In preparation for the second meeting, the Support Person should download the following resources:
Meeting 2
At the second meeting the Support Person works with the person to explore the themes and ideas through a discussion of the pictures they have collected. The process for the second meeting is as follows:
1. Before you start ask the person whether they would like someone present to assist with communication.
- This could be a friend, a support person or a family member.
2. The person brings the camera and/or the pictures they have collected.
- Look at the collection of pictures. These may be printed out, or viewed on the camera, phone or iPad. If the person doesn’t bring any pictures of their own, use the Picture My Future Library instead.
- Don’t limit the number of pictures at this point. Having a large number of pictures may be helpful in some cases as they might highlight issues or help finetune the person’s needs and wants.
3. Identify the most important pictures for the person.
- Work with the person to select the most important pictures to them. This is particularly useful when the person brings lots of images along.
- Sort out the photos the person does not want to discuss and set them aside.
4. Number the pictures and ask the person to describe the pictures.
- Note down what the person says about each picture. For questions that might help during this process, see the Guide to asking questions when exploring goals. Remember that what the person tells you might appear to have no direct link to the picture. It is still important to note down what has been said.
- Use the photos as a springboard to discuss what activities or things they like most and why, and which they like least or would like to stop or change.
- Prompt the person as necessary. i.e. who do you do that with? Would you like to do that more often? Do you organise that yourself or need help?
Issues to be mindful of:
- While pictures can provide a unique insight into the things that are important to a person, some things are difficult to photograph or collect pictures of. Therefore it is important to record information supplied during the Picture My Future process even where no picture has been supplied.
- You might encounter a range of emotional responses from the person. It is important to try and establish the meaning of these responses – does laughter mean happiness or discomfit?
- Difficult conversations and disclosures might arise when discussing images. Be sure you are ready for such conversations.
5. Work with the person to group the pictures.
- Make sure you have a suitable venue with enough space to lay out and group the pictures.
- Allow sufficient time for organising of the pictures into groups or themes, discussing their meaning and prioritising their importance. This might require several sessions.
- Identify with the person what the themes are in the grouped pictures. Most people will have a very firm idea of why certain pictures will go together. This will give you valuable clues regarding the underlying issue.
6. Collate the pictures
- The pictures should be collated in their groups e.g. attach them to a one-sided A4 or A3 sheet or place them in the Picture Me booklet.
- Write in the person’s own words what each group is about e.g. Mary likes dogs but does not want to own one herself. Mary would like to be involved in the dog walking program at her day program.
7. Make a time for the third meeting.
The process of organising and grouping pictures can help the person to organise and firm up their thinking about what is important to them, so this process should not be rushed.
The second meeting in the Picture My Future process may produce a number of different scenarios as the person works through it. Read this Trouble shooting guide for tips to help with some of these scenarios.