Online demos in February

This February we are running a free webinar for organisations, managers and keyworkers who work with refugees and asylum seekers as well as our usual demo-webinars for Star Online.

A new Outcomes Star, the Integration Star is a tool that enables keyworkers, managers and organisations to evidence achievements.

Triangle, the social enterprise behind the Outcomes Star, in collaboration with the Refugee Council, will be presenting a free webinar to explore and showcase the benefits of the Integration Star and why it is a vital new tool to support organisations and keyworkers in their work with refugees.

The webinar will explore some of the key issues faced by the sector, including questions such as:

    • How can we ensure that our key-work is strengths based and trauma informed?
    • How can we evidence the difference we are making?
    • How do we know what is working?

 

This webinar is primarily aimed at managers and keyworkers who work with refugees. Triangle and the Refugee Council will explore the development and co-production of the Integration Star and demonstrate how the Star is a collaborative holistic tool to help refugees integrate into their new country and build a new life there. The webinar will also explore how the Star is enables you to evidence achievements both within your support service and with clients completing the Star.

 

The webinar will be hosted by Juliet Kemp, Implementation Lead at Triangle. It will be presented by Sara Burns, co-Founder of Triangle, together with Andrew Lawton, Head of Integration, and Amilee Collins, National Projects Worker at the Refugee Council. Sara Burns and Andrew Lawton will unpack the eight key areas on which successful integration depends, from employment and housing to education and health. Amilee Collins will highlight what practitioners within the Refugee Council have learned so far from using the Integration Star. These presentations will be followed by a question and answer session.

Tuesday, 9th February 2021, 10:00-11:00 GMT UK – Webinar

An introduction to the Integration Star

Better conversations and better outcomes for refugees

Free demo-webinar on How to use the Reports dashboard on Star Online.

Hosted by two Star experts, this workshop is ideal for Managers and anyone responsible for producing reports on Outcomes Star data. This webinar will be covering:

  • The three new report dashboards for implementation, snapshot and distance-travelled reporting
  • How to use the filters
  • How to think about engagements to create instant and engaging charts that can be downloaded to add to any report or funding bid.

We will also discuss what the reports can tell you about how Stars are being used in a service and the progress made by service users.

laptop with star online open on the screen

Tuesday, 9th February 2021, 3pm GMT – Demo-webinar

How to Use Reporting Dashboards on Star Online

How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)

This webinar will be an orientation session to the new Star Online and during the webinar we will introduce practitioners to the new Star Online features, such as setting up engagements and managing notifications. It will also explore many of the main tasks practitioners need to complete, including:

  • Creating a service user
  • Adding Stars and Action Plans
  • Navigating the Help Centre and
  • Locating the Star resources you need.

Tuesday, 23rd February 2021, 10am GMT – Demo-webinar

A Practitioners Guide to the Star Online

These webinars are not a substitute for core training.

For more information on the webinars, how to book, or what clients need to do, please take a look at our previous posts, or wait for your invite email. Please note: We have limited spaces available, and we expect them to fill up quickly! We will be organising further webinars to meet demand.

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If you would like to be included in a mailing list for future webinars, demo’s or sessions, please sign up for our mailing list, and if you have suggestions or would like to request specific content and sessions on the Outcomes Star and the Star Online please email webinars@outcomesstar.org

If you have any questions about remote training, new Stars, or would like any information on the new Star Online, or anything else, please contact us on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

Integration Star proves a hit

After a successful pilot with the Refugee Council, the Integration Star for refugees is now available for widespread use, with an introductory webinar taking place this February. What’s more, the Star is a great fit with the Home Office’s integration framework, writes Triangle’s research analyst Dr Anna Good.

Designed for refugees needing to build lives in the UK, the long-awaited Integration Star was finally published at the end of 2020. It’s been in development for two years and has undergone a rigorous pilot with the Refugee Council and refugee community organisations that collaborated in the Star’s development. And it’s proven to be a powerfully transformative tool.

