Family Council Goals: turning the invisible into the visible
by Family Councils Ontario
"Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination." -- Fitzhugh Dodso
While Family Councils across the province vary in many ways, a core organizing element that is important for all Councils is goals. Your Council’s goals capture the specific actions that members have agreed they want to take to achieve your mission or purpose. Your goals should help you realize your purpose of improving the well-being or care of the residents of your Home & supporting each other. Carrying out your goals is how you realize your purpose and make something intangible a concrete reality.
The four common Family Council goals are: support, communication, advocacy, and education. While your Council might not focus on each of these goals equally, together they form the means by which you improve the quality of life and care for all residents and support each other.
Support m
eans knowing that you’re not alone in your journey having a loved one in Long-Term Care; your fellow members share this experience and support one another. The support can be affirmation, information, emotional, or practical & can also support staff and residents. A support activity could be holding regular New Family Welcome events, making welcome baskets for new families, or staff appreciation events.
Communication is essential to Family Council success. Family Councils support and enhance communication between families, staff and residents. Activities to support communication could be inviting administration to your meeting to discuss new initiatives and other changes happening in the Home, writing a newsletter to promote meetings and update families & staff on Council activities & projects, or having a Council member sit on a Home committee.
Advocacy, or effective problem solving, is an important Family Council goal and a power provided to Family Council under the Long-Term Care Homes Act. Under the Act, a Council has the power to advise the licensee of any concerns or recommendations the Council has about the operation of the Home. Activities pertaining to advocacy include processing concerns and working with the Home to achieve positive outcomes on opportunities for improvement. Family Council advocacy means advocating on collective, not individual, concerns.
Education is an important Family Council goal; a Family Council provides an excellent forum for learning about and discussing relevant issues. Education activities include learning from administration & other Home staff, and guest speakers e.g. Alzheimer’s Society, Palliative care, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, caring for the caregiver.
Specific activities and action you carry out will depend on the interests and experiences of Council members. The activities and actions you carry out should fit into one or more of the goals you’ve agreed upon. It’s important that all members agree on your goals and activities to ensure that you have buy-in from all involved and support to carry them out.
It’s best to choose a few goals to start with and keep them broad. This will help to keep your Council on track but not be too limiting on the activities you can undertake in order to achieve your mission. For example:
Goals:
- To inform and education families
- To share ideas and information for the purpose of problem solving
- To maintain communication between families, residents and the Home
- To advocate on behalf of all residents and families
- To provide mutual support for family and friends of residents including those that are new to the Home
Your goals form an essential part of your Terms of Reference and, once decided upon, should be written into your Terms of Reference and shared widely. Your goals tell families, residents and staff what your Council values and wants to accomplish. Choose them wisely and share them broadly!
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”-- Tony Robbins