A series of free learning events through March and September, which are designed to create connections, inspire people to action, and build momentum for strengths-based practice.
We have spent the last four years engaging with people through the New System Alliance, and delivering a wide range of events or training. One of the key challenges that people have shared from the start, is that changing how we work can be hard, and it can sometimes be lonely. Sometimes people are working with the full support of the system, or their organisations – other times they might be trying something new whilst feeling isolated.
Our Learning Programme is built around trying to make strengths-based working a reality, and the the key priorities we need to work through in order to get there. Each learning session will include an hour where we present and share learning – followed by an hour of reflection where people can raise other barriers or challenges they are facing locally.
You can sign up to the Strengths-Based Learning Programme here.
Reflective Practice
Reflective practice, done with the right conditions and understanding, can be transformational in how we deliver support. In this session we hearing from people who have worked to implement reflection within their organisation – and the impact this has had.
What do we mean by mental health?
April 4, 9:30 – 11:30am
Platfform has been campaigning for a shift in the way we understand mental health – an understanding that is based on acknowledging the impact that poverty, trauma, discrimination and inequality have on our wellbeing. This session will explore that, and also consider what that means for support and services more widely.
How do we share our impact?
May 2, 9:30 – 11:30am
Delivered by Nick Andrews
In this session we will look at ways that we can gather impact around strengths-based work, and consider the challenges that face the third sector – and how the need for generating evidence of impact in purely quantitative ways can stymie creativity and change.
Nick Andrews is a Registered Social Worker and Research and Practice Development Officer in Swansea University, where he co-ordinates the Developing Evidence Enriched Practice (DEEP) programme. The focus of this work is a co-production approach to using diverse types of evidence in learning and development using story and dialogue methods. He is passionate about supporting a shift from process to relationship-centred policy and practice.
Nick co-ordinates the Developing Evidence Enriched Practice (DEEP) programme, which has included exploring the idea of “Stories of Most Significant Change”. There is a growing recognition that people’s stories can be more powerful than numbers. “Most Significant Change” is a storytelling approach to gathering and exploring change, and was developed in the context of public health and community development.
Most Significant Change has been used successfully in a broad range of situations, with both individuals and communities, to capture the impact of a change – in their own lives and from their own perspectives. It enables their views to be heard and explored further in dialogue with relevant stakeholders.
How do we campaign for local change?
June 6, 9:30 – 11:30am
This session will draw on our experience of leading campaigns that also connect to practice experience on the ground, and will explore what power and agency support workers, coaches and other practitioners have to make local change.
How do we embed understandings of power in our co-production?
July 11, 9:30 – 11:30am
Delivered by Noreen Blanluet
A key theme for coaching and other strengths-based approaches has been how can we broaden our understanding of power and how this can play out across services. We will explore how we can create the conditions needed for authentic co-production.
When citizens and professionals work in partnership, services are improved and better meet people’s needs, and communities grow in resilience. In the current landscape of dwindling public resources and increasing demand, co-production and co-creation offer a compelling approach to bringing positive, sustainable change to public services and communities.
Noreen Blanluet (she/they) is an experienced facilitator, trainer and public services consultant. They support statutory and third sector organisations with training and advice on co-production and citizen involvement. Noreen has over a decade’s experience in group and team dynamics, relational approaches, collaboration, meaningful engagement, co-production, compassionate communication, inclusive facilitation, and values-based work. They help people delivering public services to make things better for the people they support.
How do we navigate the emotional complexity of endings?
September 12, 9:30 – 11:30am
In the New System Alliance’s final month, it seems fitting to talk about ‘endings’, and how we navigate the emotional complexity of sending support for people. We will explore what we have learned through delivering the PTS coaching approach in how to manage this often challenging transition.
We would encourage people to book onto the Learning Programme using the form below or the link above. We will then contact you with event joining details for each of these sessions in turn.