Not only has the Star gone down well with refugees and with workers, but it’s also been greeted positively by the Home Office – an important factor for refugee organisations reporting to the department or seeking Home Office funding.

From the outset, the Refugee Council wanted a tool that could map onto the Home Office’s “Indicators of Integration” framework. That was on Triangle’s agenda too – as part of the development process we carry out a detailed literature review that examines the issues affecting the sector. This time the review included each of the domains in the Home Office framework.

The Integration Star

Designed for use with refugees needing support to integrate into their new country and to build a new life there.

The Home Office framework mainly focuses on end outcomes of successful integration, such as work, housing, education and social connection. Within the Integration Star, these and other outcomes form the end point of Star domains. They are  typically realised at the top of the Journey of Change (the model of change that underlies every Star). But the Star also captures important changes in acknowledgement of issues, acceptance of help and attempts to change things. This makes for a nuanced tool that maps the stages refugees go through from getting practical help to building the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to integrate into their new country.

It was important, however, that the Home Office framework did not pre-determine the shape of the Star. That was developed from the bottom up in a series of workshops and expert interviews that teased out the issues for front-line workers and for refugees. As with all Outcomes Stars, what mattered was partnership and collaboration.

The drafting of a Star is a meticulous and lengthy process – if people knew how much detail went into it they would be amazed. The Integration Star had many, many iterations, examining the structure and the content through a number of different lenses.

As research analyst at Triangle, part of my role is to check that the scales have clearly defined stages so that readings are comparable when they are done by different people. I then crunch the numbers from the pilot and check the psychometric properties of the Star to see that it’s academically sound. In addition we put a lot of thought and testing into how the Star worked for different refugee circumstances – refugees who come in on a resettlement programme, and refugees who don’t have resettlement status and typically have been in the UK for longer.

It was encouraging – though by no means a given – that the final version of the Star mapped really well onto the Home Office framework. And Home Office officials have been very positive about the Star, seeing it as a much simpler, more accessible tool for refugees.

One worker from the pilot sums up the prevailing mood: “The Integration Star is a really powerful, clear tool that can visualise a client’s support needs. I think it provokes conversations that highlight support needs that may have otherwise been missed”.

A separate version of the Star, the Planning Star was published last year for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

The Integration Star and the Planning Star are available to all organisations with a Star licence and training is available for workers and managers. Join our Integration Star webinar on 9th February or contact us for more information on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

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Triangle Consulting Social Enterprise is an innovative, mission-led organisation that exists to help people reach their highest potential and live meaningful and fulfilling lives, often in the context of social disadvantage, trauma, disability or illness.

The Refugee Council works with individuals and families to make sure they can live safe, fulfilling lives in the UK after being forced to seek refuge from persecution and human rights abuses overseas.

The development of this Star was part funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.

Other organisations taking part in the development of the Integration Star included: RETAS (Refugee Education Training Advice Service) Leeds, Leeds Refugee Forum, Path Yorkshire, Goodwin Development Trust, Humber Community Advice Services (H-CAS), Refugee Action Kingston, Iranian Association, Diversity Living Services, Bahar Women’s Association, Action for Community Development, West Yorkshire Somali Association, DAMASQ, Stepping Stone 4, Leeds Swahili Community.

Demo webinars for January

New Demo webinar dates for January, we will be running How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide) and How to Use Reporting Dashboards on Star Online

Are you a Practitioner wanting to learn how to use the Star Online? Or maybe you just need a quick refresher after your Holiday break, maybe you are a manager wanting a quick crash course on the report dashboard. Either way we have you covered, the January Demo webinars are as follows:

  • Friday 8 January 2021 at 10am GMT – How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Tuesday 12 January 2021 at 10am GMT – How to Use Reporting Dashboards on Star Online
  • Wednesday 27 January 2021 at 2pm GMT – How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)

These webinars are not a substitute for core training.

