Like & Admire

This is a powerful person-centred thinking tool. It is asking about the person’s positive qualities, respecting and affirming their individuality and appreciating how they contribute to the communities they are a part of.

This is about strengths and abilities, recognising that regardless of disability everyone has positive characteristics that we can recognise and celebrate.

Using this tool is a great way to start a review meeting. It gets the focus on the person, reminding everyone why they are there and keeps the person at the centre of the discussion.

It’s great when people’s friends are asked this question. Peers often say different things to families and paid staff and this can be enlightening. Parents and carers often find this positive approach to talking about their young person’s qualities is a welcome change from concentrating on what isn’t going well or about difficulties with service provision or meeting needs.

This tool is also effective when discussing someone who may be experiencing challenging times. It reminds people that everyone has positive characteristics and even if behaviour is a concern, this is not who they are as a person.

What we like and admire about someone is an inclusive question to ask. We all have qualities that people like and admire and although we don’t always recognise them ourselves, sharing what we value, respect and enjoy about others at the start of a conversation has an impact on the type of discussion that follows.