WHC Life Coaches meet with participants on a weekly basis to nurture a trusting and accountable relationship. The accountability aspect is key to building a mutually agreed upon Life Plan that uses components of the Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix (ASSM).
The ASSM is a tool used to assess an individual or family's level of sustainable independence across various life domains. It evaluates factors such as income, employment, education, housing, health, and social support to determine their overall level of self-sufficiency. The matrix typically categorizes individuals or families into different levels ranging from "crisis" to "self-sufficiency" based on their strengths and needs in each domain. It helps us personalize services and discussions to address targeted key long-term areas to help individuals and families evolve to independent living.
Being a Life Coach is both “Art and Science.” Today’s blog focuses more on the Science aspect of charting and monitoring progress.
The Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix (ASSM):
The ASSM is a comprehensive assessment tool designed to evaluate and continually monitor the progress and self-sufficiency of individuals or families across targeted domains of life. Some examples include:
Income and Employment: This assesses the individual or family's financial resources and employment status. It examines factors such as income level, stable employment, job skills, and access to benefits or financial assistance.
Education and Training: This evaluates the individual's level of education, access to educational resources, and participation in vocational training or skill-building programs.
Housing and Environment: This examines the individual or family's housing situation, including stability, safety, affordability, and access to essential utilities and services.
Health and Well-being: This focuses on physical and mental health, access to healthcare services, chronic conditions, substance abuse issues, and overall well-being.
Support Systems: This assesses the individual's social support network, including family, friends, community resources, and access to social services.
Each domain is further broken down into specific indicators or factors that contribute to self-sufficiency within that domain. For example, under the income and employment domain, indicators may include employment status, income level, access to transportation for work, and financial literacy.
The ASSM typically categorizes individuals or families into different levels of self-sufficiency based on their strengths and needs across these domains. These levels may range from "crisis" or "emergency" at one end of the spectrum, indicating significant challenges and limited resources, to "self-sufficiency" at the other end, indicating that the individual or family has achieved stability and independence across all domains.
The Life Coaches at WHC use the ASSM to conduct assessments and develop personalized support plans for individuals or families based on their specific needs and goals. By identifying areas of strength and areas needing improvement, our Life Coaches guide resource allocation to empower individuals and families to become more self-sufficient and achieve their goals for stability and success.
While the ASSM is a tool that helps to identify current and past states in managing progress or regression, our Life Coaches also use Motivational Interviewing techniques to act as an impetus to change and hopefully, help make it a continuous lifestyle versus just a transactional milestone. We will discuss that in our next blog which is more of the “Art” side of being a Life Coach.
If you have interest in volunteering as a Life Coach or other ways to help WHC, please see: