Through Thick and Thin
How an infrastructure for relationships could unlock the collective action we need to accelerate progress towards a world designed for and around relationships
Lots of people in lots of different spaces are doing amazing work around building better relationships, but the connections between these nodes are often weak or non-existent. Drawing on conversations with over 100 people in late 2020 and early 2021, we (led by Iona Lawrence) explore the challenges we share in prioritising relationships in the places that we live and work and the work that needs to be done to address those needs.
Our shared and uniting goal is to build a world that is designed for and around relationships: a world where relationships are the first mile, not the extra one.
Building a Relationship Collective: Our Proposal
Building on the insights unearthed in Through Thick and Thin, we submitted an expression of interest to the Bringing People Together Fund at the National Lottery Community Fund to bring to life the idea of an infrastructure for relationships. Drawing inspiration from Joe Mills and friends in the democracy centre, we decided to publish the proposal in the open so everyone can see what we’re hoping to do and more easily explore ways to collaborate.
In short, the expression of interest we submitted is for a two year project to design, test and build the necessary infrastructure to support shared learning and collaboration in the field of relationships and relationship-centred practice in the coming decades.
We are delighted to say that our application was successful and, as of Autumn 2022, we are focused on developing the infrastructure for a thriving field of relationship-centred practice. Find out more about our plans for the next two years below.
Our dreams for a Centre in Community Participation and Connectedness
In brief The UKRI recently published a call for a new world-leading Centre in Community Participation and Connectedness. Bringing together academics, policymakers, practitioners and community members, the Centre will have a bold ambition to make a meaningful...
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...
Welcoming The Relationships Collective
Introducing The Relationships Collective The Relationships Collective is a group of 9 individuals who together represent just some of the brilliant, enthusiastic, creative and diverse people who are putting relationships first and pioneering a relationship-centred...
Plant trees and stir the soul
In brief In this blog, published at the start of 2023, David Robinson offers some personal reflections on working towards deep rooted, sustained social change. He draws out two urgent and important lessons from 40 years working in this space: plant trees and stir the...
Relational Councils and the cost of living crisis
In the Relational Councils Network we are working to support one another in making the challenging transition from relationships as the extra mile, to relationships as the first mile. If this mission is to be credible and useful in 2023 it must have relevance to the...
The magic of finding my peers of relationship-centred practitioners
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. We shared some of our key takeaways in this letter and, here, Fabian Pfortmüller...
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...
What is relationship-centred practice?
In brief Language matters. Words shape ideas and ideas shape action. We often use the words relationship-centred practice. In this blog David discusses his understanding of the phrase. This is a discussion piece with a set of working definitions and assumptions. We...
INVITATION: Join our 2 year plan for a 20 year vision to move relationships from the margins to the mainstream
In brief It’s been a while (almost 18 months!) since we first shared our application to the Lottery’s Bringing People Together Fund to help strengthen and grow the field of relationship-centred practice. We're delighted to say that our application was successful and...
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...
