8 02, 2022

More opportunity than ever – a chance for change

By |2022-02-10T09:24:37+00:00February 8th, 2022|Categories: Blog|Tags: |

Miranda Keast has joined the Fulfilling Lives evaluation team to oversee the final months of our learning programme. In this blog she reflects on what can be achieved as the programme draws to a close.

I’ve recently joined the national evaluation team at CFE Research for the last six months of the Fulfilling Lives programme. Whilst this could be seen as a time for winding down, wrapping up, and closing things off, in reality this couldn’t be further from the truth!

Grassroots communities have long seen, and sought to meet the needs arising from, gaps in systems; working in more established organisations, too, there can be frustration at rigid processes that leave people stuck, feeling stigmatised, and without anywhere to turn.

The introduction of Making Every Adult Matter […]

2 09, 2021

Turning the tide in Blackpool

By |2021-09-02T12:45:05+00:00September 2nd, 2021|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , |

Ian Treasure is the Programme Lead at Blackpool Fulfilling Lives. In this blog he reflects on the work of the programme over the last 7 years and how the system has, and still is, changing.

Blackpool is famous for illusions. Similar to the visual and kinaesthetic feast of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, System Change relies on redesigning those first few seconds, the moment of truth, when a customer comes into contact with a service. ‘System Change’ is the latest Baader-Meinhof frequency illusion, seldom heard but now thankfully ubiquitous. In order for system change to occur, it’s a back office job. That customer shouldn’t be troubled by how it is a good experience, just be happy that they are being treated well, regardless of […]

15 03, 2021

Using my experience to promote system change

By |2021-03-15T16:58:53+00:00March 15th, 2021|Categories: Blog|Tags: |

Mandy Winstanley, Involvement Champion with Every Step of the Way (Birmingham Changing Futures Together) and member of the National Expert Citizen Group reflects on how she has used her own experience to promote system change.

My story

I was raised in the care system during the 70s and 80s having being born to a 15 year old mother who was using substances. The impact of this led to many childhood traumas and I started using substances myself at 9 years old, using periodically until I got clean at the age of 47. My life as a drug user was hard work and I used to adopt various ideas of family life. As a mum to six children, I would become the Walton’s for years, sometimes Mary […]

15 02, 2021

COVID-19 has given us all permission to think differently

By |2021-02-15T14:19:22+00:00February 15th, 2021|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , |

Diane Elizabeth Smith MBE is the Head of Programme at Fulfilling Lives Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham. In this blog Diane reflects on how COVID-19 has given us all permission to think differently.

Adjusting our processes to operate during a pandemic has been a challenge, but it has also presented us with a unique opportunity to apply Systems Thinking to make a better society for all.

As an organisation, we acknowledge that our current system doesn’t work for everyone – particularly people who experience greater levels of disadvantage – and our ambition is to make services easier to access by working alongside people who need, deliver, evaluate, commission and govern these services.

So, while we have a responsibility to respond and react to the pandemic and the pressures […]

15 09, 2020

The role of lived experience in creating systems change

By |2020-09-15T10:12:09+00:00September 15th, 2020|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

Creating lasting systems change – at local and national levels – is a key objective of the Fulfilling Lives programme and experts by experience have become increasingly involved in systems change work in their local areas. Our latest publication draws together the experiences and perspectives of partnership staff, partner and stakeholder organisations and insights and reflections from experts by experience (people with lived experience of multiple disadvantage) involved in systems change activities.

By providing a powerful, authentic voice and unique insights, experts are able to challenge assumptions, motivate organisations to do things differently and pinpoint areas for change. The opportunity to be involved in system change activity can be empowering and satisfying as it enables experts to reframe negative past experiences as learning to drive positive […]

27 05, 2020

From crisis to opportunity: Reflecting on how we influence change

By |2020-09-15T09:57:17+00:00May 27th, 2020|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , |

Lewis Edwards, Learning and Impact Manager, has recently joined the Fulfilling Lives South East (FLSE) programme. In this blog Lewis reflects on how those previously experiencing homelessness have been temporarily housed during COVID-19 and how the current pandemic can be used to encourage systemic change.

