Meeting-The-Challenge-Making-a-Difference-Practitioner-Guide

ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS ARE:
• Places where positive relationships promote well-being
for all participants.
• Places where people experience a sense of belonging.
• Places where all people involved contribute to the growth
and well-being of others.
• Places where people can learn new ways of relating.
• Places that recognise and respect the contributions of
all parties in helping relationships.
How well would your organisation rate on these criteria?
Would you be in a position to apply for this award?
The Enabling Environments Award is based on core values
that contribute to healthy relationships. The values are:
1) BELONGING – The nature and quality of relationships are
of primary importance.
2) BOUNDARIES – There are expectations of behaviour and
processes to maintain and review them.
3) COMMUNICATION – It is recognised that people
communicate in different ways.
4) DEVELOPMENT – There are opportunities to be
spontaneous and try new things.
5) INVOLVEMENT – Everyone shares responsibility for
the environment.
6) SAFETY – Support is available for everyone.
7) STRUCTURE – Engagement and purposeful activity is
actively encouraged.
8) EMPOWERMENT – Power and authority are open to discussion.
9) LEADERSHIP – Leadership takes responsibility for the
environment being enabling.
10) OPENNESS – External relationships are sought
and valued.
You can see similarities
between these values and the
‘core childhood needs’
proposed by Jeffrey Young and
described in Chapter 3 – the
need for secure attachment to
others (safety, belonging,
involvement), autonomy
(communication, empowerment),
spontaneity and play
(development, openness), and
realistic limits and self-control
(boundaries, structure). It looks
as though those experiences
that foster healthy
development in children have
adult equivalents that foster
healthy organisations –
organisations that encourage
the development of their
service users and their staff.
There is more about the
characteristics of healthy
organisations in Chapter 7.
What do the NICE
guidelines advise?
‘NICE’ Guidelines 4 have been
developed for common
conditions treated within the
NHS, to summarise the
research evidence and to
recommend best practice in
treating different conditions.
So far NICE Guidelines have
only been produced for two
personality disorders,
4 National Institute for Clinical Excellence (‘NICE’) Guidelines (Clinical Guideline 77 on Antisocial personality Disorder, 2009;
Clinical Guideline 78 on Borderline Personality Disorder, 2009)
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