Capturing the spirit of the 10m
Shift Researcher Leonie Shanks invites us to explore who the 10m community ‘volunteers’ were who stepped up to support their communities through Covid, and how we can maintain this energy and commitment going forwards.
Caring for Carers
In brief In this important and moving piece, David Grayson examines the caring relationship and proposes a “new social contract for carers and caring.” David Grayson CEO at Central YMCA David Grayson CBE is chair of the charity Carers UK which works for a society...
Designing connection into care
In brief Covid has shone a light on the relationship between social care and social connections. With the UK Government’s social care reforms on the horizon, Sam Dalton makes an argument for social care models in which care and connection come hand in hand. Sam...
Inventing the Future
In brief In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, David asks the question: What do we need to do now to be able to look back on 2020 as the year when we not only helped one another in a crisis but as the year when we changed for good? What do we need to do now...
Who is helping who? Co-production and professional boundaries within social care services
In brief In this piece for Joining the Dots Nick Andrews discusses the true nature of co production and how good support is founded in, and reflects back, the kind of relationships that Martin Buber called “I– thou” not “I- it”. Nick Andrews Research and Practice...
Building connections to tackle our cultural isolation
Isabella McDowell In this blog Isabella McDonnell shares her thoughts on how deepening our understanding of home, identity and belonging can help our relationships to flourish. Isabella is a dispute resolution paralegal and future polyglot, exploring the...
Micro Care
Are there clues in the pandemic experience for the development of more community based, relationship centred social care? What would need to change and what support would it require? Here, David considers the implications, and the potential, for transforming the approach to social care.
Connected Communities: Investing in our social fabric, post-crisis
In brief In this blog for The Relationships Observatory, Sam Julius and Jessie Powell from Local Trust explore the value of relationship building in communities and how we can look to sustain the recent surge in local connection after COVID-19. To find out...