In response to COVID-19, the UK government allocated an additional £3.2m to local authorities in March to temporarily house rough sleepers during the crisis. Reports suggest that as many as 5400 rough sleepers have been given temporary accommodation in hotels. As the discussion has turned to what will happen after the ‘lockdown’, the fate of those who have been housed during the pandemic remains uncertain. The government has just announced that it is bringing forward funding to provide 3300 long-term […]

4 07, 2019

Multiple Disadvantage Day, Take One

By |2019-07-04T09:15:28+00:00July 4th, 2019|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Chris Milner joined the Fulfilling Lives national evaluation team in February 2019. In his first blog he explores the role of art and emotion in recovery and raising awareness. 

The first Multiple Disadvantage Day took place on July 3rd 2019. The day marked an important stepping stone towards tackling the stigma associated with complex experiences of homelessness, offending, substance misuse and mental ill-health. These disadvantages are so often co-existing that it is essential that they are addressed together, and that we #seethefullpicture. By raising awareness of the reasons behind people’s circumstances, Multiple Disadvantage day aimed to encourage people to think before making a judgement.

[…]

20 06, 2019

Homelessness: We Know the Issues, but What About the Solutions?

By |2019-06-24T15:36:33+00:00June 20th, 2019|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , , , , |

Homelessness is in the news and has caught the public’s concern. But what I find frustrating is that relatively little is discussed about the solutions. Partnerships delivering the Fulfilling Lives programme have helped to make significant progress in reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. Among Fulfilling Lives beneficiaries we see a reduction in rough sleeping from 25 per cent to 17 per cent during their first year on the programme. I feel that partnership efforts deserve to play a central role in the discussion.

Our report, Promising Practice, explored how Fulfilling Lives partnerships have used Housing First approaches. Overall, the evidence suggests a high level of tenancy sustainment amongst Housing First beneficiaries.

Housing First is a client-centred model that supports individuals into independent […]

29 03, 2019

Contagion of Hope

By |2019-05-14T08:34:48+00:00March 29th, 2019|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , , , , |

Beth Collinson will be joining the Fulfilling Lives national evaluation team from April 2019 leading on our learning programme. In this, her first blog, she talks about the inspiration gained from attending a recent event held by one of the Fulfilling Lives partnerships.

Throughout my PhD, the social contagion of recovery (from substance misuse), became a predominant element of my work. In one of my first presentations, I explained that just as human emotions like happiness can be contagious, recovery is too. A colleague of mine (Professor David Best) explains in his work that the social contagion of recovery has the potential for “transmitting hope and the belief that recovery is possible even to those who are not yet ready to commit to abstinence“.

30 01, 2019

New report published: “Promising practice”, with key findings from local evaluations to date

By |2019-05-07T13:41:14+00:00January 30th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , , |

The national evaluation team have published key findings from local evaluations in their latest report, Promising Practice. The report:

  • Highlights approaches and interventions that appear promising based on local evaluation evidence;
  • Shares learning on successful implementation of these approaches;
  • Considers how different interventions are contributing the the programme’s systems change ambitions; and
  • Informs further evaluation activities.

[…]

28 01, 2019

Frontline workforce – it’s a question of pragmatism

By |2019-05-14T08:45:23+00:00January 28th, 2019|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , , , , , |

Having purpose, an eye for detail and a sense of curiosity are the Fulfilling Lives workforce attributes I have flagged as desirable in previous blogs. Time is often at a premium for staff. Smaller caseloads and flexibility are ways of extending the time available to beneficiaries. Which brings me round to another attribute for the practitioner which, is pragmatism.

As I said in the item on curiosity, practitioners engaged with the evaluation of theory not only contribute to better practice but ensure theory is grounded in pragmatism. Thereby theory becomes better as well. People become less inclined to say: ‘that is alright in theory, but it doesn’t work in practice’. A pragmatic practitioner doesn’t just know the theory, but they act on it because it works.

[…]

27 06, 2018

The need for change: Reflections from the newest member of the national evaluation team

By |2019-05-14T10:23:56+00:00June 27th, 2018|Categories: Blog, News|Tags: , , , , , , , |

It’s now six months since I joined the Fulfilling Lives national evaluation team. My background is in community and criminal justice research, so I have a degree of familiarity with the target group. I have evaluated initiatives to help re-engagement on release from prison, to provide pathways to education and ultimately employment, and to help with accommodation and independent living. Offenders often have chaotic lifestyles and multiple needs including experience of homelessness, alcohol and/or drug dependency, and/or mental health issues. You can often find childhood trauma, special educational needs or attachment issues as well. What struck me time and time again when listening to offenders and their workers tell me their stories was the lack of coherent support available to people who are in desperate […]

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