For more information on the webinars, how to book, or what clients need to do, please take a look at our previous posts, or wait for your invite email. Please note: We have limited spaces available, and we expect them to fill up quickly! We will be organising further webinars to meet demand.

*****

If you would like to be included in a mailing list for future webinars, demo’s or sessions, please contact us, and if you have suggestions or would like to request specific content and sessions on the Outcomes Star and the Star Online please email webinars@outcomesstar.org

If you have any questions about remote training, new Stars, or would like any information on the new Star Online, or anything else, please contact us on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

The Refugee Council reaches for the Star

A major new tool to help refugees settle successfully in the UK is to be made available from this week – the Integration Star.

Created by Triangle, the social enterprise behind the Outcomes Star, in collaboration with the Refugee Council and others, the Integration Star focuses on eight key areas on which successful integration depends.

Triangle director Sara Burns said: “The Integration Star primarily focuses on the means and markers of successful integration, from employment and housing to education and health. It highlights refugees’ strengths, recognises the areas they need more information or support, and records their progress. Most importantly it makes them the centre of their own integration process.”

In a 7-8-month pilot of the new Star, caseworkers from a variety of organisations found that it opened up conversations with refugees on important subjects and gave workers a way in to providing crucial support.

“It really encouraged the client to have more autonomy in the conversation – it brought them to the centre of the discussion”

“The Star provoked conversations we wouldn’t normally have – like social isolation issues”

Man, woman and child walking down the road

Getting to the heart of these issues means refugees can integrate faster and more successfully,.which will help them to rebuild their lives in their new home.

The Refugee Council approached Triangle in 2018 to develop a new version of the Outcomes Star that would support the refugees they work with. They and several community refugee organisations worked closely with Triangle throughout the process, making sure that former refugees were involved all the way along.

Refugee Council Logo

“This is such an important piece of work that feeds into the national strategy for integrating refugees. The Integration Star has already proved itself in a really rigorous pilot – now it can help in supporting refugees throughout the UK to build new lives.”

"The Star gives organisations that work with refugees an extremely useful tool that can help to shape the support they offer as well as measure progress and impact. Successful refugee integration means that people are enabled to rebuild their lives and become active members of their new communities”

The Integration Star was published in September 2020 after 18 months of development and launched in October 2020 via the Star Online – the online home of the Outcomes Star.

In addition to the materials created to use the Integration Star, Triangle is producing a range of resources to support its launch, including a webinar to share more information on the development process and pilot.

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Triangle Consulting Social Enterprise is an innovative, mission-led organisation that exists to help people reach their highest potential and live meaningful and fulfilling lives, often in the context of social disadvantage, trauma, disability or illness.

The Refugee Council works with individuals and families to make sure they can live safe, fulfilling lives in the UK after being forced to seek refuge from persecution and human rights abuses overseas.

The development of this star was part funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.

Other organisations taking part in the development of the Integration Star included: RETAS (Refugee Education Training Advice Service) Leeds, Leeds Refugee Forum, Path Yorkshire, Goodwin Development Trust, Humber Community Advice Services (H-CAS), Refugee Action Kingston, Iranian Association, Diversity Living Services, Bahar Women’s Association, Action for Community Development, West Yorkshire Somali Association, DAMASQ, Stepping Stone 4, Leeds Swahili Community.

To participate in the Triangle webinar on the development and application of the Integration Star, organisations should contact info@outcomesstar.org to register their interest.

Triangle developed and published a separate Star for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in 2019 – the Planning Star.

Please contact info@outcomesstar.org in the first instance to discuss the Integration Star, Planning Star or other aspects of Triangle’s work.

November and December Demo Webinar dates

November and December dates for our existing clients free demo webinar series: covering How to use the Star Online (A Practitioners Guide) and An introduction to Star Online reports dashboards live webinars via Zoom.

