Different kinds of assets

Assets versus deficits• Asset-based approaches turn

our ‘normal’ care approaches on their head.

• Instead of looking at problems, we need to find the strengths we can work with.

Deficits Assets

Dependence on services Dependence on each other

Consumers of services Co-producers of services

Disabilities, problems, needs Abilities, capabilities, assets

Client/patient Citizen

Treating symptoms Promoting wellbeing

Professionals as experts Participants as Experts

Comparison of the asset-based approach with ‘normal’ care

Different assetsAssets are found within the individual, the community and the wider environment.

• Individual assets – e.g. resilience, commitment to learning, self-esteem, sense of

purpose.

• Community assets – e.g. family and friendship networks, social capital, community

cohesion, religious tolerance, intergenerational solidarity.

• Organisational or institutional assets – e.g. environmental resources for promoting physical health,

employment security and opportunities for volunteering, safe housing, political democracy and participation (Morgan et al 2010).

AssetsIndividual: These are what the person has within them that gives them strength; their ‘resilience’ and resources. For example, self esteem and confidence, intelligence, humour, internal locus of control (sense of autonomy), optimism and hope, motivation.

Community: These might be resources that can be tapped into, exploited, improved and developed. Such as a local AA meeting, support group, non-using friends, local employment/housing initiatives, community cohesion, local further education college.

Environmental: These are the existing contexts in which the person and the community are placed. These could be ‘things’ or socio-political strategies. For example, the local Health & Wellbeing Board focuses on substance misuse, local policing policy, government policy and funding to aid people into treatment, house-building strategy, drug courts.

Assets (cont.)

In substance misuse, these assets are often called:

Recovery Capital (Granfield & Cloud, 1999).

Peter Sheath: asset-based approaches from the activist perspective

Watch the video ‘Asset-based approaches’ and hear Peter Sheath, from Emerging Futures, talking about what assets mean to him in the context of substance use .

What do you think of Peter’s views?

• Would we be better off with no services?

• Where do health and social care services fit in with this community approach?

• Can professionals engage with, and facilitate, Asset Based Community Development, and if so, how?

Peter Sheath’s viewsThere are no ‘answers’ to the questions posed because there are different viewpoints about what service structure is best for delivering community-based substance use support.

There is a tension however between community based, user-led support services, and professional services. This is more a political issue for policy makers and commissioners.

Recovery capital and the three asset levelsFor people misusing substances, evidence suggests that their main assets could be...

Personal recovery capital: • Safe and secure accommodation. • Physical and mental wellbeing. • Purposeful activity.

Social recovery capital: • Peer support .• Supportive friends and family.

Community recovery capital: • Supportive and non-stigmatising attitudes in the broader community. • Community resources (activities and transport links). • Recovery communities.

References

• Daddow, R. and Broome, S. (2010) Whole Person Recovery: A user-centred systems approach to problem drug use. RSA. Accessed online at https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/reports/rsa-whole-person-recovery-report.pdf

• Granfield, R. and Cloud, W (1999) Coming Clean: Overcoming addiction without treatment. New York: New York University Press.

• Morgan A, Davies M, Ziglio E. (2010) Health assets in a global context: theory, Methods, Action: Investing in assets of individuals, communities and organizations. London: Springer.