Want to know the Golden Rule of Welfare? 🥇

Good afternoon everyone,

Hope you’re having a great start to the week 🙂

I’ve worked in several welfare roles over the years, most recently as the Head of Welfare with the Undefinable Community. We’ll break down my number one rule for welfare roles in today’s blog.

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

One of the key lessons I’ve learnt – welfare isn’t about speaking up at every moment, it’s about listening, really listening. You find that people say so much more than what simply comes out as words, learning how to read a situation effectively makes such a huge difference.

When someone comes to you, it’s easy to jump straight into problem-solving mode to try and rectify the situation. This “action first, consider after” approach may work in one or two areas in life, however, we need a more refined and personalised approach to managing welfare.

Welfare is about taking the time to understand what is happening before acting. It includes ⤵️

👐 Ensuring all voices are heard, even those who may struggle to find the confidence to speak

👐 Raising awareness of perspectives that may be overlooked or not considered, bringing all viewpoints into the equation

👐 Shaping an inclusive environment where people feel safe, heard, valued and understood

Active listening isn’t passive, it’s an action in itself. When the time comes to step in, you do so with more awareness of the situation, leading to more accurate and meaningful results for you, the person that you are listening to and any other stakeholders to this scenario.

That’s all for today’s blog, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Would you like to see more blogs like this moving forward? What sort of topics would you like to see me take a look at next?

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!