Triangle has been hosting demo webinars, for existing clients, over the last few months who are currently using the new Star Online or who would like an introduction to the new Star Online system. Clients will be emailed details of dates and links to book through. Otherwise, if you are an existing client that has already been migrated to the new Star Online then you can find details and book through the help section of Star Online.

If you are based in Australia or New Zealand, you will need to register through Unique Outcomes outcomestar.com.au

How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)

This webinar will be an orientation session to the new Star Online and during the webinar we will introduce practitioners to the new Star Online features, such as setting up engagements and managing notifications. It will also explore many of the main tasks practitioners need to complete, including:

  • creating a service user
  • adding Stars and Action Plans
  • navigating the Help Centre and
  • locating the Star resources you need.

 

An introduction to Star Online report dashboards

Hosted by two Star experts, this workshop is ideal for Managers and anyone responsible for producing reports on Outcomes Star data. This webinar will be covering:

  • The three new report dashboards for implementation, snapshot and distance-travelled reporting
  • How to use the filters
  • How to think about engagements to create instant and engaging charts that can be downloaded to add to any report or funding bid.

We will also discuss what the reports can tell you about how Stars are being used in a service and the progress made by service users.

 

Each webinar will consist of a short video presentation, which will be followed by a question and answer season and it is designed to support clients by sharing knowledge, ideas and information.

The dates available are as follows:

  • Tuesday 3rd November at 10am:  How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Wednesday 4th November at 10am: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards
  • Monday 9th November at 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Tuesday 17th November at 10am: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards
  • Tuesday 17th November at 2pm: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Monday 23rd November at 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Monday 30th November at 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide) Cancelled
  • Tuesday 1st December at 2pm: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards
  • Tuesday 8 December at 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Tuesday 15 December at 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Wednesday 16 December at 10am: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards

These webinars are not a substitute for core training.

For more information on the webinars, how to book, or what clients need to do, please take a look at our previous posts, or wait for your invite email. Please note: We have limited spaces available and we expect them to fill up quickly! We will be organising further webinars to meet demand.

*****

If you would like to be included in a mailing list for future webinars, demo’s or sessions, please contact us, and if you have suggestions or would like to request specific content and sessions on the Outcomes Star and the Star Online please email webinars@outcomesstar.org

If you have any questions about remote training, new Stars, or would like any information on the new Star Online, or anything else, please contact us on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

September newsletter round up

Our September 2020 newsletter round-up includes news on the new and improved Star Online system, as well as new and upcoming Outcomes Stars. We also share some of our new resources, case studies and blog posts, including Tyrone’s inspirational story, from service user to practitioner.

Other updates include

  • We have recently published the Little Star, a new Star for use within the Children and Families and Health sectors. This Star was developed in collaboration with the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity (DVLCC) and is designed for completion by Conductors or other therapists but can also support discussion with the children’s families. The Star is intended for use by organisations  such as DVLCC who support young children with motor impairments, for example from cerebral palsy, using Conductive Education and other therapies
  • Another new Star is the Change Star. A new Outcomes Star for behaviour change in men. The Change Star is suitable for  use within the Children, Families and the Domestic Abuse sectors.
  • Coming soon: Triangle is currently finalising a new Outcomes Star for use with refugees, the Integration Star, which has been developed in collaboration with the Refugee Council and a number of Community Refugee Organisations. The Integration Star complements the Planning Star which is designed for use with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Read the full newsletter here.

Contact Triangle at info@outcomesstar.org or +44(0) 20 7272 8765 for more information on our Outcomes Stars, the new Star Online and our licence and training options. Sign up for our newsletter here.

New webinar dates for September and October

Triangle has added more dates for their How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide) and An introduction to Star Online reports dashboards live webinars via Zoom through September and October.

Triangle will be hosting webinars for existing clients, who are currently using the Star or who would like an introduction to the new Star Online system. Clients will be emailed details of dates, and how to book.

