LIFE: from Participle and Swindon Borough Council

The LIFE programme supports families in chronic crisis develop the capabilities that will enable them to build lives they want to lead. Families receive support from the LIFE team to build healthy, happy and independent lives, and the long-term goal is to reduce their dependency on public services. Crucially though, families are expected to be active participants in the process rather than recipients of support - it is a family led programme.

LIFE has already proved to be a major innovation in family work but to enhance the approach, NESTA supported two new innovations that bring the LIFE programme online:

• www.alifewewant.com - is an open source site that pools the collective expertise of families, frontline workers and experts which is then used to strengthen the programme and build a community of support.
• The LIFEboard - is an online tool that helps families and workers collect data and monitor progress over time.

The LIFE Online tools facilitate greater openness and transparency in the programme, it is easier for families to track their progress which encourages them to take greater ownership of their development, and the amount of time professionals spend on administrative duties is reduced so they can spend more time working with families.