Asset-based approaches – the first step to transformation
- Written by: — Assistant Director (Policy and Communications)
- Published: 29th March 2017
Andrew blogs for the Health and Social Care Academy on asset-based approaches.
It might now be considered trite to say it, but people are the lifeblood of any service. No matter the sector or subject, the system or the team – the driving force is the people who work in it and the people who use it.
This is why the publication of Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH)’s new document ‘Assets based approaches in service settings’ (this link will take you away from our website) is so welcome. Taking an asset-based approach to services means focussing on the potential of people who use them – not what is “wrong” with them or what needs to be “fixed”. By recognising and making the most of people’s strengths we can promote the factors that support good health and wellbeing. This requires an understanding that addressing complex issues needs much more involvement of the people who are at the centre of those issues – rather than being viewed as things that can be “sorted out” by professionals alone.
A couple of weeks ago I attended the launch of the new report and one thing struck me – the significant overlap between the vision in GCPH’s document and that championed in the Health and Social Care Academy’s Five Provocations for the Future of Health and Social Care (this link will take you away from our website). Leadership, humanity and cultural change are terms used throughout, which suggests that asset-based approaches are one key mechanism through which transformation can be delivered.
GCPH have made it clear that it is possible to design and focus delivery and practice towards assets, rather than deficits – even despite the many constraints placed on public services. Their new publication identifies examples such as Primary Care Learning Disability Local Area Co-ordinators, the Bridging employability service and Healthy Mind, a project designed to support access to online information and resources, as practical examples of asset-based approaches to the delivery of health and social care.
All progressive steps – but remain ‘far from the way we do things’. The rhetoric around asset-based approaches has yet to reach reality in a manner which could be described as significant. The Scottish Government has long been committed to the delivery of these approaches and, as GCPH note, this is informing and influencing the planning and delivery of some services. But as always we need to move comprehensively and quickly beyond rhetoric and to the practical application and incentivising of approaches which encourage people to flourish.
After all, the need to work differently is ever more pressing.
End of page.
You may also like:
Reflections on the Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education) Bill
Continue readingLouise Hall from Pain Association Scotland reflects on the event she delivered as part of Self Management Week 2025.
Continue readingAct Now for Autistic Rights calls for a transformative Bill for autistic and neurodiverse communities
Continue readingIn the next decade, the role of digital in health and social care must embed our digital human rights principles to reduce inequalities.
Continue readingRead some reflections from ALLIANCE colleagues, who had the opportunity to sponsor and attend Scotland's Annual Human Rights Conference.
Continue reading“Our Collective Voice” is a hopeful vision for the next five years, and I encourage ALLIANCE members to bring it into their own campaigns.
Continue readingBy standing together, we can help ensure that everyone in Scotland has access to the compassionate, high quality palliative care.
Continue readingALLIANCE Scottish Sensory Hub Manager Dr Hannah Tweed reflects on the launch of the BSL network for public bodies.
Continue readingSimone Janse van Rensburg reflects on the impact of their Women Living Well event which featured as part of Self Management Week 2025.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingWellbeing Scotland’s Chief Clinical Officer Ashleigh Ronald highlights why we must shift stigmatising narratives around child abuse.
Continue readingAs we mark twenty years of the ALLIANCE, Person Centred Voices continues to show the power of listening, kindness and connection.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingIn her latest TFN column, our Chief Officer Sara Redmond marks 20 years of the ALLIANCE and looks ahead to a future built on hope.
Continue readingOur Chief Officer Sara Redmond reflects on hope, action and why human rights must remain at the heart of how we shape the future.
Continue readingAs Phase 2 is launched, Dr. Irene Oldfather shares her reflections on how the ALLIANCE has contributed to the Women's Health Plan.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingThe ALLIANCE’s Women’s Health Lived Experience Group reflect on their input to Phase 2 of the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan.
Continue readingThe somatic approach, from Louise Davidson, host of the Self Management Week event ‘Calm the Storm: Movement & Breath to Lower Cortisol’.
Continue readingAs we enter the new year, 2026 is an important milestone for the ALLIANCE; it is our 20 year anniversary.
Continue readingReflections on the role of peer support for women’s health in Scotland
Continue reading