What is Positive Deviance?
Positive Deviance is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges.
The Positive Deviance approach is an asset-based, problem-solving, and community-driven approach that enables the community to discover these successful behaviors and strategies, and develop a plan of action to promote their adoption by all concerned.
Positive Deviance and prevention of domestic abuse
The Council worked in partnership with Woodward-Lewis and held a Positive Deviance workshop to raise awareness of the approach and celebrate the achievements of Cambridgeshire's two PD groups. More than 40 professionals from a range of agencies attended the event to discover how the use of PD can best help address 'intractable issues' in our communities.
Attendees found the event to be 'exhilarating,' 'exciting' and 'deeply moving' and many, including Cambridgeshire's Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT), have decided to embrace the PD approach as a result.
For more information on Positive Deviance and its application across the county, please contact: Simon Kerss (Domestic Abuse Partnership Manager) at simon.kerss@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or on 07789920401.
For more information about the workshop, please see the documents below.