Self-Directed Support: If It’s So Good Then Why is it So Hard?

The central idea explored in this paper is Self-Directed Support. This is the term some of us use to describe a system of organising help so that the person who receives help is in control. This is not the reality for many people who receive state-funded assistance. Often the person does not control the help they receive, instead they are passive and support is often institutional in character. Self-Directed Support is about organising things so that people are not passive, instead they are active citizens, able to control the assistance they receive, in control of their own lives, and able to play an active part in community life.