Themes for work in 2016
Creativity, engagement and empowering people to shape their services are critical to rehabilitation; and helping commissioners and providers to work in more integrated ways to support people of all ages who experience multiple points of need. The challenges will be in developing effective systemic service models, as well as looking at how organisation design and operating models can be informed by what we know about working with trauma and extreme disadvantage, with therapeutically principled ways of working within and across organisations.

Stephen is currently working as Strategy and Engagement Consultant with The Integrate Movement (TIM) developing the business and operating model and launching its services. TIM offers development to services supporting excluded young people to develop better mental health, based on the INTEGRATE approach developed by MAC-UK.

For Future Work Institute, he is co-delivering a workshop in January for senior managers of a pharmaceutical company on tackling unconscious bias and the benefits of inclusion.

Joanna, with Stephen, is also working on a ‘one-man show’ based on the life of a man from the heart of Tottenham, London – a mediator between police, community and gangs, and with a powerful story to tell. The aim is to develop the show in a way that shows that there is an alternative to cycles of racism, exclusion and violence. This is a good example of how our skill sets will merge together over time.

Her work developing and directing the production of ‘With Full Conviction’ working with non actors for whom the process of working together and performing will be significant to their own personal journeys of overcoming exclusion, was performed over 3 nights in February to acclaim and appreciation for the ensemble. The play itself drew in the audience to think about and explore the ideas of community and inclusion as a response to the play.

Joanna continues to work with Help for Heroes.

Joanna has seed funding to develop an innovative approach to local storytelling in Somerset, the first phase of which will be in 2016.

2015

Stephen and Mandy Hetherton worked together to deliver a coaching and development programme for 6 managers of Adult Social Care services at LB Waltham Forest. Evaluation demonstrated individual development as well as a marked enhancement in team work amongst managers. This has particularly impacted on the implementation of the new organisation around the ‘customer journey’across Adult Social Care Services.

Stephen completed a programme over 9 months facilitating two action learning sets of leaders of social action projects funded by Lankelly Chase Foundation (though Action Learning Associates). See Case Studycase study. He has been working with LankellyChase to further develop system change leadership through the projects it is funding.

Stephen delivered 4 1-day workshops as part of RedQuadrant’s Applied Service ReDesign programme of work with Bristol City Council. The cohort was a group of Social Care service managers/commissioner. We covered themes of navigating change, benefits mapping, managing demand and behaviours.

Stephen led a review (2014-15) of day services for older people provided by a local council and working with them to develop a sustainable service model for delivery through its day centre. He worked with Council officers to enable potential service development and partnership at the day centre to create a sustainable resource for older people with complex needs. Services will be extended in partnership with an innovative care provider to people with more complex needs and opening hours will be extended. The Council itself will save money, whilst increasing the range of services and developing the centre as a community resource for older people with complex needs including dementia, people with learning disabilities, and as a hub for carers support and development.

Joanna continued to deliver monthly drama rehab workshops through the year at Tidworth House (Help for Heroes rehabilitation centre) working with small groups of service men and women coping with physical and psychological trauma. She also started work directing a play, working with non actors for whom the process of working together and performing will be significant to their own personal journeys of overcoming exclusion.

Stephen and Joanna worked together to provide workshops to support a staff and management engagement process Stephen was developing for Kids Company. Unfortunately, the closing of this charity at such short notice meant that the work was not completed. All in all, this was a distressing situation for the kids and young people and their parents as well as for staff. A complex set of forces were at work and our work was all about building a stronger ‘container’ for the organisation, which was spread across some 15 sites as well as outreach in 36 schools.

Stephen supported Joanna to deliver a drama workshop for 25 Young Carers in Somerset.

Stephen facilitated a company vision and strategy day for a local Somerset business.

Stephen was part of a RedQuadrant team delivering a pilot Commissioning development programme in June 2015.

In April 2015, Stephen worked with AllChange, working with an artist to visually capture the outputs of a strategy day held by a global brand team from within Unilever. Late 2014, he led an innovative use of graphic artists to capture learning visually at a 3 Day international conference as part of creating a high level of delegate engagement during and after the event. The aim was for the visual capture (see the ‘iTab’ here) to provide both memory and a tool to call colleagues to action after the event.

2014

Working with prederi , for 5 months in 2014 Stephen supported the development of a 5 year commissioning strategy for health across SE London for 6 NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) covering six boroughs. This has involved working with senior clinicians, NHS and local authority senior officers in ‘Clinical Leadership Groups’ covering Primary & Community Care, Long Term Conditions, Urgent and Emergency Care, Children and Young People, Maternity, Planned Care and Cancer. This is a clinically-led commissioning strategy and reflects a high level of involvement from the provider NHS Trusts, with leadership from the CCG Chief Officers.

His role was to facilitate senior planning meetings and large workshops, developing system-level service models, impact analysis and ‘roadmap’ development. In particular he has supported the Urgent and Emergency Care and Children and Young People strands of the strategy. The submission of the first version of the strategy to NHS England was on 20th June and then he worked with the groups to develop elements of the service model and impact analysis.

During 2013 until March 2014 he worked for a London Borough, NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Foundation Mental Health Trust leading a strategic review of Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) across the borough. Over 5 months, this involved working with senior officers from the three organisations and a working group of children’s commissioning and CAMHS clinical services staff, developing a new service model and work programme for system-level change which will influence future commissioning, service development and service specifications.

This work came through his association with Red Quadrant. RedQuadrant are a local government consulting practice that have grown significantly over the last 3-4 years. Great group of people doing important work supporting this sector through these challenging times.

2013 and earlier

Stephen has been developing links with AllChange to bring strategy development and implementation to life for clients, through ‘Delta Rich Pictures’ and visual facilitation and a high engagement process. Stephen has considerable experience in this type of intervention and it is exciting to become involved with Ian Ure and Douglas Cameron on this venture. We are currently working together with a global law firm, articulating a vision for how Information Technology can enable the firm’s strategy and using the rich picture as a means to facilitate engagement of the business in the vision.

Stephen has also been working with Kids Company providing 121 manager supervision in Bristol, and recently led a development session for clinical supervisors (who provide supervision to staff) on supervising in a complex organisation.