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.
Honouring, celebrating and exploring the voices of young people
In brief On 27th July 2022, we co-hosted an event with Save the Children to celebrate and explore the stories that young people shared with us through The Lookout. We were joined by two of our Chief Listeners - Mete Coban and Kirsty McNeil - who shared their...
Relational Councils: Developing a more relational language
Our third Relational Councils Convening took place on 25th April 2022, co-hosted by LBBD. Bryony Shannon, author of the excellent blog Rewriting Social Care and Strategic Lead for Practice Development at Doncaster Council, shared her thoughts on why language matters,...
Building connections to tackle our cultural isolation
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 intersection of psychology,...
From process-led to relationship-led: Moving towards more relational Councils
On 14th February, in partnership with LBBD, we hosted our second relational councils convening. In this session, we asked: How could we see relationships as a solution to statutory duties, not as incompatible with them? Our next convening, taking place on 25th April,...
Where are we now?
In brief In this milestone blog David Robinson takes the temperature as we approach the second anniversary of Covid 19. The UK is stuck in a pattern of “shuffle and repeat” with fears for the future, but also the possibility of hope.The past two years have caused...
Exploring what it means to be a relational council
In December, we gathered to discuss what it means to be a relational council, the challenges in putting relationships at the heart of how council’s operate, and the pathways forward. Here, we draw out the key themes and questions from the discussion and invite you to...
Togetherness
In brief In this, our last blog of 2021, we look back on another year of disruption and pain and remind ourselves of the patches of light and the power of relationships in helping us to heal. It has taken a long time to get here, but I do have more than one person I...
Tending to the relationships that make us feel most alive
In brief In this blog, Oli Barrett shares his personal reflections on relationships that have gone untended as we did what we needed to to get through the dark days of the pandemic. And he reminds us that it's not too late to reconnect with those who make us feel most...
Sustaining and evolving the best of Mutual Aid
In brief In this blog, David explores the possibilities for Mutual Aid 2.0 and shares our plans for a peer sharing group for anyone interested in the question of how we nurture and sustain community activity into the future. A year ago, You Gov research, undertaken...
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...
