We probably all know families who have their own roles in caring for a loved one, whether they’re the one who takes a parent to the shops, makes the dinners, gives a lift to appointments or just drops in for a cup of tea and a chat.  

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have such family support around them. So a new pilot project, based on the successful ‘Family Group Decision Making’ approach with children and young people, is being launched in Glasgow to replicate elements of the family support circle.

Around 100 people will take part in Circles of Support - a new approach to how we carry out social work assessments and reviews. It aims to enable people who need support and those closest to them, to make decisions about how best to support them at home and in their community.

Circles of Support puts the person needing support and their family at the centre of making decisions that affect them, and it recognises all their strengths, skills and abilities as well as looking at the areas where they need support. It considers the support they get from the  people currently involved in their life, as well as what support the carers might need, too.

A Circle of Support can include people who are not family or relatives but who are important to the person because they help with their support. So it could include extended family, such as grandparents, aunts and uncles or family friends or neighbours.

Nonie Calder, the HSCP’s lead on Circles of Support explained, “We can support people to widen their Circle of Support to encourage all the important people in their life to take part. This can give more ideas and options for support when people are making decisions about what support they need. A social worker will support everyone in a Circle of Support to attend any meetings, and help them all to discuss the care and support needed. A new support plan can be drawn up for the person at the centre of the circle, based on these conversations.”

There are some guiding principles:
•    You will only be involved in Circles of Support if you have agreed that you would like to take part.
•    All families have the capacity to change and grow.
•    Private family time is essential to this process – enabling and supporting families to have a voice and make decisions.
•    Every individual family is unique; our role is to help people discover their strengths, resources and beliefs and to promote maximum independence and participation in local communities.
The care team involved in a support circle can draw on a wide range of expertise depending on the person’s needs and preferences. This helps to make sure there’s a holistic approach to the support, rather than simply focussing on a particular condition or issue. And an advocacy worker is available to help make sure that all voices are being heard.

The team can include:
•    Reablement staff to help think about ways to build and maintain the person’s independence
•    the Carers Team who can support the individual and their family with care responsibilities they already have.
•    the Assistive Technology Team who can advise on how technology can support you to live confidently and safely at home, and 
•    Local Area Co-ordinators (LACs) who can help people to think about what they might like to take part in locally, helping them to develop or support an interest, and meet new people if you they to. 
As part of the review, time is set aside to talk about the future and start to plan and prepare for it. It can be helpful to talk about what the support circle can do if things change for the person being supported or some of the people involved in their support plan. This could be a change of house, what happens if someone becomes unwell, help in an emergency or legal support for future plans. 
The pilot will begin in July 2024 and run for a year, and the outcomes will be evaluated to inform future roll out.

Contact details for further information:
If you would like more information about Circles of Support, please email Frank.McDonnell@glasgow.gov.uk.