How we work > SALT
SALT
SALT methodology: what is it?
SALT is AFFIRM's core approach – a way of working:
- It is a way of thinking and of relating ourselves to a situation.
- It involves us – as a team – connecting, learning and enlivening response.
- That response occurs in our neighbours and community, in us and in our organisations.
SALT is represented as a schematic diagram. It shows us as:
- leaving our centres
- going in teams to families and homes – this is a 'SALT visit'
- recognising that those families and homes are part of neighbourhood and wider community
- practising SALT core activities
- returning to our centres and organisations
- stimulating and supporting communities in themselves taking SALT to their neighbours.
SALT visits
A 'SALT visit' contains:
- Invitation or opportunity to visit, in teams of 2-3 people, with each team involving a 'bridge' person who will link the team to the situation. The bridge person is someone who is known in the situation.
- Preparation to visit. This involves hearing something of the context, reviewing the approach and praying together for the conversations to open.
- A visit. The team introduces itself as people who are there to learn. The team members introduce themselves as a person, not by role or title.
- Reflection as a team after the visit. The reflection is about what was learned, what might be next steps, and how the team could practise SALT better.
SALT should normally happen as a series of visits, not just one. Besides anything else relationships are important. That means going back.
SALT – what it stands for
SALT is an easy way of remembering four letters and the ideas each of them represents. SALT also alludes to the powerful characteristic of salt – that a small amount (such as in food) has a big effect.
The letters of SALT help us to recall and focus on ideas as follows:
- S is for Support, Stimulate and Story
- A is for Appreciate and Analyse
- L is for Listen, Learn, and Link
- T is for Transfer and Team.
Further detail on SALT is provided in the SALT protocol document [PDF 457KB]. It includes:
- description of SALT practices particularly those of Stimulate, Analyse, Link, Team and Transfer
- description of the action-reflection cycle with particular attention to Strengths, Concerns, Hopes and Ways of working
- questions and activities particularly the core questions of identify (who are we?), transferable concepts (what do we have in common) and story
- skills or disciplines including the themes of self-assessment questions and personal change.