’s wellbeing?
5. Have I given the adult/carer a fair opportunity to explain what wellbeing means to them? Am I making any assumptions based on illness, impairment, disability, etc.?
6. Have I been able to capture in my recording the individual’s sense of wellbeing? Have I got the individual’s feedback on this?

Further resources

• Care Act Statutory Guidance
• Care Act 2014
• Outcomes Star (person-centred care)