Wraparound Facilitation: taking a community approach to mental health
For any of you who have heard the terms wraparound, wafs or waf’ing, you have probably been wondering what it is that people are talking about. Well, here is a brief explanation about what wraparound facilitation is all about and what it offers to young people and to workers in Ballymun.
The first thing to say is that wraparound facilitation is one part of the Jigsaw youngballymun programme that is being rolled out in partnership with Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. As many of you know, the Jigsaw youngballymun programme is about involving as many people and organisations in Ballymun as possible in a collective effort to find the best possible ways of supporting the mental health and well-being of young people between the ages of 12 and 22. Wraparound facilitation itself is way of working with young people to support them with any issues they are struggling with or challenges they are facing in their lives. Within Ballymun, over 40 workers from a range of different agencies and organisations have already undertaken training to become a wraparound facilitator as a way of enhancing the work they have been doing to support local youth.
There are some important things about wraparound that are worth saying a little bit more about. One of the most important things about this way of working is that young people’s views and wishes are respected and prioritised. This means that workers do not do things for young people; instead, they do things with young people. When wraparound facilitators are working with a young person, they always make sure to find out from that young person what his or her goals are and all of their work is focused on supporting the young person to achieve those goals.
Another thing about the model is that workers who use it always try to find out from the young people they are involved with what is going well for them in their life and what strengths they have within themselves. This can be challenging when someone is experiencing distress or when things are very difficult for them in their lives, but wraparound facilitators know the importance of helping a young person think about their own abilities and about any positive and supportive aspects of their life experiences.
Another thing that wraparound facilitators do is to find out from young people whether or not there are any people in their lives who they trust and who they might want to involve in helping them achieve the goals they have identified. This is because the wraparound model recognises that natural and informal supports – for example, family and friends – can be a very strong resource for young people who are going through tough times. Wraparound facilitates the coming together of supportive people central to a young person’s life so that a team of support is created for that young person as he or she finds a way to navigate through the difficult time he or she is experiencing.
In short, wraparound facilitation is a model of working with young people that is all about finding out what a young person wants to be different along with a way to support that young person to get through a tough time in their life. All wraparound facilitators – known as wafs – receive support from dedicated staff in Jigsaw youngballymun and further training will be offered to even more workers in 2010. That will mean that we will be able to get even more people waf’ing – the term used when someone is using the wraparound model with a young person – so that more young people will be able to be supported in this way into the future. It is a model that is about empowering people within the community to recognise and value their own potential to support the mental health of young people they are working with. All of this is about supporting Ballymun in its efforts to nurture and protect the mental health and well-being of all young people in the community.
