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Local Area Coordination in England and Wales

June 2021
Updates on Local Area Coordination, the work of the Network and
the areas implementing Local Area Coordination.  
In this month's edition we'll be covering:
  • Local Area Coordination in Wiltshire
  • Derby Evaluation Report 2018-2021
  • #OperationWIFI... a year on
  • and more...

Update from Nick Sinclair, Director of the Local Area
Coordination Network

Building Blocks of Better: Citizenship

Hello, I hope you well?  Thank you for stopping by and checking our June’s newsletter.

This month we’re reflecting on the principle of Citizenship. It’s a wonderful yet often problematic word depending on your interpretation of its meaning. For some it has distressing connotations, especially when they or a loved one has had their citizenship denied through legal process or absence of birth right. Our use of the word as a principle in Local Area Coordination doesn’t ignore the legal interpretation of citizenship, but in general we take a broader view of its meaning. We are striving for a society in which all people in our communities have the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities to participate in and contribute to the life of the community, respecting and supporting their identity, beliefs, values and practices. 

Local Area Coordinators are engaged in building meaningful relationships with people who often don’t feel a sense of connection and belonging to their community for whatever reason. We also hear how people feel failed by a system that wasn’t designed to meet their needs or understand their circumstances. Equally, where people are accessing services, we hear stories of people feeling stuck in a complex systemic web previously invisible to them before they came in to contact with it. People in this situation often feel like they have been written off as service users rather than being encouraged to be citizens. All of this can lead to an incredible waste of talent and life which makes us all poorer as a result.

What is the antidote? Well of course there’s no one silver bullet and it’s complex.  However, for those engaged in Local Area Coordination we believe by valuing people as citizens from outset of a relationship, by respecting and helping people grow their natural authority and by modelling a support system that fosters citizenship as its ultimate aim, well, that’s a pretty good start. Local Area Coordinators do that by being locally present, available, focussed on relationships, building and celebrating local assets, and always starting with someone’s vision of a good life.

During our conference, we were fortunate to have Dr Simon Duffy help us reflect on this. You can read his full piece in Building Blocks of Better. However, to finish this I thought I’d share his wonderful poem. For me, it says it all I think, and as he says here, our citizenship begins the moment we claim it!

OUR CITIZENSHIP (2020) by Simon Duffy
If they tell you,
You don’t belong
To their club, their class, their country;
Then remember that we all long
For more than hollow spaces
And empty boxes.
Don’t feel small because some small man
Tries to make himself feel bigger
By clinging to some flag
By claiming our fathers’ victories
And denying our fathers’ sins.
We liberate ourselves,
When we see that we belong:
Right here, right now,
Amongst those who’ve found us.
Our citizenship begins
The moment that we claim it;
Don’t let it be defined
By those seeking to deny it.
Let no club, no class, no country
Divide or categorise you.
We are citizens of every place
Where and when
We start to build it.
Our little lives burn brightest
When love and fellowship unite us.

Thank you,
Nick Sinclair

Useful publications inc. those on Local Area Coordination
and/or Asset Based work

Reflections from the Building Positive Futures Programme
The Building Positive Futures Programme has been running since December 2020 with sessions booked into 21/22. This report looks at the outcomes from a series of Action Learning Groups held between December 2020 and March 2021.

Read the report

Human Learning Systems: Public Service for the real world by
This report argues that a significant part of the problems experienced by public service are due to the way that public management is conceived and done. It has been created by practitioners who have taken that feeling and developed an alternative approach to public management and represents learning from almost 50 case studies. 

Read the e-book
Read the summary

Kit for councils
The Relationships Project has teamed up with Tony Clements –  Strategic Director for Economy at Hammersmith and Fulham Council – to develop a kit to inspire and support councils to create the conditions for relationships to thrive within their communities.

Find out more

Whose Social Care is it Anyway?
Social Care Future's 'Whose Social Care is it Anyway? inquiry group has released their initial findings after hearing from over 500 people. These have been summarised into 5 key changes that they will look to address in the next stage of their inquiry.

Read the report

Citizenship

 
This month's focus is on Citizenship, check out our report Building Blocks of "Better", to read Simon Duffy's speech on this principle, or watch the video from our conference in December 2020.

Local Area Coordination in Wiltshire


This visual report, created by the Local Area Coordination Network for Wiltshire Council, aims to understand the impact of Local Area Coordination from the perspective of their service and community partners (introducers) as part of a much bigger internal evaluation. We developed a survey, asking key questions, in collaboration with the Local Area Coordination Team in Wiltshire, which was completed by 113 people representing various groups and organisations between March and April 2021. View the report

Key findings included:
  • 95% Agree that Local Area Coordination is a valuable resource in our communities.
  • 91% Agree that Local Area Coordinators are rooted in their local communities and are seen as a community resource.

Derby Evaluation Report - 2018-2021


Following the decision in early 2021 to expand Local Area Coordination across all seventeen wards of Derby, the latest evaluation looks at Local Area Coordination in Derby 2018 - 2021. The analysis of outcomes looks at the impact of Local Area Coordination on many areas including sustaining tenancies, crisis health interventions and appointments, and secondary mental health services. You can read the full report here, or the summary version here.
  • It is estimated that more than 2,000 Derby residents and their families have been supported actively by Local Area Coordination.
  • Approximately 81.5% of the people supported reside in parts of the city which fall into the 30% most deprived areas of England.
  • With expansion to cover the whole city, it is estimated that 765 people per year will receive active support through Local Area Coordination.
“I’ve been able to stay at home with help from my neighbours instead of going into a Care Home.” - A Derby resident
“My Local Area Co-ordinator gave me hope during my most challenging times. I felt suicidal before [they] came into my life and helped me navigate many challenges. Thanks to [them] I am now independent, confident and have connections to my local community. [They are] ‘my angel’.” - A Derby resident

Social Care Future - Spring Gathering 


All sessions from the Spring Gathering are now available to watch online. Listen to our own Nick Sinclair speak about 'Permission, purpose, power', Angela Catley from Community Catalysts talk about 'The Valuable Project' and many more.
 
Watch Nick's session here
Watch Angela's session here
Watch all the speakers here

Shining a light on the valuable (not vulnerable)


Community Catalysts' Valuable and Vulnerable campaign recently concluded with an interactive report and collection of stories highlighting the problems with the term 'vulnerable' and the strength of individuals. They are now working to keep the conversation going and share their findings. Find out more about the findings of this campaign.
 

Ways to keep the conversation going:

#OperationWIFI... a year on


Community Organisers have published an update documenting the #OperationWIFI project after a year of campaigning. Launched in March 2020, they are tackling data poverty by calling for a "National Databank" - which works in the same way as a food bank, but for internet data. 

One of the many actions so far was that Members of the alliance pledged as part of the “random acts of kindness” Twitter campaign to donate their data if there was the opportunity to do so. This campaign was picked up by a national telecommunications provider, which opened conversations with the alliance about the potential for a national databank, with this idea currently being explored in more detail.  

Read the update here
Sign up to support the campaign

Event: Anticipatory Care in Communities


C4PC is hosting an event in partnership with NHSE and the Anticipatory Care team on Monday 28 June, 2pm - 4pm.

This workshop is part of the Community Services and Ageing Well programme and will discuss the practical considerations for delivering anticipatory care within communities. This will be an opportunity to hear from key health and social care leaders working at national, regional, and local levels.

The role out of anticipatory care in communities is likely to impact the communities in which we have Local Area Coordination, and this event will be an opportunity to find out more about what it means for individuals.

Sign up for this event

IMPACT- have your say


Share your views and make an IMPACT on adult social care via this short survey.

IMPACT is a new centre to 'improve outcomes for people who use services and their carers' by 'supporting the best use of evidence in adult social care' across the UK.

The IMPACT centre wants to hear from anyone involved with, or connected to, adult social care. They are particularly interested in hearing from:

  • People who draw on care and support services
  • User-led and community organisations
  • Groups that work with people whose voices are seldom heard
  • People who look after someone else – ‘carers’
  • People who work in social care
  • People who don’t usually get asked to contribute their views
  • People from black and minority ethnic communities

Find out more about the IMPACT centre

The IMPACT centre is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and The Health Foundation and is led by Prof Jon Glasby at the University of Birmingham.

TLAP Podcasts


TLAP has recorded a podcast on what makes Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme sustainable with actuary Sarah Johnson who explains it in Plain English, along with Norman Lamb, Neil Crowther, Social Care Today, SCIE and The Kings Fund.

Listen here

Check out all of TLAP's podcasts here

Useful blogs


A review of the role of community in health and social care policy by Kate Linsky
https://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/Blog/A-review-of-the-role-of-community-in-health-and-social-policy-/

Be more Slinky: Maintaining new beliefs and behaviours by Jennie-Kate McCreight
https://www.jkchangework.life/post/be-more-slinky-maintaining-new-beliefs-and-behaviours

Framing the problem with Social Care by Neil Crowther
https://socialcarefuture.blog/2021/06/11/framing-the-problem-with-social-care/

Participatory research and wellbeing by Dr Louise Warwick-Booth
https://whatworkswellbeing.org/blog/participatory-research-and-wellbeing/

Amplifying voices less heard by Andy Tilden
https://www.communitycatalysts.co.uk/2021/06/14/amplifying-voices-less-heard/

How to get in touch

Email or phone Rachel for general enquiries or to supply content for future editions of the Update:
rachel.tait@communitycatalysts.co.uk
07384835721

Email or phone Nick about work with members and about new work to embed Local Area Coordination in your area:
nick@lacnetwork.org
07407789130

Website: http://lacnetwork.org/
Facebook: @LACNetwork
Twitter: @LACNetworkUK
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