Activating Youth Leadership

The strength-based starting point to activating choice and control by 

improving positive learning and life outcomes

The programme can also include coaching a support worker or family member to work with the person to continue planning and achieving goals after the programme is completed.

Youth and adult participants will: 

• Develop knowledge and experience about the visioning and planning process and its connection to wellbeing. This goal-setting activity is person-centred. Its output is an inspirational vision board filled with goals organised according to the Keys 2 Citizenship (Duffy, 2012). Participants prioritise one long-term goal for each category and learn to implement strategies to achieve them. 

• Unpack their goals from long to short-term, experiment with  achieving them by taking small achievable steps by utilising the bespoke ‘Goal 2 Action’ tool thereby, building capacity for participants to take control of their own progress. This process is described in depth in a number of publications (Mahmic and Janson, 2018; Moore, Fong and Rushton, 2018).

In addition to the above, support workers and families will:

• Learn about the positive psychology practice of identifying and harnessing their ‘Signature Strengths’ (Seligman, 2004; Niemic, 2013). This practice coaches people to use their strength to overcome new obstacles in the path of goal achievement (self-determination). Participants also learn a number of positive psychology practices to redirect their attention and energy towards areas over which they have control or influence (Sinek, 2020). 

Supported Planning Facilitators record goals and goal achievements over a follow up session using ’Mission Control’, a purpose-built real time data collection tool.

Participants design their own success tools. They can borrow some of the tools that other participants have co-designed or create their own - they decide what is most relevant and helpful for their lives. 

The below are some examples of participant co-designed tools.

Creating an inspiring vision

Pictability™ was co-designed as a unique and creative way for participants to set a vision for a positive and attainable future. It was informed by research from Positive Psychology, Family Centred Practice and Gamification principles.

Pictability visuals were co-designed with participants to build capacity and inspire wellbeing and flourishing (Adler & Seligman, 2016). Elements of the tool were informed by evidence about how participants achieve goals (Mahmic & Janson, 2018). The tool includes multiple cards and boards designed to support participants expanding on ideas to create deeper and more meaningful (i.e., developmental, social, learning) goals. Research has shown that high engagement of participants in creating goals form solid foundations for participants to achieve these goals. The tool uses visuals and has been very favourably rated by parents of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In New Zealand, a pilot study co-designed with Maori participants and Allied Health deemed this vision tool culturally appropriate.  

Why use ‘gamification’?

A Pictability session involves replacing a planning conversation, which participants often find challenging with a playful game structure to plan. Our research (see below) shows that this playful situation is highly rated by participants and professionals alike who report that the goals formulated during such session are more authentic and engaging than goals formulated during a planning conversation. This is because of the engaging nature of the visuals that allow participants to connect with aspirations even when these are not fully consciously formulated.

Pictability Youth include contents and visuals appropriate co-designed with youth. These participants responded to the robust citizenship framework, which is powerful because it extends the concept of Inclusion. We are all citizens - we have both rights and responsibilities. 

Participants finish the programme with valuable take home resources, including their own personal Pictability™ kit.

Pictability™ was co-designed as a unique and creative way for participants to set a vision for a positive and attainable future. It was informed by research from Positive Psychology, Family Centred Practice and Gamification principles.

Pictability visuals were co-designed with participants to build capacity and inspire wellbeing and flourishing (Adler & Seligman, 2016). Elements of the tool were informed by evidence about how participants achieve goals (Mahmic & Janson, 2018). The tool includes multiple cards and boards designed to support participants expanding on ideas to create deeper and more meaningful (i.e., developmental, social, learning) goals. Research has shown that high engagement of participants in creating goals form solid foundations for participants to achieve these goals. The tool uses visuals and has been very favourably rated by parents of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In New Zealand, a pilot study co-designed with Maori participants and Allied Health deemed this vision tool culturally appropriate. Our evidence-based brainstorming process was built over 6 years of research on goal achievement and our co-design study with our Maori partners. Participants can use elements offered to them or formulate their vision based on personal preferences.

" The pictures and the stories we shared gave me the confidence to share these in other places, like with my friends and family [Participant]

"I was surprised with the information that came from [person I support], some of it was completely new to me!" [Support person]

"I was taken aback by how many ideas my daughter had about future directions for her life... these had never come up in family conversations before, but my daughter said that this creative  process, which includes expanding on ideas from the images she chose, gave her lots more new directions to explore" [Father]

Participation is open to all youth, adults and families and whānau with children of all ages with disabilities in New Zealand. 

Traditional planning is done in conversation with participants, with some professional involvement. This disadvantages some people who may look to others for ideas about their goals. This Supported Planning process is also radically different to PATH and MAP planning in that the latter require participation of specialised staff to draw or lead the processes, whereas the Supported Planning we propose is totally designed by and led by participants. People who have experienced it comment that they came up with goals that they had not previously thought about or that feel more authentic to them - this is because professional intervention is minimised in this process.

This point of caution was raised in the early 2000s in a major analysis conducted by Holburn (2002) about how science can evaluate and enhance person-centered planning.

“Operationalizing outcomes that constitute aspects of quality of life (QOL) can be challenging, but the main obstacle to an empirical analysis of person-centered planning appears to be reliable implementation of its complex process. Resolution of these problems is seen as a cutting edge for expanding our applied research technology in assisting people with disabilities achieve the values to which they aspire”. 

The Supported Planning process addresses these concerns and stands apart from traditional conversational forms of planning because its methodology is very simple,  it harnesses participants’ creativity and can be started with few words. This makes it a fully inclusive process, suited for participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and participants who communicate in a range of ways, including non-verbal ways. It was also successfully tried with parents of visually impaired children. 

It is beneficial to be able to offer choices in planning support to people with disabilities. We offer this Supported Planning process as one additional tool in the kete of our community, as described on the EGL website.