The Star is designed to be used as soon as possible after a new client comes to your service. It should subsequently be used during regular reviews, held every three to six months, though the exact timing
may vary according to the type of service and service user. Your manager will give you specific instructions on when to complete the Star Chart in your organisation.

There is a short introduction to the Outcomes Star approach in the front of The Outcomes Star publication. You may want to use it to explain the approach to service users. It is important to introduce the Outcomes Star in a positive way, to gain interest and confidence in this tool and its use.
Make sure you believe in Outcomes Star first. What do you see as being the benefits of using it? Some of the benefits will be covered in training. You may want time to explore these and any concerns or questions you have within your training or with your manager.

Positive quotes from those using this or a similar outcomes tool include:
“We learnt a great deal more about our service users than we had ever known before. Having the Star gave us a way to ask questions
we hadn’t been able to ask before.”

“We found that we started to think about the clients in a really different
way.”

In addition to using the written explanation in The Outcomes Star, you could:

Give the service user a copy of The Outcomes Star in advance. This will probably depend on the individual – how engaged they are in key work and how they relate to written material. You would need to tell them a bit about why your service is using the Outcomes Star approach.
Show a sample of a completed Star Chart, illustrating how the chart shows a change from assessment to review. There is an example in appendix
four.

Tell the service user how the information will be used: information from their own Star Chart will be used in key work and support planning, and information on all service users will be added up and reported anonymously.

This will be used by the service to find out where they are succeeding
in helping service users make positive changes, to highlight areas where the service could help more and to demonstrate effectiveness
to funders and the outside world.