I am a public health practitioner in a local authority, a charity leader in a small town and, at heart, a community development creative practitioner.
I have been a youth worker both in local authority and the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise sector. I have been an artist, recruited for a purpose to bring to life the voice of the community, or because there’s money in the pot.
I have been a policy maker and convener of policy makers.
I have been an opportunist, as policy arises, I have seen potential and gathered around it.
I have been a bridge between elected members and communities.
My career has been built over time from a curiosity about how communities work in practice. How health is created, what thriving looks like, how individuals and communities are supported and develop.
I sit in the place where policy meets practice, and that is my area of research interest.
A lot of my current work leans into trauma-informed and responsive practice. An area that is well known in health, care and service delivery that works with individuals experiencing trauma. But what does this look like on a broader scale? How are we working with this into our policy engagement work, and not just as a policy line, but in practice?
Themes of the fellowship
My fellowship will seek to find others like me and like people I have encountered along the way who were a bridge between policy and practice. People who have stayed where they are for decades, translating and serving. The entrepreneurs of place who find funding and policy opportunities and make stuff happen.
What is their experience over time? How do they see themselves? How have they adapted? How have they been interacted with? What has happened because of them?
I will be meeting these people in their places and recording interviews as we explore their place together and ask questions about their experiences.
Over the next few months, I will produce a series of blogs that examine these themes and explore how experiences have differed across areas and perspectives.
It is important to hear these stories for future policy creation as our cycles are both rapid and slow, both the source of frustration and opportunity. If we are to come with a trauma-informed mindset, we need to understand the impact of those in places who are bridges and enactors of policy.
To round off this season of the fellowship, the fellows in the ‘Communities in their Places’ theme are collaborating on a podcast series looking at trust and relationship where I will bring an episode exploring the voices and stories I have listened to.
Culture in Place
Along with the ‘Culture in Place’ theme, I am excited to bring some ‘Hackathon’ methodology that I have developed in NHS South West to look at cultural policy creation and how to bring a national framework into practice.
This method emerged as a way to explore leveraging behaviour science in population health improvement. The creativity of the day led to recommendations in transport, digital solutions and person-centred care. In essence, it allows space for creativity and an honouring of those in the room without hierarchy.
As a community development professional, it is often the methodology I come with to create safe space for participants to unlock something new.
Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales
In the second part of the year, I intend to see how the Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales Innovation Labs are developing Community Kitchens.
Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales has done a lot of work exploring rurality in the Welsh context, and an element that caught my eye as similar to the aims in community development was the perception of growth. Growth, not as a linear, expanding measurement, but as a thriving within the community. This context and the work they are doing to support community development organisations offer another opportunity to explore the experiences of those setting up and running new projects to support thriving communities.
I will bring a creative project, with methods around ‘Forum Theatre’ to LPIP Cymru that will also explore the potential of creative policy making by engaging these new community kitchens and enabling localised policy recommendations that will smooth the path for innovation in communities.
Reflections
I am endlessly curious about community enablers and how we as a whole system can work together in a psychologically safe way. My hope is that this fellowship contributes to the wider system in a way that builds understanding and further curiosity about how we can work together.
This blog was written by Helen O’Gara, a public health professional and local charity leader.
Find out more about the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this post are those of the author and not necessarily those of City-REDI or the University of Birmingham.