How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)

This webinar will be an orientation session to the new Star Online and during the webinar we will introduce practitioners to the new Star Online features, such as setting up engagements and managing notifications. It will also explore many of the main tasks practitioners need to complete, including:

  • creating a service user
  • adding Stars and Action Plans
  • navigating the Help Centre and
  • locating the Star resources you need.

 

An introduction to Star Online report dashboards

Hosted by two Star experts, this workshop is ideal for Managers and anyone responsible for producing reports on Outcomes Star data. This webinar will be covering:

  • The three new report dashboards for implementation, snapshot and distance-travelled reporting
  • How to use the filters
  • How to think about engagements to create instant and engaging charts that can be downloaded to add to any report or funding bid.

We will also discuss what the reports can tell you about how Stars are being used in a service and the progress made by service users.

 

Each webinar will consist of a short video presentation, which will be followed by a question and answer season and it is designed to support clients by sharing knowledge, ideas and information.

The dates available are as follows:

  • Monday 7th September at 10am: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards
  • Thursday 10th September 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Tuesday 15th September 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Tuesday 22nd September at 10am: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards
  • Wednesday 23rd September 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Wednesday 30th September 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Wednesday 7th October at 10am: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards (cancelled)
  • Wednesday 7th October at 2pm: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Monday 12th October at 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Monday 19th October at 10am: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)
  • Wednesday 21st October at 10am: An introduction to Star Online report dashboards
  • Monday 26th October at 2pm: How to use Star Online (Practitioners Guide)

If you are based in Australia or New Zealand, you will need to register with Unique Outcomes outcomestar.com.au

For more information on the webinars, how to book, or what clients need to do, please take a look at our previous posts, or wait for your invite email. Please note: We have limited spaces available and we expect them to fill up quickly! We will be organising further webinars to meet demand.

*****

If you have any questions about our webinars, remote training, new Stars, or would like any information on the new Star Online, or anything else, please contact us on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

Tyrone’s story: How the Star helped me change my life

Just before lockdown, Tyrone Stanley attended Outcomes Star training to help him in his work to reach violent criminals and gang members. For Tyrone this was coming full circle – because he knows from personal experience just how powerful the Star can be.

Photograph of Tyrone looking at the camera with a view of a city behind him“I’m a project worker for Catch22’s Violence Reduction Service in Wolverhampton. I deal with the resettlement of 18-30-year-olds, predominantly violent criminals and gang members.

But my early life was very different. There was always violence in the home when I was younger, and I started to develop anger issues when I was about 12 or 13. I got sent to prison for the first time in 2011 when I was 16 and got remanded, but didn’t really learn my lesson. I got arrested again and sentenced to two years.

That time I was more productive with my time in prison – I did every single course available to me.

Not a tick box exercise

At the start of a course from the Prince’s Trust, the tutor pulled out the Outcomes Star. She said it was something that was for me, and that was the first thing that made me think ‘oh, OK’. Obviously I was used to doing tick box exercises for different organisations, but the way she approached me for the Outcomes Star was the key element in why it was so beneficial for me.

I was really honest with my answers. I was excited about what the next Outcomes Star would reveal about my progress – it became something to be excited about rather than to be self-critical about. I put an honest reflection of me on paper, and I looked at it and looked at it. Then when I did my next Star I was logging things I was doing, feeling happy about all the good change I’d made.

I got onto an enhanced wing, I even got released on temporary licence. I got out of the bubble I was in – mainly because the Outcomes Star made me see my faults on paper. It gave me a perspective on my actual life – from the outside looking in rather than the false mirage that I’d created.

The key thing in the Outcomes Star that made me think hard was when I realised I didn’t have any long-term friends apart from one or two – they were all connected through badness. I thought about it – like, who are all my friends? Who enjoys my company? I wrote it down on paper and I thought, you know what, I’m not really any good at relationships. Certain things really resonated with me; they made me think I wasn’t the person that I wanted to be when I was a young boy.

