Gibb’s Reflective Cycle: Application of Policy and Intervention in Social Care Practice

Running head: GIBB’S REFLECTIVE CYCLE
Gibb’s Reflective Cycle
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Part 1:
a) The aim and objectives of the service:
The Meadows is a medium support residential department of Nua Health Services and I finished
my placement at The Meadows. Nua Health care caters to the complex needs of children and
adults by providing wide range of service like community outreach service, day care service and
residential support services. It has a role in fulfilling complex needs of clients with mental
illnesses like dementia, intellectual disorder, autism, asperger syndrome, acute brain injury and
many other mental health issues.
The main purpose of the agency is to provide individualistic care to service users by means of
person centered care plan that fulfills individual needs as well as future needs of clients. Its goal
is also understood from its mission statement which states that ‘Nua Health Services believes in
supporting people to live a meaningful and personalized lifestyle’ (Nua Healthcare Services,
n.d.). The company’s interest in patient-centered care is also understood from the value of
dignity and respect, partnership, personalized and community support. Dignity and respect
implies fulfilling the unique needs of each individual. Partnership involves working in
collaboration with other service users. Personalized care involves giving freedom to client to
proceed at their own pace and the value of community implies encouraging users to contribute
for the welfare of the community.
B) Relevant legislation suitable for the agency
Since ‘The Meadows’ is a residential service that provides care to people children and adults
with disabilities, it must comply the Health Act 2007 legislation, the Disabilities Regulation
2013-2015 and fulfill the National Standards for Residential Services for Children and Adults

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with Disabilities. In addition to this, to protect the agency from legal and ethical consequences,
following the Data Protection Act 1998-2014, Health and Welfare Act 2005, and the
Employment Equality Acts 1998 – 2011 is also necessary. Apart from this statewide and national
legislation, the actions of the Nua Health services are regulated by the Health Information and
Quality Authority (HIQA). Because of HIQA regulation, all persons in the management positive
are registered with HIQA. The quality of services is also inspected to ensure compliance with
relevant legislation by means of announced and sudden inspects. The inspection is classified into
seven themes including Governance and Management, Use of Resources, and Responsive
Workforce, Individualised Supports and Care, Effective Services, Safe Services, Health and
Development and Leadership.
C) Application of policy and its effectiveness:
All actions at the Nua Healthcare services is guided by the HIQA regulation, Disability
Regulations 2013-2015 and the Health Act 2007. To ensure that the policies and regulation are
in parallel with national standards, the policies are regularly reviewed and amended. One
example of the policies at the organization is that all staffs must possess level 7 qualification or
engage in the process to obtain level 7 qualification. This policy is related to the theme of
responsive workforce as the policy paves way for recruitment of individuals who have genuine
interest in social care.
Part 7: Intervention:
Intervention: 1:1 protected conversation time
The above mentioned social intervention was specially developed for people with autism
spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is a mental condition associated with communication

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impairment, poor social functioning and aggressive and self-destructive behaviour in an
individual (Altiere & von Kluge, 2008, p. 83). Similar symptoms were also found in the service
user for whom I applied the intervention. The review of client history revealed he avoided
conversation although he could interact with people. He did not display his emotions very often,
however this suppression of emotion resulted in sudden outburst of anger. In such situation,
patient was exhibit aggressive and assaultive behaviour. He also had low self-esteem and was
reluctant to talk with unfamiliar people. I decided to use the 1:1 protected conversation time
intervention for the service used after consulting my supervisor because it will facilitate
development of interpersonal skill in client and address feelings of worthlessness too.
Assessment of need
The common diagnostic features found in patient with Asperger syndrome and ASD are poor
social development, difficulty in development of communication and presence of strong and
repetitive behaviour (Baron-Cohen 2008). Similar features were also found in the client as the
patient came with poor interpersonal skills, need for reassurance and difficulty in beginning a
conversation. To apply the KIT model, the profiled of the service used was developed first
(Collingwood, 2005). The profile of the client are as follows:
The client is a 26 year old Romanian male with keen interest in music. He was adopted in
childhood and lives with his sister, however he has poor family relationship. The service user is
low in self-esteem and struggles to control his emotion. This often results in a crisis situation.
However, the positive aspects of his profile is that he has good sense of humour and high level of
intelligence. He wears bright coloured clothes and he is found to be hypochondriac as he get
anxious even for a very minor issues. The client has also revealed that whenever he get to know

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about his appointment with a psychiatrist, deliberately displays challenging behavior. He
explained that he reacts in such a way to get new medications for his challenging behavior.
The next stage of the KIT model is to identify and incorporate theory to practice. The theories
that I used to inform were the autistic mind (Baron-Cohen, 2008) and Biestek’s Relationship-
based practice ((Trevithick, 2003) and theory that I used to intervene was ‘Unconditional
Positive Regard, Person Centred Care, and Advocacy’ theory. Apart from this, I also used my
personal skills and values related to ethical consideration, skilful assessment of client and
communication process with client. I also followed the national legislation of Health Act 2007.
The main goal of the intervention was to establish therapeutic rapport with client and enhanced
interpersonal skills and self-esteem of client.
The Intervention in practice:
The approach that I took for the effective implementation of the intervention was to deliver it in
an environment which the used preferred to be safe. The service user selected the conservatory
for conversation with me as he was familiar with the place. However, it was not satisfied with
the place as it was the private space of client and it increased many ethical challenges for me. To
start the conversation with the service user, I offered to make cup of tea for him. By this
approach, I wanted the user to get some time to himself. He readily agreed with my suggestion
and I asked him to sit in a place which was comfortable for him. This helped in developing a
controlled emotional and comfortable environment for client (Trevithick, 2003). I approached
the service user with unconditional positive regards and acceptance of the user’s views. I was
aware about the things that resulted in anger and exaggerated emotional response in the user. His
current behavioural issues were also linked to his past life and family experiences, hence I

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decided not to ask about his life history during the conversation. I decided to start with his
interest. During the conversation, used small deliberate sentences and walked across the room
while speaking indicating that he was fidning it hard to speak for long time. I tried to give
assurance the client in this circumstances and asked him to make himself comfortable.
The duration of the intervention was 15 minutes initially, however as several weeks passed, the
duration of the session became 15 minutes. My strategy was to be non-judgment and not giving
any judgment or negative reaction to what the client was disclosing to me. If the service user was
getting irritated by any question, then I redirected him by starting a topic which he enjoyed such
as questions on his favourite band. This allowed users the time to process the question and give
the desired response. With the passage of time, the service user became very comfortable with
me and at this stage I asked him that if he was feeling angry, he should either discuss the matter
with me or his family. This would help in assessment of the user’s emotion and eliminating
possibilities of negative or challenging behaviour in the service user.
Evaluation:
The intervention was found to be highly beneficial for the service user as his interpersonal skills
improved significantly and he also approached other staffs whenever he felt angry. Now he
approaches me as well as other staffs when begins to feel agitated. My supervisor was also
pleased with the pace at which improvement in communication and emotional outcomes were
observed in the client. Despite such improvement, the service user is continuing with one-on-one
intervention and he used this to develop his personalized daily activity planner. He still
experience challenges in expressing his emotion, however he consults staff members
immediately now for any form of support. He also goes for a walk in the woods with staff and