In the spirit of being places of acceptance, empowerment and change, day centres need to consider the importance of rules in their project, for the safety and enjoyment of all who use it. This section considers some aspects of rule setting and regulating in day centres.
Introduction | The importance of rules | In summary rules should be: | Consistency versus Flexibility
This section should be read in conjunction with the section on Types of provision in day centres as the theory and ethos of a service will inform its rules.
‘Basically, no rules, no structure.’
This comment was made by a day centre user, who felt that one of the most successful ways to keep a project safe was to have rules that made clear what was acceptable and what was not. However, as another day centre worker pointed out,
‘Rules are there to be broken - so we have as few as possible.’
Many day centres work hard to keep the rules they operate simple, clear and to a minimum, to ensure they are widely understood and enforceable. The underlying principles are that they should:
There is a need to ensure that the culture of the day centre is open and inclusive. Day centres also need to ensure that the way in which they run does not add to the disempowerment of individuals.
‘... institutional abuse can occur where the routines, systems and norms of an institution compel individuals to sacrifice their own preferred lifestyle and cultural diversity to the needs of the institution. Research has shown that the culture of an institution is a powerful indicator of the practice and attitudes of those working within it. Institutions which have a “closed” culture, where there can be a lack of accountability, have been shown as more likely to foster poor practice.’
Thames Reach Policy on Protection of Vulnerable Adults from Abuse.
Most day centres try to make sure that everyone is aware of the rules but acknowledge that it might not be welcoming to people if the first thing they see when they walk through the door is a huge list of 'Don'ts'! Be careful of the language you use of posters – explain why the rules are there. A number of day centres ask staff to sit down with new people very soon after they arrive and let them know the rules in a friendly and informal way. Ensure that information on what the rules are is easily accessible in a variety of formats. Service users should be made aware of their rights and responsibilities of using the day centre, and also their right to complain if they feel that they are not being given an appropriate standard of service. Complaints should be regularly reviewed in relation to the rules. It is also important not to bombard new service users with information that could be overwhelming. Communicating rules and essential information needs to be done at a pace and a manner that service users can understand, but quickly enough so that they don't fall foul of them without realising.
Day centres want to respect people's individuality and often take an individual's circumstances into account when considering responses to unacceptable behaviour. However, rules will only be respected if they are applied consistently. There is little point, for example, in having a no drinking rule and ignoring service users sitting, drinking cans of beer underneath it. It may be worth considering scrapping rules that are regularly broken, unless a purposeful attempt is made to operate them. If a particular rule is constantly ignored or enforced inconsistently it causes confusion for staff and service users.
A united front is important and that the team is in agreement about what is safe. Everyone has a part to play in enforcing the rules, rather than leaving the difficult things to one or two staff members who are always seen as 'the bad guys'. Any decisions made by staff should be treated as team decisions. If in retrospect there is some concern that it was not the most suitable decision, these views should be aired appropriately in staff meetings or supervision - and not in the drop-in in front of service users. However, it is always appropriate to acknowledge to service users mistakes or decisions reached in the heat of the moment and to seek to redress whatever the issues were. If after discussion at a team meeting or in supervision it is decided that the wrong decision was made, this too should be acknowledged to service users. It is important to ensure that there are regular team training events where teamwork skills and roles can be discussed.
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