It broke me down, man. Peeled off all the layers. Got to the root cause and started again from scratch.

Changing my life

Everything changed – my lifestyle, my circle of friends, the way I spoke. From then on I’ve never stopped working. After various jobs I started with Catch22. My job was to go out and talk to young people about the effects of knife crime and gang culture – and it really helped that I knew exactly what they were going through. Within 18 months I was promoted to my resettlement role.

Honestly, one of the key things in changing the way I thought about myself was being valued – not having people look at me like I was a dreg. I just couldn’t look people in the eye, and I knew no one wanted to look me in the eye. But when I started to do good things, all the blessings started to coming through, non-stop man, non-stop.

And I want to project that to young people. It just goes to show that anyone can change as long as you’ve got the right intervention at the right time.”

Tyrone: How I introduce the Star with service users

OK, so this is an Outcomes Star. Now I know it may seem like a way of recording data for our benefit but I can assure you that this is one of the best proven ways to track your progression. It can also be a great tool to learn things about yourself that you may not have thought about much at all. I have first-hand experience completing an Outcomes Star myself and it was the best start to my journey. By the end I was shocked and amazed at the progression. So be honest, and you will see changes by the end. This is the best way to help me to help you.”

Read Tyrone’s full story here and explore the Stars available for the sector you work in.

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My Star is the Outcomes Star for children, especially children in families that are identified as vulnerable/trouble and receiving services, or looked after by foster carers or in a children’s home.  The Young Persons Star is for young people moving to independent living and the Youth Star is for youth work, while the Justice Star is the Outcomes Star for people in the criminal justice sector.  If you have any questions on which Star to use for your sector, or if you would like any information on the new Star Online, or anything else, please contact us on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

Triangle measures what matters at GO Lab’s Social Outcomes conference

Triangle’s Co-founder and Director contributes to GO Lab’s Social Outcomes conference programme to share learning from using the Well-being Star in a large social prescribing  programme and how vital it is that measurement approaches are designed with relationship building and behaviour change in mind.

Hosted by The Government Outcomes (GO) Lab, the Social Outcomes conference brings together researchers, policymakers and practitioners working to improve social outcomes. Joy MacKeith, Triangle’s Co-founder and Director features at this year’s virtual event; she will share learning from 20 years of measuring individual outcomes to contribute to a debate about how commissioning approaches and Social Impact Bonds in particular can help or hinder the achievement of social outcomes.

Joy Said:

“When people design a Social Impact Bond or any other commissioning approach, they need to be mindful of how it will impact at the front line because that is where the real change happens. Research tells us that the quality of the engagement between workers and service users is absolutely critical to behaviour change but sometimes payment mechanisms can unintentionally impact in a negative way."

"The Outcomes Star has been designed to provide service-wide outcomes data whilst at the same time supporting that collaboration and helping people take the small steps that together add up to achieving their goals.“

Joy Mackieth

Joy is joined by Tara Case, Chief Executive of Ways to Wellness ­– a large-scale social prescribing service and the first health service in the UK (and globally) with social impact funding. Ways to Wellness, with Bridges Fund Management as investors and Newcastle Gateshead CCG as commissioners, has been using the Well-being Star since 2015 as part of the support their service provides and to capture client-reported wellbeing improvements; the Star was specified in the outcomes-based funding contract for the programme.

Tara said:

“We have found that the Well-being Star helps to open up conversations that might have been hard to broach without it.  It helps our Link Workers take a holistic approach and make links between different aspects of someone’s situation. It helps services to tailor what they do to support the person whilst also providing a standardised framework for reporting results.”

The Well-being Star was created for people living with a long-term health condition, to measure their progress in living as well as they can, and support self-management, rehabilitation and person-centred approaches. Triangle recently conducted further validation work on the Well-being Star within the Ways to Wellness service and shared their findings.

