4. The Transition Wheel Interview -working on setting goals

Before using The Transition Wheel, the young person should be undertaking transition and understand the importance of gaining independence before transition is complete. The facilitator, usually the case manager, should have a clear understanding of the young person’s life. This includes where they have come from and what their current struggles are. This will help the facilitator move the young person around the wheel and ‘jog’ the young person’s memory when answering questions. If you have not had the chance to get to know the young person, consider meeting with them a few times prior to commencing The Transition Wheel.

Once you have decided it is time to use The Transition Wheel, the first step is to introduce the idea of ‘The Wheel’ to the young person. Let the young person know why you think it is a valuable tool to use.

Explain that The Transition Wheel helps to:

• Explore the areas in his/her life where further independence can be gained.
• Allow the young person to concentrate on the areas that are most important to them - prioritise.
• Together work out goals and steps to take to reach these goals.

These are the three phases of the work of the interview:

Explore

Exploring by asking more questions, such as;
“Which parts of your life do you think are going well?”
“Which parts of your life are you least happy with?”

Prioritise

By being able to look at all the areas of the young persons' life and focus on the areas that the young persons sees as more important to work on.

Agree on goals and strategies and document them

Work out what are the specific goals and steps that will help achieve the priorities.

Goals are statements of what you want to achieve. To be useful goals need to be specific enough so that you will know whether or not you have achieved them. When writing goals some questions you can keep in mind are:

Is it measurable?
This means you can tell when you have achieved your goal. It can also refer to the timeframe you give yourself to achieve your goals.

It is agreed - Do I want to do this?
This means it is something you want to work on. Also, if it involves others, then they agree to work on it also.

Is it realistic?
Is it achievable or is it just wishful thinking.

Is it a specific step on the way to what I want to achieve?
Specific to you and the activity you want to do

If you need more help with goal setting abnd recording goals and strategies see Toolkit B: Promoting Independence - Section 4: Setting Goals

An Interview

1. Decide who will be writing on the wheel, the young person or the facilitator.

2. Put the young person’s name in the middle circle of the wheel.

3. Travel around the wheel to explain the different areas and what elements they may contain for the young person (this is where you need to already know a bit about the young person’s life).

4. Ask the young person to scale, “How are you going in your life?” Now rate how things are going- what is your gut feeling?

1 I have no independence in my life
5 Half & half
10 I am very independent in all areas
6 (We will use the example of 6)

The objective is to help the young person imagine what one or two points higher will be like for them.
(In our example, to a 7 or 8).

Put this score in the middle of the wheel, under the young person’s name.

“If I were to ask your parents, what things would they say are going well?”
“If I were to ask your parents, what things would they say can be better?”

5. Travel back around the wheel asking the young person;
“What areas do you want to concentrate on first?”
“What areas are the most important to you?”

Mark these areas with an * to remind you to come back to them.

6. For each of the areas with an * - the ones you want to concentrate on, ask the young person to how things are going- what is your gut feeling?

Use the same scale that you used above when rating "How are you going in your life'.

1 I have no independence in my life
5 Half & half
10 I am very independent in all areas
6 (We will use the example of 6)

The objective is to help the young person imagine what one or two points higher will be like for them.
(In our example, to a 7 or 8).

Put these individual scores in the inner ring of the Transition Wheel marked by the inner dotted line.

So the Transition Wheel will have an overall score in the centre and and individual scores for the areas you want to work on first in a ring just outside the centre. See completed Transition Wheel below.

7. Ask the young person which of the * areas they would like to concentrate on first.

8. Delve into the aspects of this area for the young person to see how they wish to make changes.

They may only pick one part of this area (e.g. driving in the Out & About area).

Ask the following questions:
“When you are scoring a 7 what would this look like?”
“What will you be doing?”
“How will this make a difference?”
“What will your family notice that is different?”
“What will your friends notice that is different?”

Write some of these points in the spokes of the wheel in the appropriate area. (If the facilitator is writing, make sure you use the young person’s language).

9. Break down the information further into finer steps.

Ask more questions:
“What research needs to be done? What do we need to check out?”
“What will I do?”
“What can others do?”
“When will this be done?”

Write some of these points in the spokes of the wheel so everyone is clear of the plan.

10. Depending on the young person’s concentration, pick another area to look at. Do not try to do too much at once!

12. At the end of the session, talk with the young person about the things they are going to try to improve first.

The wheel needs regular review of how and if goals are being achieved. That is how the young person is going with reaching that “7”.

The young person may want to change areas of focus, or how they are achieving their goal of independence as their life changes.

13. Document the goals and strategies.

Keep a written record of the goals and the strategies you are going to use to achieve them.

If you need more help with goal setting and documenting goals and strategies see Toolkit B: Promoting Independence - Section 4: Setting Goals