What’s your Spirit of Lockdown?

Share your story to inspire a better, more connected future

The stories we tell now about our response to Covid-19 will shape how we look back on this time, and how we move forward as a society.

What are the truths that will inspire our better days?
What’s the spirit you want to bottle to guide your way forward?

Share your story of lockdown and join a community of story sharers across the country in celebrating the power of relationships and inspiring a conversation about how we can build back better, stronger and more connected.

Share a written story

Share a multimedia story

Explore others’ stories

Whether you’re looking for inspiration to write your own story or simply to understand people’s experiences during the lockdown, dive into our latest submissions.

Lookout Sighting #3: Well connected or connecting well?

The Lookout is a space for understanding how life has changed for young people during Covid. During recent Lookout discussions, the double-edged nature of digital connection has come up frequently. In this Sighting, we explore the complex effect of digital technology...

A letter from Northumbria

In brief On the 23rd November 2022, 80 relationship-centred practitioners came together at Northumbria University to unpack the how, what and why of relationship-centred practice. It was a fantastic day, full of warmth, emotion and hope. Here, we offer our reflections...

Rosalyn – Spirit of Lockdown #1

I am still worried about the pandemic but I am proud of us and what we have achieved this year.

Relational Councils: Learning from crisis

Mutual aid was driven from the ground up but flourished with appropriate support from local councils. The UK response to refugees arriving from Ukraine was led from the top down but could only succeed with local engagement. What can we learn from this approach to the...

The measurement challenge

In brief In this Joining the Dots blog, Immy Robinson – Research and Innovation Lead at Shift and co-lead of The Relationships Project – explores some of the knotty questions around measuring and evaluating relationships. The need for measurement The importance of...

Podcast: A relational social policy

In brief In this Joining the Dots podcast, hosted and produced by our partners at Ratio, David explores the potential of a relational social policy and reflects on the Islington Green Paper Fairer Together.

Sustaining the care: Learning from the Warm Hubs experience

What can we learn from the Warm Hubs experience about how to create ‘relational spaces’? And how can this learning, combined with the learning from the community response to the covid pandemic, inform and inspire a bottom up, relationship centred approach to...

There’s No “Virus” Without “Us”: The Smoke and Mirrors of Independence in a Global Pandemic

In this Joining the Dots blog, Canadian graduate Prachir Pasricha reflects on the way COVID-19 has shone a light on the importance of a collective understanding of wellbeing. Prachir Pasricha recently graduated from the University of Western Ontario in Canada after...

Tending the spaces

In brief In this contribution to the Joining the Dots blog series, Michael Little reminds us that relationships are hard won, not always positive, and inevitably influenced by context. Michael is now Director at Ratio, having served several roles...

The ‘miracle’ of NEWPIN

In Lockdown and Deep Tissue Damage Sam wrote about the challenges that will remain when the worst of the pandemic is over. Relationships within families, particularly in families that were already struggling pre Covid, is an area of particular concern. Here...

Everyone is welcome

You don’t need to be an experienced storyteller to take part. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or being the next JK Rowling – we want to hear about your experience of lockdown in your voice and in whichever format works best for you.

You might want to write your story, to video it, audio record it, draw it, tell it alone, tell it in pairs. Choose the format that works best for you and get sharing!

share a written story

share a multimedia story

Populating the map

We’re building an interactive map to showcase and celebrate stories of lockdown from across the UK. In early 2021 we’ll be inviting storytellers and local decision makers to come together to draw out lessons and shape a better, more connected society post-Covid.

You are under no obligation whatsoever to consent to your story being shared publicly – it’s entirely up to you to decide whether you’d like to share it or keep it private. Whichever format you decide to share your story – written or multimedia – please take a moment to let us know whether you’re happy for your story to be shared.