Theory of change

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."

- Mission Statement 

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

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.

For the last five years, we have collected data on the number of clients who were accessing support at different stages of change, publishing our findings in our annual impact report.

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

As a measure of Prosper we count membership of Forward Connect, our peer support community for those who have completed our service pathways but want to stay in touch and help each other.

Partnerships - 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.