Applying the Wellbeing Framework: A Comparison of Two Services
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
This is a post from the RECOVER Team
RECOVER adds value by applying intentional thinking about the six kinds of connections and ALL of the tools/levers in the wellbeing framework. The LEVERS in the wellbeing framework are “how” to get to the outcomes. What this looks like can be demonstrated through a comparison of a typical service and one that has been designed using the wellbeing framework.
Here is a tale of two shelters. They both feed people, but they exemplify the difference between a basic needs approach, and one that's focused on healing, nourishment and meaning.
Photo by Trung Pham Quoc on Unsplash
The first one is a fairly traditional meal service - the food servers wear gloves and hair nets and stand behind a serving table. People wait to be let in; standing in a line - often out the building and down the street. They get a tray and the food servers portion out the food onto the trays (INTERACTIONS). People are encouraged to eat quickly (ROUTINES), so the next round of folks can be let in. The focus is on efficiency, safety and volume (RESOURCES) - making sure folks aren’t starving. The focus is on basic human needs.
Photo by Stefan Vladimirov on Unsplash
The second is a meal service with set plates and cutlery, the food served family-style. It’s attentive to the lighting, scenery and the context (ENVIRONMENT). In this shelter, the person is greeted by a host (ROLES) who is a peer. The host tries to find out a little about the person so that they can be seated next to someone with similar interests (INTERACTIONS). The goal is to provide agency, spark a sense of camaraderie, a sense of a shared meal, not just food. The focus is less transactional - more relational. It’s as much about the conversation and deriving a sense of meaning and purpose from being in that space together. Consideration for higher order human needs is woven together with consideration for basic human needs.
In conversations with people who have encountered both types of meal services, they say that they feel very different. People are grateful and appreciative for having some food, but many also feel a great sense of shame for having to show up in a space like the first one. When they experience the second one, people talk about a sense of belonging and nourishment.
Through the application of the wellbeing framework — with thinking about connection outcomes, and applying the levers intentionally to support connection — we aim to create more experiences like in the second example.
