Platfform has spent four years engaging with people through the New System Alliance and delivering various events and training. A key challenge shared by many is that changing how we work can be hard, and it can sometimes be lonely.
Our Learning Programme aims to make strengths-based working a reality by addressing key priorities. Each session includes learning, sharing and reflection on local challenges.
Strengths-based working: a refresher
27th March, 9:30 – 11:30
This session recapped last year’s strengths-based training programme, exploring what we learned together but also what Platfform has learned over our time working in this way. It introduces the principles behind our strengths-based working approach and identifies how this can be applied in different ways.
We also launched our System Change pack of resources – wisdoms drawn from professional and lived experiences, and focusing on Communities, Relationships, Power and Learning. The pack is a straightforward and practical exploration of these four key aspects of system change.
Challenging the dominant narrative of mental health
22nd May, 9:30 – 11:30
This session will present the approach Platfform takes to mental health, and how this can be applied to the way we work with people in practice. Exploring the history of mental health, the effectiveness of a medical diagnostic model, and the ways in which our current system makes it harder to work in a strengths-based way, we will provide this space to help people challenge assumptions and explore a different way of approaching mental health.
Working with our communities in a strengths-based way
17th June, 9:30 – 11:30
In this session, we will explore the community-based approaches that Platfform has adopted over the years, and what we have learned from that. Whether that is community-based support work, to working with young parents, to community psychology models, and more, we will share our journey and how this could influence practice on the ground.
Storytelling to make changes in the system
11th September, 9:30 – 11:30
Making changes within the system is not easy. One of the most effective ways, is through the sharing of powerful stories. If we are to work in a strengths-based way, to make change, we need to understand how we can use stories to unlock and overcome barriers. This session will hear from an experienced storyteller, and consider how we can make changes in partnership with people we support, and the communities around us.
Holding boundaries in a broken system: being kind isn’t being nice
13th November, 9:30 – 11:30
Trauma informed approaches, or working relationally, can be easily misunderstood – often practitioners can find themselves stuck in a position where they are trying to be “nice”, or they find providing boundaries, routine and structures very difficult. In this session, we will explore in more detail, the need for clear boundaries within practice – and how that can work within a trauma-informed, strengths-based way of working.
Looking after our wellbeing as campaigners for change
12th February, 9:30 – 11:30
Our wellbeing as campaigners for change is key. The world can be an overwhelming, exhausting place – and activists, practitioners and campaigners for strengths-based working are often people who throw themselves into change regularly, and at great cost to themselves. This session will address the need to protect our own wellbeing, and ensure we have the right support around us to make real change.
Stay up to date with the strength based learning programme