By Liv Gorman
John Armstrong visited Hearth to speak to our Relationship Managers about Social Role Valorisation (SRV). John is a Human Services Consultant, Evaluator and Academic. He is the most senior trainer in the southern hemisphere for SRV. John has been a member of the Victorian Intellectual Disability Review Panel for eight years, working with individuals with intellectual disabilities.
John focuses on uplifting individuals or groups who are at risk of devaluation or have already been devalued. He works to valorise their social situations at every level of society. In short, John discusses devaluation in the context of disability, as resulting from systemic dysfunction.
Ideally, an integrated system of financial, emotional, physical and social support will facilitate a Participant’s needs. However, acquiring these resources is not always possible, or realistic (ie. financial) and John highlights the opportunities had in revising current networks of support. For instance, it is important personal values are employed and not imposed upon Participants.
For Hearth, a key step in this process was revising the everyday terminology used. The term ‘Carers’ was replaced with ‘Support Workers.’ This moves the entire responsibility away from the Support Worker and empowers the Participant. Regardless of a Participant’s circumstances, they are actively ‘participating’ in their own support, in their own way.
To read more about about John’s work and SRV please visit: https://socialrolevalorization.com/resources/articles/
