Making Positive Moves Toolkit

About The Project:

Joan spent most of her adult life living in long‑stay hospitals far away from her home and her family. Joan would dream of one day having a home with a garden and neighbours she could get to know.

With the support of a care provider and a dedicated team Joan’s dreams came true and she moved out of hospital and back to the area where her family lived.

Joan’s story was the inspiration for a research project called Making Positive Moves which received NIHR grant funding. The project involved interviewing 22 adults with learning disabilities about life after discharge from hospital with the aim of understanding what people need to stay out of hospital.

The story of our research can be found by typing making positive moves animation into youtube or following this link:

The toolkit was developed from the research findings and it aims to help people to build and strengthen the foundations they need to live their best life in their own home after discharge.

Introduction:

Who is this toolkit for?

For people with learning disabilities who have had an admission to a mental health hospital or forensic mental health hospital.

How was the toolkit developed?

The Making Positive Moves research team spoke to people about their experiences of moving out of hospital. The findings of the research were then used in a series of workshops with adults with learning disabilities, their families and support networks to co-produce this toolkit.

What is in the toolkit?

This toolkit has five sections:

Foundation 1 – Feeling safe

Foundation 2 – Making my own choices

Foundation 3 – Belonging and keeping busy

Foundation 4 – Happy with who I am

Living my best life

Each section has a set of questions and guidance which will help you to:

• check how strong your foundations are
• find any cracks in your foundations
• give you ideas for strengthening your foundations

How do I use the toolkit?

We suggest you complete this toolkit with someone who knows you well. This could be a keyworker, family member or a health or social care professional.

There are questions for you and questions for the people supporting you.

Take your time. You don’t need to do it all in one go. You can go through one section at a time and take breaks whenever you need to.

If you run out of space for writing or drawing your answers there are some blank pages at the back of the toolkit (pages 56‑58)

This toolkit is available on the Making Positive Moves website in 2 formats

The video below guides you through the toolkit and how to use it.

The website will continue to be updated with video guidance and further resources to help you with using the toolkit

If you would like to share your experiences of using the toolkit please complete our survey: https://forms.office.com/e/df5LrD0Kwu

We can be contacted via email: hpft.makingpositivemoves@nhs.net