Three questions

What comes to mind if I ask what do you hope will happen when you turn up to support someone?

We might think about specific outcomes, problems being resolved, help in some practical form. Or the person feeling hope or relief about their situation. That might then lead us down a path of what we can do to help that to happen – skills, techniques, resources. And a measure of how successful we were might include whether the desired outcome occurred.

What happens if we change that question slightly and ask what do you hope a person will experience when you turn up to support them?

It’s likely there was some overlap in the responses to the two versions. But perhaps now we reflect more on how we hope they would feel being with us. Or what they might notice about the experience. We might wonder more about their perception of us from their half of the encounter.

These three questions are useful anchors to ask and return to across our development as helping professionals and carers:

What do you want a person to experience when you turn up to support them?

What do you do that helps that to happen?

How will you know if what you are doing is working?