Matching tool - Helen Sanderson Associates

Matching toolIf we are to improve the quality of people’s lives oneof the most powerful things we can do is get a goodmatch between staff and the people they support.This tool helps people to think about and capture thepersonality characteristics of people that the personlikes to spend time with and also the skills and sharedinterests that will support the person to have moregood days.This tool helps us to think about the activities/interests in the person’s life and look at matching staffaccording to personality, shared interests and skills sothat people enjoy the time they spend together.This tool can be used to match individuals with stafffor particular activities eg. James loves to go to livebands and likes to be around people who are energeticand like a good chat. He has similar tastes in musicto one of his support staff Sarah, who also fits thepersonality description of people who support Jamesbest. It made sense for the house supervisor to askSarah to work on the nights that James had organisedto go out.This information was developed byHelen Sanderson Associates (Australia)in 2011, for Ageing Disability and HomeCare, Department of Human ServicesNSW, as a resource to support theLifestyle Planning Practice Guide andTools. Most of these tools are PersonCentred Thinking tools, and were eitherdeveloped by The Learning Communityfor Person Centred Practices, or HelenSanderson Associates. They are usedhere with permission. We would like tothank the residents, family membersand staff for their time and support indeveloping examples.These instructions are not intended as asubstitute for training. If you are usingthese tools for the first time and havenot attended a Person Centred Thinkingcourse, please seek support from acolleague or manager who has attendedtraining.The Matching tool can also be used when people aremoving to a new home or new service, by ensuringthat there is a good match between future housemates or participants in activities before peoplebecome stuck living with people they don’t like.The matching tool is very helpful when appointingkey workers and hiring new staff.actiontemplate

? ?Support needed and wantedSomeone to take me to play poolwith my friends.Be able to assist me with a beerafter (through a tube).Skills neededBasic Makaton or know how to use a spellboard. Clear handwriting - if you can’tsign, I’d prefer you to write things downfor me.Need to know how to supportsomeone with a g-tube – if all theother things are right though, youcan get training in this.Can play pool and support meto hold onto the cue.Patient and a clearcommunicator.Lots of energy.Fun loving.Able to have a joke.? ?Someone who doesn’t take thingstoo seriously, when we play poolit’s not about winning.Personality characteristicsShared common interestsPlaying pool.Rugby (Broncos).An interest in foreign films would be nice.Johhny Depp.tips1. Who’s closest to the person?2. Who helps the person havegood days?3. Who makes the person smileor who does the person lookhappy to see?4. Who are the people theperson enjoys spending timewith?5. Are their any people theperson doesn’t like spendingtime with or avoids?actiontemplate

? ?Support needed and wantedSkills needed? ?Shared common interestsPersonality characteristicstips1. Who’s closest to the person?2. Who helps the person havegood days?3. Who makes the person smileor who does the person lookhappy to see?4. Who are the people theperson enjoys spending timewith?5. Are their any people theperson doesn’t like spendingtime with or avoids?actiontemplate