By Alex Fox, Mayday Trust CEO Strengths-based, so what? There is no shortage of organisations which claim their work is strengths-based, led by people and trauma-informed. Those ideas, all of which are about being people-shaped rather than system-shaped, have taken hold. They have been a positive force in public services and charities at a time when
By Alex Fox Mayday Trust CEO, Oliver Townsend Platfform's Head of Connections and Change and Grant Campbell Homeless Network Scotland's Head of Partnerships & Consulting. Place-based working: a trauma-informed approach The New System Alliance core partners, Mayday Trust, Homeless Network Scotland and Platfform share a desire for radical system change which shifts services and public
By Alex Fox, CEO of Mayday Trust. Becoming Open Systems Dr Jean Boulton of Bath University observed at a Northumbria University/ Centre for Public Impact conference on relational public services, that we are all ‘open systems’ not ‘closed systems’: we are impacted by what’s around us and impact what’s around us, in ways which are
In this blog, Relationships Project founder David Robinson, and Alex Fox, chief executive of Mayday Trust, reflect on the role that relationships and relationship-building play in creating effective public services and charities, and what connects and distinguishes the two organisations. Putting Relationships First, with David Robinson from the Relationships Project The Relationships Project was born
Good old-fashioned support work: a rose-tinted myth, a thought exercise, or a template for the future? After a successful and thought-provoking event last month, showcasing the PTS Response, Jhoana Serna (JS), Head of PTS Coaching at Mayday Trust, sits down with Oliver Townsend (OT), Head of Partnerships and Practice at Platfform, to discuss strengths-based working
Through the eyes of a PTS Coach By Meg Forader, a PTS Coach for Mayday Trust. Working in a strengths-based way allows people I meet with to feel valued (because they ARE valuable!) even at what may be their lowest points, when a lot of society is treating them like they have no value at
Good Intentions aren’t always enough. By Grant Campbell, Head of Partnerships & Consulting at Homeless Network Scotland. The growing pressure of the ‘permacrisis’ mobilised a wide range of voluntary action, in city centres and communities across the country to help people most affected. Understandably, there are often no benchmarks, national strategies or guidelines on
By Oliver Townsend, Head of Partnerships and Practice at Platfform. #HousingMattersWales We are trying to do things differently in Platfform, as so many organisations are across Wales. The past ten years have resulted in rapid, positive practice and policy change in our country, despite huge and unprecedented financial pressures. I’ve been writing about some of
Natasha Almond from the Good Organisation writes about Homeless Bound (Coterminous CIC, 2022)- A book that explores how the language and misconceptions of people experiencing homelessness continue to shape our response to the issue: Homeless Bound “The media, almost without exception, will put an image of a ‘man in doorway’ shot in an article about
By Alex Fox, CEO of Mayday Trust. Alex believes that the UK’s charities and public services have one goal: to create ways for people who want support, and people who want to help, to meet as equals. What works best in support services usually feels small, human and personal. Alex is fascinated by how to
