Family Star Plus – draft edition 2 now ready for feedback

Posted on 27th June 2022 by Outcomes Star

Tell us what you think

A year ago, we launched our review of the Family Stars with a comprehensive call to all users to find out what they thought. We now have a draft new edition of the Family Star Plus out for consultation. We will finalise it in the autumn, apply the learning to the other Family Stars and publish new, improved editions in spring 2023.

Our commitment to the suite of Stars

As a social enterprise, Triangle invests part of the Star licence in keeping the suite of Stars under review and up to date. We stay abreast of changes in sectors and keep learning alongside our collaborators. After 20 years, almost 50 Stars and over 60 research studies, we’ve learnt a lot. And much has changed and continues to change. In reviewing the Family Stars, we set out to address some aspects of the language and better reflect the increasingly challenging external environment, with more families experiencing poverty.

Language changes in Edition 2

We wanted the new editions to be even more strengths-based, trauma-informed, conversational and accessible. We addressed specific wording issues that users of the Stars raised, such as replacing ‘effective parenting’ at the top of the scale with ‘self-reliance’, the point at which families no longer need the service to ensure their children can thrive. We have better worded the scales to avoid any suggestion of blame or triggers for people while keeping the essential clarity needed between stages.

Fit with the Supporting Families outcomes framework 2022-2025

The original Family Star dates back to 2010. We later published the Family Star Plus in response to the UK government’s Supporting Families initiative (originally ‘Troubled Families’) and mapped the Family Star to the Scottish government outcomes framework. We have already mapped Edition 2 to the new Supporting Families outcomes framework and added references to some Star scales to clarify the fit while staying relevant to the diverse and international users of this Star.

The new editions keep the same outcome areas and Journey of Change. They will replace the current editions in 2023 without any impact on your reporting or training – though it may be an excellent opportunity to consider refreshing how you use the Star to ensure you get the most from it.

We are inviting Family Star users to review the draft new edition and tell us what you think.

Please contact: dawn@triangleconsulting.co.uk

New ‘How to’ guide explains how the Outcomes Star can turn Human Learning Systems principles into practice

Posted on 16th June 202220th June 2022 by Outcomes Star

Since the publication of our Enabling Help report last year, we have been working with Toby Lowe and colleagues at the Centre for Public Impact to articulate how the Outcomes Star can operationalise learning as a management strategy and other core components of the Human Learning Systems (HLS) paradigm.

Both HLS and Enabling help focus on moving on from the failings of New Public Management towards an alternative vision of supporting ‘human freedom and flourishing’ through creating flexible, relational, compassionate service delivery systems in which the role of measuring is to support learning for individuals, organisations and places.

The Star as a tool for turning HLS and Enabling Help principles into practice

We are delighted that the Star is one of the tools identified in the Centre for Public Impact’s recently launched guide: Human Learning Systems: A practical guide for the curious, commissioned by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Iriss.

The guide highlights three different ways that the Outcomes Star can be used to put the principles of Human Learning Systems into practice:

Person level: the Star empowers people to take an overview of where they are, understand their life as a system, choose their goals and work out the next steps to achieve them
Organisation/place level: the Star enables meaningful purpose-aligned reflection and learning about what is and isn’t working within services, in order to better support those they serve
Connected learning cycles: the Star offers a way of collective sense-making between different actors within or across organisations, for example within a multidisciplinary team supporting an individual, or between commissioners and service providers

Read the Outcomes Star case studies included within the guide.

The synergy between the Star and human learning systems

HLS started as an analysis of the problems within traditional approaches to public service management. It has gone on to articulate an alternative framework and then look for practical ways of bringing that vision to life.

The Outcomes Star, in contrast, started as a practical tool for service providers to evidence that they are making a difference in a way that really reflects and supports what they do. From there we articulated the vision of service delivery and public management that was implicit in the tool in our Enabling Help report.

The convergence of these approaches, despite their different starting points, speaks volumes. The time has come for this shift in thinking and practice. We look forward to furthering collaboration with the HLS movement and others who share this vision.

Could your use of the Star inspire others?
Are you working with the Star as part of a wider HLS approach?
Please get in touch with our Research analyst, Dr Anna Good (anna@triangleconsulting.co.uk), as we are keen to create and publicise more case studies.

Ways to Wellness: The Well-being Star within social prescribing

Posted on 25th March 202228th March 2022 by Outcomes Star

Ways to Wellness recently published a report we contributed to, celebrating six years of their innovative and internationally recognised social prescribing service.

The service supports people aged 40-74 years old with specific long-term conditions, many of whom have complex medical, practical and social needs. GPs refer patients to receive support from link workers for 18 months and the Well-being Star is used to assess clients at baseline and then approximately every six months. So far, over 4,500 patients have completed two or more Well-being Star readings.

Triangle are always keen to encourage learning from Star data and we were encouraged that Ways to Wellness recognise the value of ‘analysing impact data and using findings to inform adjustments to the service’. We supported Ways to Wellness to go beyond the outcomes measurement required by the funders, to explore in more depth the needs and progress of their clients. The Star data reports shown in their report are based on those provided by our recently upgraded web application, ‘The Star Online’. They showed that 86% of clients moved forward in at least one outcome area, with the highest proportion progressing in ‘Your lifestyle’ – an area most frequently identified as needing work by clients.

Ways to Wellness are a good example of an organisation that shows a commitment to getting the most out of the Well-being Star. We have also worked with them to explore how consistent and accurate their link workers were in applying the Well-being Star scales, finding good ‘inter-rater reliability’.

Click here for more information about the Well-being Star including a case study of the use of this version of the Star in health settings and psychometric validation.

If you would like more information or support about the use of the Well-being Star, please get in touch with us at info@triangleconsulting.co.uk or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

Mapping the Integration Star onto the Home Office Indicators of Integration framework

Posted on 27th October 202126th October 2021 by Donna

The Home Office’s Indicators of Integration framework was developed in collaboration with academics, migrant organisations, the voluntary sector, local and national governments, and migrants themselves in order to provide a common language for ‘understanding, planning, monitoring and measuring integration’.

The latest version published in 2019, identifies 14 domains of integration with which to design, implement and measure the success of interventions. The framework suggests outcome indicators for each domain, for example the percentage of people in paid work and other ‘hard’ outcome measures. These measures are valuable but do not assess distance travelled towards the outcomes at an individual or cohort level.

The Refugee Council recognised the need for a version of the Outcomes Star, a keywork and outcomes measurement tool, that was aligned with the Indicators of Integration framework, gathering relevant distance-travelled outcomes data and also supporting engagement and good practice in services. In 2019, they approached Triangle, which led to the co-creation of the Integration Star for use with refugees needing support to integrate into and build a life in their new country. The co-creation included Refugee Council services and workers, Community Refugee Organisations, and refugees.

The domains identified in the Indicators of Integration framework were used as a basis for a literature review informing the first workshop in the development of the Integration Star. Later in the development process, the domains were mapped against the Integration Star outcome areas. The aim was to create a good fit between the framework and the Star, while at the same time as creating a user-friendly and empowering tool with accessible language and a manageable number of outcome areas to support conversations between workers and refugees. This pragmatic approach means that there is not an exact one-to-one mapping between framework domains and Star outcome areas, as shown in the table below:

****

To find out more, get in touch on info@triangleconsulting.co.uk or +44(0) 207 272 8765. The above is also available as a pdf download.

Outcomes Star training pricing increase

Posted on 26th October 202125th October 2021 by Donna

Triangle, like many organisations, needed to make a sudden shift into Remote Training Delivery (RTD) at the outset of the pandemic in March 2021. Our training team did a fantastic job of rising to the challenge, adopting new digital learning strategies to swiftly produce an online version of the core Star training course by May 2020. We have been delighted with the success of all our Remote Training Delivery.

“Thank you, … that was genuinely some of the best training I have had virtually. You were very engaging and understanding”

We have found many organisations have welcomed the ease of online training, as well as cutting of travel costs for geographically dispersed teams.

“The trainer was excellent at executing the delivery, and I will be adopting some of her techniques within remote delivery”—Outcomes Star client.

We have been able to maintain the price of our training at the same level since 2013 and have now permanently changed our training delivery model to offer a choice of face-to-face training and remote training for our Outcomes Star clients. We are incredibly proud of our dual training services and have decided to introduce a price increase to reflect the expertise and work that goes into providing such a high standard of learning.

Our new training prices will start from the 1^st November 2021. Please note, all previous quotes, verbal or written, will be honoured until January 2022.

We look forward to training you soon, face-to-face or remotely and to demonstrating how well the Stars measure service user progression, highlight areas of service delivery improvements and illustrate social impact. #Enablinghelp.

Find more information about training courses, pricing and booking here: Star training courses.

How the ideas driving social provision are steering service delivery off course

Posted on 19th July 20219th November 2021 by Donna

Triangle, the social enterprise behind the widely used Outcomes Star tools, is calling for a paradigm shift in social provision. In a new report to be published in September 2021, co-founder and Star co-author Joy MacKeith argues that at its heart service delivery is about meeting human needs and changing behaviour. Everything we know about how change happens points to the importance of relationships, trust and connection. Research also shows that services must be holistic and tailored to each person. But the ideas currently driving social provision steer the focus away from relationships and flexibility and onto procedures, markets, targets and standardisation. They break service delivery down into parts rather than focusing on the whole system.

The report presents an alternative vision – an enabling approach to service delivery. Called Enabling Help, this alternative puts the focus of the service delivery system on the service user, rather than the helper, the service or the intervention. Enabling Help builds relationships, trust and hope, develops skills and capabilities, is holistic, responsive and tailored to each individual person.

It also paints a picture of what it means to make Enabling Help a reality in practice. At the front-line it means moving to a collaborative approach rather than telling and directing. For managers it means changing the emphasis from managing procedures to enabling front-line workers to deliver relationship oriented, collaborative, flexible, problem-solving services. For commissioners it means shifting the focus from numbers to narratives – co-learning with service providers about what works.

‘Enabling Help’ builds on Triangle’s twenty years’ experience of helping organisations to support and measure change for people receiving services. Working with over one hundred collaborating organisations including local and national charities, housing associations, grant-making trusts, local authorities and NHS trusts, has provided a unique insight into what works when supporting change and building well-being and potential. And training and supporting over one thousand organisations to use the Outcomes Star in practice has highlighted what can get in the way of delivering what works. This report pulls all this learning together and identifies the real reasons why people being helped get stuck in services and the people delivering the help feel frustrated and de-motivated.

The report calls on all those involved in service delivery from front-line workers, to managers, commissioners, researchers and policy-makers to embrace this new set of ideas and put relationships, responsiveness and learning at the heart of everything they do.

Launching the Gambling Recovery Star in Australia

Posted on 28th June 202117th June 2021 by Donna

The event included brief addresses by Relationships Australia Queensland, CEO Ian Law and the Hon. Shannon Fentiman (Attorney-General) and an informal morning tea where the Gambling Recovery Star resources (printed and laminated) were showcased and discussed in small groups. The launch included a small number of participants invited to the gather, due to COVID19 restrictions and other colleagues from UCC and Centacare accessed the opening addresses via videoconference.

At the launch, Dr Ian Law emphasised the “spirit of collaboration at the heart of the project” with involvement from the Queensland Government Department of Justice and Attorney General, the Outcomes Star in the UK, Unique Outcomes in Australia, Lifeline Darling Downs and South East Queensland, UnitingCare, Centacare and RAQ.

Dr Law further explained that, with 5 million Australians effected by problem gambling each year, there is a keen interest in improving clinical practice and collecting data about what works. He also acknowledged the importance of the Outcomes Star in fostering a dynamic approach to assessment and planning, centred on client’s voices and priorities. He said the Gambling Recovery Star is now routinely used with almost all clients in Queensland’s Gambling Help Services, “Empowering clients to be agents of change”.

The Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Policy, David McKarzel, shared that contributing to the development of the Gambling Recovery Star had been a welcome opportunity for policy staff to work with these services in a different way- toward the creation of a clear and consistent methodology for service provision.

Marty O’Hare, Counsellor/Community Educator for RAQ said the real advantage of using the Gambling Recovery Star is that “you’re able to dial into conversation with clients about various aspects of their lives… and the Gambling Recovery Star helps us broaden the conversation, so they see gambling in context, see connections to issues relating to their emotional wellbeing… Many people have compartmentalised gambling and not realised it’s effects in other areas of their life and relationships.”

Although several Australian organisations have been involved and collaborated with new Star development over the years, this was pAul’s first experience of being involved from the start. pAul recently shared his thoughts and experiences on the Star in a blogpost. To find out more and read his full blogpost please visit Unique Outcomes website.

*****

The Gambling Recovery Star is an Outcomes Star that has been devised purposely for organisations that work with individuals to help them recover from harmful gambling and its effects. For more information on the Gambling Recovery Star or any of the other Stars for use in similar sectors (including addiction or substance misuse) please contact Triangle, or if you are based in Australia or New Zealand you can reach out to Unique Outcomes.

We’re reviewing the Family Stars

Posted on 3rd June 202127th June 2022 by Donna

Tell us what you think

The Family Star Plus is the most widely used of a growing constellation of Stars for children and families, including the original Family Star and the Family Star (Early Years). Since publishing them, Triangle has developed many more Stars, spanning diverse needs from cradle to grave. We got better at it and learned a lot. Much changed in the world, including the needs of families identified as at risk or presenting for support. It is now time to review these Stars.

What do you want us to change? What do you like and want us to keep?

Part of our role is to keep in touch with developments in the sectors served by the Stars, learning alongside the people who use them. We keep them under review, investing part of the Star licence in making tweaks or new editions. We create new resources to help people reap the benefits of using them well – engaging clients and getting reliable outcomes information. It’s a dynamic process that relies on you telling us what you think and us listening and responding.

Now we want to hear about what is needed to be sensitive to changing client groups and needs in children and family services, or to be even more strengths-based, trauma informed, conversational and accessible, for example. We particularly want to hear from you if you have suggestions about any of the Family Stars:

Family Star Plus
Family Star
Family Star (Early Years)

The Family Star (Relationships) is more recent, so not part of this review, but check it out if you work with families where the main need is around conflict between parents. And do tell us if you use and have feedback on other Stars.

Tell us what you think about the Family Stars – what works and what to change.

Sara Burns leads on the development the Stars. Email with your feedback and suggestions or to arrange a call: sara@triangleconsulting.co.uk.

Introducing the new and improved Youth Star to practitioners

Posted on 26th May 20216th May 2021 by Donna

Triangle published the Youth Star in 2012 as a light touch tool for community-based youth work. Since then, it has been widely used and the youth sector has changed and evolved. Over the years we have received helpful feedback and realised that we needed to review this Star. Along with updating it, another key aim of the new edition was to develop detailed scales and resources to support training, consistency and clarity as the original edition was published without detailed scale descriptions.

What do I need to do?

If you have been provided with the materials for the new Edition, familiarise yourself with the revised scales, detailed descriptions and new resources (particularly the User Guide and flashcards).

Discuss it with colleagues and try it out before using it with the young people that you support.

What has changed in the new Edition?

Most importantly, we have created detailed scale descriptions for the six areas covered by the Youth Star. These are in a new User Guide, along with a ladder graphic of the short scale descriptions.

In addition, we listened to feedback from young people and workers and changed some wording to be more sensitive, trauma-informed and responsive to the issues people faced and created flashcards and new guidance. Specifically:

The first stage of the Journey of Change is renamed stuck, to recognise that things may feel or be stuck for many reasons, not because the young person is ‘not interested’
The first scale is now Interests and activities (replacing ‘Making a difference’), and is broader, to recognise activities that are positive for young people but not aimed at making a difference to others.
Health and well-being replaces ‘Well-being’ and includes physical health and managing mental health as well as emotional health.
Education and work now emphasises getting the most out of school, training, apprenticeships, work or college rather than focusing on achievement.

There are other minor tweaks to scales, with some aspects moving from one scale to another to increase clarity and accessibility.

The new Youth Star

New resources

User Guide with detailed scale descriptions, flashcards and new guidance

Improved wording

More accessible, clear and trauma-informed

Revised scales

Interests and activities, Health and well-being, Education and work

Journey of Change

‘stuck’ replaces ‘not interested’ as the first stage