Jordan Brewer explores what Psychologically-Informed Environments mean in housing and homelessness.
Most of us will have had some contact with the concept of psychologically-informed environments and its (ripe for puns) acronym PIE. But there is still debate surrounding practice and implementation.
As an overview, psychologically-informed environments work to incorporate the thoughts, emotions, preferences, trauma, and past experiences of the people within them into operation and design. They consider the psychological needs of everyone involved at all levels with the goal being to create a space where people feel able to recover and thrive.
There are five agreed key elements to creating a PIE:
- Relationships
- Staff support and training
- The physical environment
- A psychological framework
- Evidence generating practice
The PIE approach has the biggest impact when everyone involved has the choice to be equal partners in the development and running of the service. For tenants and people accessing support services, A PIE will need to have been co-produced with them for it to be truly effective.
At Cymorth’s event in September we looked at psychologically-informed environments and how the sector can take the next steps forward. We looked at the work of our members, people who use services as well as learning from across the border, and there are some real examples of how co-production with tenants has led to services becoming more psychologically informed:
Relationships
Positive relationships between everyone within a service is the essential foundation for building a PIE. Danielle, supported by Llamau, shared how she has been part of the recruitment process for support workers. Having equal say on who works to support her and others in the service means that not only is she familiar with people before they start, but Danielle is confident that her values have been taken into account.
Staff support and training
Part of creating a PIE is staff feeling they are equally as supported and understood. Taff Housing Association has made the conscious decision to view all its working practice through a psychologically informed lens. They’ve reported that it gives staff the confidence to make decisions and take the lead from women at the project, knowing they’ll have the backing of the organisation.
The physical environment
Freedom to decorate your home is important to most people. A good PIE will consider not only this but go beyond in the way it considers a physical environment.
Following meetings with staff and young residents, Digartref made small changes to the environment that have had a big impact. Amongst these was a change to office layout. The young people at the project expressed how despite the ‘open door policy’ they still felt the need to psych themselves to enter the office and speak to members of staff. The small change of installing fire safe door stoppers was made so that the door would be physically open – physically and psychologically removing a barrier between staff and the young people at the service.
A psychological framework
Acknowledged as the most difficult to put into practice, a PIE should create a culture where the connection between thoughts, emotions and behaviour is widely accepted and kept in mind by staff when supporting anyone.
A London-based PIE Partnership, which embeds psychologists in homelessness hostels, has evidenced that a tailored approach to therapy, led by the person receiving it has had high levels of engagement. Dr Emma Williamson, a driving force behind the initiative, says that tenant engagement is well on its way to being recognised as one of the key elements to creating a PIE.
Evidence generating practice
People believe that PIE works when they see PIE working. Evidencing work done to create PIEs and the positive impact this has had on people’s lives is the most effective way of spreading the approach throughout not only our sector but throughout Wales.
A significant amount of this evidence needs to be given by the people it seeks to support. As part of our recent Cymorth event, we asked people using our member’s services the question ‘Is this working for you?’. Each spoke passionately on how the approach has positively changed their lives.
Recognising people’s trauma is becoming essential in the way people are being supported out of homelessness. It helps everyone to understand, empathise and work with the person to put in place the support most useful to them. The shift towards psychologically-informed ways of working within the housing sector has been sharp and noticeable with a tangible impact being made in a relatively short space of time.
As shown it’s essential that tenants and people receiving support are an equal partner in the process from the start. It’s amazing to witness the Welsh housing sector run with the PIE approach. But we can’t let that enthusiasm lead us into the trap of doing for or to– we have to do with.
Jordan Brewer is policy and communications officer at Cymorth Cymru