The NIHR School for Social Care Research has funded the creation of short films to accompany training materials for the Connecting People Intervention.
The films have been created by Trafford Community TV, a social enterprise spun-off from the Trafford well-being centre blueSCI who are participating in the Connecting People Study.
The films have been developed to assist training sessions about the Connecting People Intervention model. They feature practitioners talking about aspects of their practice within the context of the model. The different opinions expressed by them are certain to provoke discussion in training sessions when workers explore what they think about the practice involved in supporting people to develop or maintain their social connections.
All the films can be viewed via the menus on this website.
An introduction to the films can be found by clicking ‘training‘ in the menu above.
Drop-down menus from this link take you to the following 12 pages:
Question 1. How should I view the person that I am working with?
Question 2. How can I manage boundaries with an individual?
Question 3.How can I keep building on my own community knowledge?
Question 4. How do I overcome barriers faced by working in this way?
Question 5. How do I identify in what areas I can best help an individual?
Question 6. How can I get someone to try something new?
Question 7. How can I help someone to move on?
Question 8. How can I link an individual to someone new?
Question 9. How can I help the individual to overcome barriers?
Question 10. What kind of environment works best?
Question 11. How does this fit with our existing practice?
Question 12. How can our agency form better links with our community?
Each page has a short film and a PDF document with some suggested exercises for use in the training session. They can be used in sequence or dipped in to as required.
Additionally, we created videos, animations and case studies to illustrate what the Connecting People model is all about. These can be accessed via ‘the model‘ link in the above menu. For example, the film below features workers talking about their thoughts about the model:
Finally, the research team talk through what the model is all about:
Click image above to watch the Connecting People Intervention model video
We are keen to hear what you think about the films. Please leave us a comment to let us know what you think about them.
Connecting People Study 
For me, as a very tentative and unfortunately, an isolated and embittered SU, the video’s at least demonstrate the passion and sincerity of involved practitioners; but when socio-economic connections erode and degrade, professional and academic rhetoric can often exacerbate an already dire situation. The socio-economic-educational divisions in society are now at crisis point, and must be acknowledged in an open and honest way when engaging disenfranchised one’s.
Don’t want to be melodramatic or maudlin here, but Stevie Smith’s poem, ‘Not Waving But Drowning’ might be worthy of study in your ‘Connecting People Intervention model’. I think what I’m saying is: from your positions of status, salary, and orderliness, don’t fall into the trap of duplicity, hypocrisy, and ignorance when telling folk about connectivity in this very dis-connected socio-economic paradigm.
Hi Mac,
Many thanks for your comment. You make some important points which serve as reminders to us and practitioners about the unequal social structures in which we operate. The Connecting People study is a very modest attempt to do something about this, but we appreciate that social divisions and fundamental inequalities in society need to be addressed to bring about wholesale change. Little steps towards this may help, but it needs to be accompanied by a wider social critique and political campaign such as that led by The Equality Trust (amongst others).
Best wishes,
Martin