I can still remember my first part time job as a teenager, working in a garage. I use the word garage because back in those dim dark days you could go to the same place to buy a car, get it fixed, and fill up your car with petrol. My job was to clean the greasy floor in the workshop, sweep the display area, and keep the service area tidy.
My dad had taught me that you should always fill up the car battery with distilled water, so it was a bit of a shock to be told by my boss that even though the bottle said “distilled water”, my job was to fill it with water from the tap.
This new workplace had its negatives but it also opened me up to experiences that helped to contribute to my development as a person. I was learning the importance of participating in a wider community than I had previously known, and as a result of that discovering more about the world in which I lived, and my own attitudes towards that world.
As we work our way in this blog through the principles of being person-centred, we come to social inclusion. Social inclusion fosters the development of participation, citizenship and contribution within the community. In doing so, natural and meaningful relationships can be formed.
When a person begins receiving a health or community service from a service provider there is a danger that everything is focussed around the immediate needs of the individual and how that impacts on the service provider. The result can be a withdrawal from other social activities and the result of that can be a loss of personal identity and independence.
By encouraging a person receiving services to maintain their existing social networks and even expanding those networks, we are acknowledging an important part of that person’s individuality.
How do you perceive social inclusion can contribute to being person-centred?
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