Approaches and techniques

A broad, sometimes quite intuitive 'psychological awareness' is the bedrock on which a PIE is built; and for many services, it will sufficient to create the level of responsiveness that creates a PIE.  Without that, we suggest, no more specific techniques have the ground on which to work.

For most, even so, if can be very helpful to have an awareness of, and training in, some of the key approaches and techniques of engagement, and assisting in personal growth. Generally speaking, however, an understanding of the significance or trauma, and of the wider dynamics of exclusion, will be useful.

Both the recovery model and the strengths model are particularly well suited to the populations most at risk of exclusion, as are more focussed approaches such as pre-treatment, trauma-informed care, harm minimisation; and many specific techniques such as motivational interviewing, or wellness action planning. (See: What psychology? HERE)

 

NB: Although 'Approaches and techniques' is therefore the given title of one of the key practice elements in the PIEs 2.0 framework - sitting between 'empathy/awareness' and a fully specified 'psychological model'- in reality the distinction between a technique, an approach and a model is at best blurred. Some ways of working that are called models - such as the strengths model - are probably better understood as a broad approach, comparable to pre-treatment of trauma-informed care, than as a 'psychological model' in the strict sense.

In some cases, particularly where there may be a more clinical role or treatment-minded services philosophy, it may be helpful to adopt a more specific psychological model, such as a cognitive behavioural model - the basis of CBT - or psycho-dynamic thinking. Most services, however, will be to a greater or lesses extent 'eclectic', drawing helpful insights and techniques from a wider range of approaches.

 

NB: In practice, whatever the chosen formal 'approach' - even if there is one - most services and most staff are, in the language of psychological models, 'eclectic' - that is, they draw on a wide range of insights and techniques, both for the 'culture' of the service as a whole, and for the response to any one individual or incident.

It is for this reason that the PIEs self assessment module, the Pizazz (HERE), uses 'psychological awareness' as the 'high level' theme for this aspect of the PIE approach; where appropriate, this will allow a service to rate itself quite highly, even without any use of specific techniques or models.

 

Case studies and collections

Historically, in the "Psychologically Informed Service' operational guidance of 2012 - the first attempt to spell out in much detail the kind of 'psychology' that has been and might be useful to 'inform' service development as PIEs in homelessness - only three main approaches were then cited: Cognitive behavioural (CBT), psycho-dynamics, and humanistic psychology.  But of course, there are many more; and many hybrids.

There have been a number of examples of services developing innovative approaches, often combining aspects of each of these. These are detailed in many case studies, both in the"Psychologically Informed Service' operational guidance, and in the preceding 'complex trauma' guidance of 2010. The 'PIEs implementation and assessment' guidance commissioned by the City of Westminster also has many examples of constructive practice. A number of particularly useful approaches are also touched on, however briefly, in the 'Psychological Awareness' introduction video on this site.

 

However, these general schools of thought in psychology are by no means the only source of helpful insights. For a more selective, idiosyncratic sample, see also the editor's own selection, with its own PIELink page,  'What psychology can inform a psychologically informed environment?': HERE.

More specifics

Psychological 'approaches' mentioned in the "Psychological Awareness introduction video

Case studies

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Psychodynamics

Humanistic psychology

ABCD and the strengths model

Social therapy

Pretreatment  (PIElink page) HERE

Housing First  (PIElink page) HERE

Social constructionism

System change and brokerage (PIElink page) HERE