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.

Intergenerational Solidarity in the Coronavirus Era

In brief In this blog for The Relationships Observatory, Cares Family CEO and Founder Alex Smith reflects on the importance of intergenerational solidarity for socially isolated older people and economically isolated younger people. The Cares Family is a group of...

Including the network perspective in a relationship-centred practice

In brief In this Joining the Dots blog, founder of the Reliants Project Erica Young argues for the importance of including a network perspective in relationship-centred thinking and practice. Citing some of the leading researchers in the field, she outlines how...

Good Business – Heatmap in Action

We know as a business that relationships are important to us and drive much of our work. We were excited to use the Relationships Heatmap tool to help us focus on relationships, and give us space and scaffolding to structure our thinking.

Relational Councils and the Cost of Living Crisis

The Relational Councils Network gathered on 30/1/23 to talk about the cost-of-living crisis and relational responses. Partners from the council and the community in Barking and Dagenham provided the key note experience. A list of links and resources mentioned in the...

Active Neighbours – Brianne

“So it’s just the connections that have been made, the nice people and the people who have really needed the help that I’ve met. And just seeing everyone come together. I’ve always thought this area has a great sense of community, but this has shown it even more. And it’s shown the people that don’t normally have the time to give to this community – they’ve gone ‘here you go’.”

Practicing Kindness

In brief In this Joining the Dots blog contribution, Ben Thurman reflects on the tensions between kindness and risk, relationships and professionalism, emotions and performance management, and the need to reshape organisational culture to foster a culture of kindness....

If not now, when?

In brief Ofgem confirmed the increase in the energy price cap on Friday August 26th 2022. We now know that, without substantial help, galloping fuel bills, combined with inflation, will push 45m Britons into fuel poverty by the end of the year. David Robinson...

The Relationships Field: 6 initial reflections and 5 questions

In brief 6 weeks ago, we (Iona Lawrence and Immy Robinson) set out to explore whether a ‘field of relationships’ could, should, or does already exist. We’re still at the early stages of this exploration but have been lucky enough to pick the brains of some very...

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...

Developing the Framework: A paper for discussion

In brief In our report 'The Moment We Noticed: Learning from 100 days of lockdown', we invite you to join us in exploring how we might sustain the positives from the pandemic. This paper forms the backbone of our fourth invitation: to join us in developing the...

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.