Strengths meeting toolkit

A strengths-based to multi-agency meetings for and with people experiencing multiple disadvantage

At Golden Key, we learnt, from our own experience and through feedback from our partners, that services have a tendency to focus on managing problem client behaviours rather than thinking about what is going well. This doesn’t always lead to the most positive outcomes for our clients.

Strengths-based approaches focus on an individual’s resources, skills, qualities, achievements and successes rather than on deficits, problems or negative behaviours. A strengths-based approach to working with people who experience multiple disadvantage can provide opportunities for both professionals and clients to see themselves and specific situations in a new light.

Multi-agency meetings are often organised in response to (perceived) negative behaviours, incidents or escalating risks, and as such are key leverage points for positive change. They are spaces where multiple stakeholders come together and are therefore opportunities to introduce a different approach in a coordinated and planned way. A strengths-based approach maximises the potential for positive outcomes and, as part of a whole system approach, helps to expand and develop individual mindsets and organisational and systemic culture.

The toolkit we have created outlines the application of this approach to multi-agency meetings, exploring the motivations and benefits for doing this and providing guidance, tips, and tools to support the process. It includes a meeting structure and various supporting information to help you start working in a strengths-based way, quickly and easily.