1. That there are people who want to, or need to, effect some change in their lives because
they recognise, or it is recognised, that aspects of their present lifestyle are damaging in
some capacity.
2. That lives can be changed for the better and that professional support workers can be a
part of the process towards change.
3. That change requires processing, decisions need to be made, and this processing is best
achieved in certain circumstances and environments (i.e. environments that are safe, free
from stress, supportive, with few other demands and needs to be met – roughly, those
environments that we would term therapeutic).
4. That most vulnerable people do not live in environments and circumstances that are
conducive to change. And most workers will encounter their clients in environments that
are by and large untherapeutic.
Given these things are true; Assertive Engagement then, is best understood as the process
whereby a worker uses their interpersonal skills and creativity effectively to make the
environments and circumstances that their service users are encountered in, more
conducive to change than they might otherwise be, for at least the duration of the
engagement.
Imagining the perfect circumstances for processing change, the perfect circumstances for
carrying out therapeutic work of any modality one can then conceive of the shortfall
between that idealised worker/client position and the particular context of a given
encounter and begin to imagine what additional steps must be taken by the worker in order
to bridge that gap.
(e.g. where a service user does not feel safe the worker will find ways of making
engagement seem safe; where a client has limited time the worker will find ways of finding
more time, or of making time spent with the worker more worthwhile through tangible
reward, or of making the time available more useful through effective communication etc).
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| Key points on Assertive Engagement |