STEP 2 Wellbeing Self Assessment
Organising your thoughts into a 'Wellbeing Self Assessment'
You must now organise your thoughts into your Wellbeing Self Assessment.
There are two parts.
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The first part is YOUR STORY. It should be to the point and so not too too long. It is about why you need care and support, for example the type of impairments, illness or mental health issues you have, any important circumstances and how you believe your life can be better. It should include any care and support you get from family and friends. Your story is very important to make sense of what will follow. As a carer it should be about how your role as a carer affects your wellbeing.
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The second part is ALL YOUR NEEDS. This is where you say what care and support you require from the council to make your life the best it can be. Needs are much more than just what you want, they are about how your life is impacted by your situation. They are also about what YOU view as the most significant elements of having good wellbeing. For example you might view having access to 1 to 1 time with a yoga teacher out of your home, as having equal impact on your wellbeing as the yoga itself. So an online yoga class would not work for you. As a carer it may mean that support for your loved one must allow for you to have respite, so the time and day of activities might be really important to you.
It will really help with Step 3 if you write your self assessment down and very important to show your thinking.
Each need should contain the following;
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What the issue is that you are having to deal with - for example, you are an older person with severe arthritis and you can no longer get up the stairs
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How the issue is affecting which of the nine areas of your wellbeing – you cannot get to the toilet which is upstairs so have to use a commode downstairs which is embarrassing.
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How you want things to be different, or just stay the same if things might be getting worse for you. Councils call this the outcome you seek from the service. - This might be to be able to get up the stairs again so you can use the toilet
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The services you require – which in this particular case might be a stair lift, or it might be rehabilitation or some other solution which might work best. It is important to set out not just which service, but the amount and anything else that is important to achieving the outcome, such as the right time of day. You may not know what services will be right for you. Its OK to look to the social worker to give you more information at Stage 3.
If you would like to use a structured form to organise your thoughts, we have created one that you can use. (Click the download button) Otherwise, you can just write it using sentences.
Both are fine, so do what works for you.
Click here for an example self assessment using both formats.
Once you have carried out your self-assessment as fully as you can, you will be ready to engage with the social worker in your assessment or review.