Rosie Clellow of London Borough of Camden has contributed this blog about their new trauma-informed Personal Passports scheme, which they are having a lot of success with.
Navigating services when you are homeless is undeniably tough. The system of services is complex, frequently changing, and with varying eligibility and legislative criteria. This often renders seeking support to be unfriendly and at times traumatic. We face these challenges in Camden, which is why back in 2022 colleagues from across Camden Council, our charity partners, the NHS and specialist services agreed we wanted to together do things differently – for this ambition Camden’s Homelessness System Partnership was born.
Alongside people with lived experience, we noted what was working, and what wasn’t, we built upon existing learning and co-produced our ambitions for change.
We want to create a ‘system’ of services that work well together, and work in a way that is informed by what residents tell us is important.
One thing that came up again and again from people with experience of homelessness was how awful it was to have to re-tell your story to multiple services, sometimes during times of crisis or great stress. I am sure you have heard the same from people you support, or felt this frustration yourself. People who were homeless in Camden had a great desire to be seen, heard and understood in their own words and wanted greater choice and control over how they were supported. They expressed that it was typical to not see themselves in what is written about them in professional documents, where behaviours and circumstances are often described in ways that shape perception before the person even walks through the door.
Our Co-production team – made up of people with lived experience and a Co-production lead – after defining the issue, got to thinking about how it could be resolved and they started to design with staff from across different services and organisations what we now use in Camden – a Personal Passport.
The Personal Passport is a trauma-informed, co-produced information-sharing tool designed to enable people to record information about themselves
They use their own words and share with services, people supporting and important to them. It can be used to get to know someone, to send alongside a referral, prepare for, or use at a first meeting or assessment with a new service or worker. It can be used across any service someone experiencing homelessness may encounter, in Camden, and it puts the person’s voice in the centre.
To start with, the Personal Passport was tested in four services and then after 6 months evaluated using Peer Research. We learnt that both staff and residents wanted the Personal Passport, and that it facilitated better information sharing and a person-centred approach: “it gave me choice and control” – resident. “I learned new things about her [client] and I’ve known her for years” – support worker.
However, there were challenges. We heard feedback that the Personal Passport was too long and overwhelming for those filling it out, so we created a ‘Quick get to know me’ version. People also expressed disillusionment and distrust that staff would read it. Therefore, we needed to make sure that colleagues across the system knew what the Personal Passport was, how to fill one out with someone, how to share it and what to do if you received one.
Camden’s Homelessness Co-producers designed and delivered training about the Personal Passport and how it could be used and shared to 16 hostels, 3 outreach services, Camden’s GP network, UCLH hospital teams and the local drug and alcohol services. The Personal Passport has been included in Service Specifications for homelessness services stating an expectation that it be used and it is included in some referral forms. This is all part of our journey to embed it in services across the homelessness ‘system’ in Camden, galvanised by this being what residents asked for and staff appreciate.
The Personal Passport is built upon values of trust, consistency, empathy and compassion.
It requires services to want to listen and reflect, and co-produce support with a person, and therefore it’s a tool to facilitate this culture. But we know that there are other things to consider, how people are assessed, how information is shared and stored, and how we promote the voice and strengths of the people we support all matter in being a truly person-centred and trauma informed system.
You can view the Personal Passport here, and I encourage you to watch the videos about the Personal Passport made by our Co-producers. It might be worth asking yourself, how could your service or the system you work in be more person-centred and trauma-informed? Could a Personal Passport help? If so, I’d encourage you to co-produce it with residents and take a system-wide approach to bring colleagues from all services along with you.
