Our Journey
Reflections, ideas, and thoughts
Shifting Systems Through Honest Conversations
It was clear from the stories people shared that the systems we strive to change are not merely external constructs, but are deeply enmeshed…
Doing the inner work: How do we tend to our elephants?
How do we support communities to be able to tend to their collective inner work?
The Gateshead Bridgebuilder Diaries: 2. Recruiting Bridgebuilders
If you’re trying to explore new and creative ways to discover what could make life better for people who experience poverty and disadvantage…
The Gateshead Bridgebuilder Diaries: 1. Why do we need bridgebuilders?
The Gateshead Community Bridgebuilder project has been running since early 2020. The work has been muddy and confusing, and we have been...
How "Lived Experience" fails lived experience
I find myself feeling quite uncomfortable about the way many of the discussions about ‘lived experience’ are playing out these days…
People @ The Heart
You can either structure support systems around people or around professional concerns. Any system not structured around the people it is intended to serve is inevitably going to clash with and exacerbate people’s needs. Our current system is structured around professional concerns…
The exciting possible futures of Gateshead Mutual Aid
We’ve been big proponents of the Mutual Aid groups and the work they’ve done across the country to support local communities through the pandemic. Last week, we helped host a meeting of Mutual Aid volunteers across Gateshead in which we invited people to share their ideas about what they’d like the groups to do next to help strengthen local communities.
Dear Mutual Aid groups...
We’ve seen local residents helping each other with shopping, with prescriptions, with staying safe and connected during these strangest of times…
The vital role for the community sector in the fight against climate change
“Charities need to become more like businesses.” - I would be the first to admit that many charitable organisations are not well run and would make much greater impact if their work was more focused. Nevertheless, I believe that we should both resist this claim and strongly argue the exact opposite…