GO Lab’s Social Outcomes Conference runs 1st-4th September. Triangle is contributing to “Back to the Future? Learning from the UK”s experience with impact bonds: what should we take with us and what should we leave behind?” which takes place 15.30–17:00 (UK BST) on Tuesday, 1st September. You can register to attend free of charge via Eventbrite.

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Triangle is the social enterprise behind the Outcomes Star™. Triangle exists to help service providers transform lives by creating engaging tools and promoting enabling approaches. Through the Outcomes Star, they work with services to promote and measure individual change and to enable learning at an individual, service, organisation and sector-wide levels. The Outcomes Star™ is an evidence-based management tool for both supporting and measuring change. For more information email info@outcomesstar.org.

Ways to Wellness is a service for people in the west of Newcastle whose daily lives are affected by certain long-term health conditions. GPs and their primary care teams use social prescribing to refer patients to the service. Ways to Wellness adds to and complements the medical support that people receive, to help them feel more confident to manage their long-term conditions and make positive lifestyle choices. For more information email info@waystowellness.org.uk.

The Well-being Star and The Family Star Plus are available to all organisations with a Star licence, and full training can be given for workers and managers. For more information on the Outcomes Star, please contact us on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.

Recent updates on the Well-being Star™ for adults self-managing health conditions

The Well-being Star is a holistic, person-centred, outcomes focused and strengths-based tool. It encourages people with long-term health conditions to consider a range of factors that have an impact on their quality of life.

The completed well-being Star
Figure 1

 

It was developed with DoH funding in collaboration with North East Essex PCT and can be used in a variety of settings from hospices to rehabilitation centres and social prescribing services. The Star supports and measures progress in eight areas identified by patients, health professionals and researchers as central to maximising well-being and independence when living with a long-term health condition (See Figure 1).

Service users may begin at the bottom of the Journey of Change (‘Not thinking about it’) and the aim is to progress to things the situation being ‘as good as it can be’.

We have recently conducted further validation work on the Well-being Star within Ways to Wellness, a social prescribing service using the Well-being Star.  Ways to Wellness is an innovative service for people whose daily lives are affected by certain long-term health conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy or heart disease.

Our psychometric validation presents evidence that the eight outcome areas form a coherent measure, with no repetition and good sensitivity to detecting change.  Since publishing the first version of this factsheet we have expanded the sample of link workers who have taken part in our peer-reviewed case study method for assessing how reliably workers apply the scales. The findings using the larger sample confirmed initial positive results showing good understanding of how to use the Well-being Star’s scale descriptions.

Chief Executive of Ways to Wellness, Tara Case is talking alongside our Strategic Director, Joy MacKeith, about the Well-being Star in the context of social prescribing and payment by results at the upcoming Government Outcomes Lab International Social Outcomes Conference.

Their session “Measuring what matters: an innovative outcomes tool capturing what is most important to beneficiaries” contributes towards the broader topic “Back to the Future? Learning from the UK’s experience with impact bonds: what should we take with us and what should we leave behind?” and  takes place 15.30–17:00 (UK BST) on Tuesday, 1st September. Register to attend free of charge via Eventbrite.

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Triangle is the social enterprise behind the Outcomes Star. Triangle exists to help people reach their highest potential. Through the Outcomes Star, they work with services to promote and measure individual change and to enable learning at an individual, service, organisation and sector-wide levels. The Outcomes Star is an evidence-based management tool for both supporting and measuring change. For more information email info@outcomesstar.org.

Ways to Wellness is a service for people in the west of Newcastle whose daily lives are affected by certain long-term health conditions. GPs and their primary care teams use social prescribing to refer patients to the service. Ways to Wellness adds to and complements the medical support that people receive, to help them feel more confident to manage their long-term conditions and make positive lifestyle choices. For more information email info@waystowellness.org.uk.

The Well-being Star is available to all organisations with a Star licence, and full training can be given for workers and managers. For more information on the Outcomes Star, please contact us on info@outcomesstar.org or +44 (0) 207 272 8765.