Innovative Resources is the publishing and bookselling arm of St Luke's Anglicare - an organisation that has been providing a wide range of community services throughout North Central Victoria and Southern New South Wales, Australia for more than 25 years.

Our range of therapeutic card sets, books and stickers can be used by human service professionals in many different roles and cultures.

The resources are also used in team building and corporate strategy  meetings across many realms.

Innovative Resources is committed to creating materials that promote a strengths-based philosophy, use straightforward language and require no special training.

All our published materials reflect St Luke’s motto: Respect, Hope, Fairness.

Please feel free to contact us for more information, email: info@innovativeresources.org

THE TOOLS MANIFESTO

Here are some of the learnings that people have shared with us about using our resources:

• No tool is a panacea. Even the very best tools will not always work.

• All tools (including the words we use) are potentially harmful and must be used with care.

• To use any tool requires a certain degree of risk and courage.

• Respecting the culture and learning preferences of the user is an important way to minimise this risk.

• The facilitator’s own enjoyment of the tool seems to be a key factor.

• The best metaphors are the ones clients create themselves. However, having a range of prompts can allow for a good match with the client’s interests.

• Sometimes clients can experience the joy of discovery when they ‘bump into’ tools that might be sitting unannounced on a desk or coffee table.

• Often it is better to make a selection of cards rather than use the full set. Our cards sets certainly do not cover every possibility. Please feel free to create a card of your own if you think something is missing.

Some good questions to consider:

• Why are you introducing the cards?

• Is there a trusting, respectful relationship between those who will be using them?

• Is it the right time to introduce them?

• Will the cards get in the way of the learning that is already occurring?

• Have issues of confidentiality been considered?

• Is there sufficient time and is this the right forum to work through the insights, issues and vulnerabilities that may be raised?

• Is the tool appropriate to the energy and literacy levels of the users?

Are the cards culturally relevant?