Page 7 - WCEN Dr Rochelle Burgess evaluation report\ Baloon

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Forwardd
F F o r w a r d
Forward
It’s increasingly accepted that addressing our most entrenched problems requires asking of ourselves
what can we achieve together that cannot be accomplished on our own We know that public services
and those funded by them are under enormous and unrelenting pressure to deliver within a context of
huge budget cuts, increasing demand and constant structural change. Doing what is done now but
harder, faster and on less money just isn’t an option. Nor is cutting provision to the bone, lifting
thresholds of access and rationing services. This simply suggests people wait until their situation gets
really bad before giving support – and we know that this does not work for either the individual or the
person supporting them.

The wider context requires us to be audacious in our thoughts and actions, to tread new paths and to
form new and unlikely alliances. To do this requires bravery, skill and an ability to bridge the divides
of service lines, institutional structures and to reach out to others.

Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network and the statutory services around them are doing
just that. Through careful relationship and network building Malik and colleagues are at a point where
Mosques, Churches, Temples, the NHS mental health trust and Clinical Commissioning Group are
sitting together talking about what’s required in their local community. Where Imams and Pastors are
trained in delivering therapeutically informed support, working in a dementia friendly way and where
their skills are valued and recognised across the board. Through taking this approach people who
have been deemed “hard to reach” are being engaged – thereby challenging the notion that they were
ever hard to reach but instead highlights that statutory provision have been devising services in ways
that meant that they, not people, were hard to reach.

What is clear from all of the work we fund at Lankelly Chase is that the stories we tell ourselves about
‘others’ get in the way of collective action. It is easy to blame the other side, whether it’s commission-
ers, the voluntary sector, individuals or communities. We need the humility to reflect on our roles and
responsibilities and to be prepared to be wrong – accepting that if it was obvious what was wrong, we
would already be changing it. These types of skills require us to invest in learning with each other,
seek perspectives from people who view and experience the system differently, collectively create the
solutions as well as share the risks. This is exactly what’s happening in Wandsworth.

What’s emerged is a system in which honest, open, trusting dialogue is essential, a system that
recognises everyone is part of it and so everyone must have their voice heard and a system that is
constantly learning and adapting. It is a place where co-production of support is genuinely happening.
And as we collectively move to the next phase it requires us to work out how financial, quality assurance
and monitoring encourages rather than blocks this way of working.

What this will continue to ask of each of us is an acceptance that there is a different way of being, that
we can bend and flex our approaches – because as the past few years have shown us when we are
prepared to act in this way something truly exciting and powerful emerges. This work hasn’t happened
overnight. It’s required commitment and focus over many years, but I hope it shows that investing in
dialogue reaps rewards far beyond initial expectations.