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Across all of The Forward Trust’s support service pathways, we structure and categorise our support activities, interventions and programmes according to the stages of change. We call this the ‘Theory of Change’ - or a recovery progression - as illustrated below.

These stages help to orientate and motivate clients on their personal journeys of change and recovery, so they know where they are at - and where they are heading.

Why is there a Theory of Change?

Forward’s mission is to empower people so that they can achieve their full potential: 

"We exist to help anyone impacted by addiction, crime, homelessness, or long-term unemployment to turn their lives around. Our services work to inspire the belief in a better life, and support people to achieve that goal. We campaign to build awareness so that more people feel able to ask for help in a society that believes in the power of second chances and long-term recovery."

Our Theory of Change model illustrates how – through Forward Trust support – transformational change can happen via a series of service pathways.

What is the Theory of Change?

Pause:

Supporting clients to take stock of their situation, while addressing immediate health and care needs. We support clients to assess what changes they want to make and decide what sort of help they need.

Engage:

Working with clients to instil a belief that change is possible, give them confidence to take the first steps, and offer personal and practical support and interventions to get them started on their journey.

Develop:

Progressing people’s personal development and recovery, through structured and intensive programmes, developing new skills and knowledge, and making positive new connections.

Prosper:

Settling at the destination. Where clients feel the rewards of a more independent life, characterised by positive self respect, personal wellbeing, social connection and positive contribution to family and community.

How is the Theory of Change making a difference?

For the last six years, Forward has collected data on the number of clients who were accessing support at different stages of change.

We publish our findings in our annual impact reports, with the most recent review showing that we supported over 35,000 clients at last count - with nearly 9000 of those reaching the third stage, Develop (page 31).

Looking ahead, our strategic aim is for 1 in 4 of our clients to be at the Develop stage and continuing to make significant progress in their journeys of recovery and transformational change.

As a measure of Prosper, we count membership of our peer-supper recovery community, Forward Connect. This stage is for all those who have used a Forward Trust service to stay connected and in touch with our wider recovery community. With over 4000 members to date, we have ambitions to grow our community even further.


Partnerships and delivery partners - help shape the future of our services

The ‘Forward’s Theory of Change’ highlights our evidence-based approach to helping service users on their transformation journey.

If you are interested in this model, our research, or being a corporate partner, we would love to hear from you.