Practitioners
As a practitioner how do I assess wellbeing?
Assessments of wellbeing will be required in a wide and varied range of circumstances.
Local authorities, health and social care partnerships, directing authorities, other service providers and related services have local training, policies and procedures in place to support their employees in assessing wellbeing.
All practitioners should know how to identify a wellbeing need.
A wellbeing need may be identified by the child or by anyone who knows or supports the child/young person and can be identified for many reasons, such as (but not limited to) the following:
- a child/young person may be worried, anxious or upset about an event/set of circumstances, including socio-economic circumstances;
- a parent(s)/carers or family member may have noticed a change in the child/young person’s behaviour, demeanour or developmental progress;
- a parent(s)/carers or family member may have concerns about the impact on their child/young person of an event or set of circumstances;
- a practitioner may have concerns for a child/young person’s health, or may have noticed a change in their behaviour, demeanour or development; and
- a child/young person may be offending, or putting themselves at risk of harm.
What should I do when a child/young person, their parent(s)/carers, or someone who works with them raises a wellbeing concern?
Use the wellbeing indicators and carefully consider the situation by asking five questions:
- What is getting in the way of this child/young person’s wellbeing?
- Do I have all the information I need to help this child/young person?
- What can I do now to help this child/young person?
- What can my agency do to help this child/young person?
- What additional help, if any, may be needed from others?
You may then require to go on and use the other tools within the Practice Model i.e. My World Triangle and Resilience Matrix.
Wellbeing assessments should be carried out appropriately and proportionately to the needs of the child/young person.
To obtain more information, please refer to the Practitioner Guide within document downloads.
