PCOMS (the Partners for Change Outcome Management System) is a unique approach to supporting people who need help to thrive. PCOMS gives people the power to set their own goals and measure their progress, as well as giving practitioners feedback on their practice, and providing organisations with data to develop and shape effective services.
In this webinar, Robyn Pope and Laurie Siegel-Woodward will outline the PCOMS approach and the research behind it and share their learnings and experience of implementing PCOMS within social service agencies in Aotearoa. They will describe the impact the system has had on service users, providers and organisations alike.
We will also hear from individuals who have experienced the PCOMS approach as clients. The webinar will conclude with the direction of PCOMS in this country and offer resources for those interested in learning more about it.
The PCOMS approach:
- recognises that individuals are the experts in their own lives and therefore, their ideas about what could work for them should be incorporated into all aspects of work with that individual.
- privileges the culture and ideas of the individual, to support them to discover their own unique solutions to the issues they are dealing with.
- recognises the importance of the relationship between the individual and the practitioner working with them.
- enables progress to be measured and addressed during each contact session. This means that any lack of improvement can be addressed quickly and transparently, which reduces drop-out.
The stories from those experiencing PCOMS are powerful. They tell of being able to focus on progress, rather than being overwhelmed by a tangle of seemingly insurmountable problems. Practitioners learning to use PCOMS talk of their own journey from confusion and self-doubt, to focused interactions with their clients that led to profound change.