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Eagerly Awaited SDS Research Report Launch!

Exploring how to make Self-directed Support a reality for people affected by homelessness.

New legislation relating to Social Care support has been introduced in Scotland. Self-directed Support (SDS) opens up a range of choice in how people are supported to resolve their homelessness. We identified a significant gap in understanding, availability and good practice support in relation to SDS in Homelessness.

Successful recipients of Scottish Government Capacity Building Funding

We secured Scottish Governments funding to run a capacity building pilot that would explore these issues and build understanding across homelessness. Our aim was to explore whether SDS could work in homelessness and what would be needed to enable a move to an SDS approach.

City-wide engagement

Through this research and with the help of Peer Volunteers, we engaged with a wide range of service users, partners and stakeholders across Glasgow who shared their insights, concerns and ideas.

Report Highlights

The report on this research was launched at our AGM on Tuesday 24th November and is available to download from our website. It highlights that we need to find ways to overcome the lack of understanding about SDS, bust the myths and build confidence that will help people move on from homelessness more positively.

Reflections

Ashley Young and Glenda Meechan led the Self-directed Support Research Pilot Project. Ashley reflects on this experience:

‘For too long people affected by homelessness have been unable to access self-directed support therefore the work we are doing to raise awareness of SDS across the sector is incredibly important’.

‘It was incredibly exciting being part of the team tasked with helping to raise awareness of SDS across the homelessness sector. We engaged with over 300 people and using the information we collected were able to produce a report that that we hope will be used to inform what happens next. This is ground-breaking work and I believe SDS has the potential to make a huge difference to lives of the people we support’.

Service Users views:

• I would grab choice with both hands if it was offered
• Currently it feels like it’s ‘one size fits all’ but I think support should be more personalised
• Being involved in making decisions about my support would make me feel involved and worth something

Stakeholder views:

• SDS could bring positive changes to people’s lives
• I feel that with good partnership working we would be able to meet the challenges head on
• I am very much in favour of people who require social care services managing / directing their support for all of the obvious reasons

See the Executive summary here and see the full report here.