Pathway Workshop for Individuals
Join me in a nurturing, fun, and creative workshop designed to help you explore your future hopes, identify your values and break down the steps to lead the life you want.
A time-lapse video of Esther Springett facilitating and live illustrating a Person-Centred Visioning and Pathway workshop with a young person and their family at Project Art Works, UK, Hastings.
PLANNING ALTERNATIVE TOMORROWS WITH HOPE
I use the PATH facilitation methodology. PATH stands for Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope and is a globally recognised participatory planning tool that helps people to identify goals and break them down into achievable and realistic steps.
Person-centred
We are often so concerned with the ‘here’ and ‘now’ and immediate day-to-day decisions, that it feels impossible to step back and allow ourselves to dream. Pathway provides a gentle and unpressurised space and permission to do just this, proving that planning can be accessible and fun!
Trust the Process
We start with creating the ‘North Star’ - the brightest star in the sky that will guide you on your journey. This is where we dream big, we begin visualising a positive future, sharing how you want it to look, feel and sound. Then we work backwards and plan small achievable steps towards this ideal future. What matters the most is prioritised first.
Dream Big
Pathway workshops encourages individuals and circles of support to deep-dive into future possibilities and take a long view. We leave tidy boxes and short-termism at the door and explore human connection, dream big and flip perceptions. My workshops nurture personal growth, create space for positive change and reveal untapped potential.
Lived Experience
I have lived-experience of caring for a sibling with complex support needs and learning disabilities. As an advocate for people with learning disabilities and their carers, I have a grounding in the systems of support within education, health and social care. I bring this knowledge and understanding along with a playful illustration style to the workshops I facilitate.
“An asset to any family venturing the stepping stones to PATH.”
Mandy, Parent
“Esther facilitates our Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope: PATH workshops at Project Art Works. Her facilitation skills are exemplary ensuring that individuals and their circles of support are at the very centre of the planning process.
Esther instantly puts people at ease enabling participation; through listening and questioning she swiftly translates aspirations into brilliant graphic visuals that are both empowering and a valuable advocacy tool.
All of the families we have supported through the PATH workshops have expressed their admiration and gratitude for Esther’s graphic facilitation skills, the process and outcomes have been described as ‘life-changing’ with thanks to Esther.”
Sarah Dunne, Support Collective Lead, Project Art Works
Who is it for?
Pathway workshops are a great way to take action when you feel stuck or are unsure of what to do next. Here are just some scenarios where I can help:
Adults and Young People
Enabling young people and adults to authentically contribute their ideas in a fun and unpressured environment with their family, friends, peers and/or support teams
Creating a striking advocacy tool to support a person’s individual wishes, ambition and rights
Transitioning from school/ college or to new settings
Embarking on a new career
Boosting confidence and finding a sense of purpose
Supporting positive mental health and wellbeing
Making plans for education, employment, housing, social and community life
Combating previous negative experiences and finding an optimistic and realistic way forward
Families and Support Teams
Working with and individual and their family/ support teams to build mutual understanding and create an individualised plan for home, vocation, friendships, community and social life
Repositioning and reframing neurodivergent power and highlighting the contribution, skills and strengths of people with learning disabilities
Thinking outside the insitiutionalised box of the service provider - service user dynamic and coming up with new solutions
Taking action and problem solving with teams, organisations, service providers and Local Authorities
Enlivening and strengthening individual voice at annual Adult Social Care and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) reviews, transition plans and review meetings
What you get
In-person or online workshop across one day or two half days catered to your specific requirements
A memorable and positive experience which will make an impact, reframe your view, change mindsets and bring people together
Original drawings and digitised versions to share with others
Option for 4 follow-up meetings in the first year following the creation of your Pathway
Time away from the day-to-day to do something different
A guiding tool to take away with you as a reminder to yourself and others
Confidence in your ideas, aspirations and a sense of purpose
How Advocacy informs my approach
I am a trained Independent Advocate with a specialism in Community Care, Learning Disability and Mental Health. My facilitation technique is informed by the principles of advocacy.
Independent Advocacy seeks to empower individuals to communicate their hopes, wishes and needs in a way that protects their rights and leads to greater access to services and a reduction in social isolation. At the heart of Independent Advocacy is a commitment to social inclusion, equality and social justice.
I apply the principles of advocacy in my workshops to:
work in a person-centred way, listen to the individual and give space and quiet time to fully allow views and wishes to be expressed
maintain clarity of purpose - i.e. not to give advice or uphold an opinion.
promote independence in a way that does not lead to pre-determined outcomes.
make information accessible in the form of visual aids
hold space for individuals to feel safe
