Everyone's Blog Posts - Citizen Power Peterborough

Citizen Aid - should citizens be trained in first aid and how to intervene in anti-social behaviour?

2012-09-06T09:00:00.000Z

This is a blog that appeared recently on the NESTA website following the publication of a report from NESTA and the RSA. Wording attributed to NESTA's Philip Colligan.

"Last week Nesta and the RSA published a report by Ben Rogers calling for citizens to be trained in how to stop fights and intervene in anti-social behaviour. As you'd expect, the report generated some interesting debate.

The message from the Police Federation was unequivocal - police don't have time to train citizens, we're far too busy already. Others argued that citizens should stay away from trouble at all costs, that they'd only get injured or worse. Another popular response has been to blame the government's austerity measures and call for more police instead of vigilantes.

I worry that we may be missing the point.

Let's take the argument back to its basics. Over many generations, we have accumulated a vast amount of knowledge that can be put to good use if we can get it into the hands of citizens.

Often that's about helping people make better choices for themselves or their families. From the advice that our doctors give us to stop smoking or eat more healthily, to the advice that midwifes give new mums on breastfeeding. We have integrated knowledge transfer from professional to citizen into our model of public services.

I'd argue we haven't done nearly enough, but in lots of fields it's now core to what professionals do.

In some areas we've even introduced laws and regulations that require people to have a level of knowledge and competence. The Highway Code is a great example. As more people took to the roads in big heavy lumps of metal that move, it became important to formalise the knowledge about what constituted safe road use. For drivers, that led to the introduction of licensing and the driving test.

A more recent innovation has been the introduction of speed awareness courses as an alternative to fines, with apparently good evidence that the courses have a positive impact on future driving behaviour, while fines have no effect.

It's only a small step from these innovations to providing knowledge that can enable citizens to support each other.
It's not about public services retreating. It's about recognising that value doesn't only come from tax payer funded professionals doing things to people. With a little imagination, we can equip people with the knowledge and confidence to be useful to others.

This is the area where I think we haven't done nearly enough.

The inspiration for Ben Roger's report was Surgeon-Major Peter Shepherd who in 1878 came up with the idea of teaching first aid skills to citizens, and created the pioneering St John's Ambulance first aid course. At the time, the idea caused lots of worry about amateurs causing more harm than good.

Today, having a population equipped with basic life savings skills is so widely accepted that it's mandatory in parts of Europe - in some cases a requirement of having a driving license.

There is surely no doubt that we would all be safer in a society where most people knew the simple, basic actions that could keep us alive in those crucial moments before emergency services can get to us?
Once you accept that argument, then you open up a whole world of possibilities, some of which at least are already happening.

The Expert Patient programme, where people who live with a disease provide advice and support to others who share their affliction; the National Childbirth Trust, whose volunteers support thousands of mums and dads; or more recent innovations like FutureYou a new online platform where young people can get support and advice from volunteer mentors - themselves young people - about finding a job or training.

In all of these examples and many more like them, ordinary people - volunteers - are equipped with formal knowledge that they combine with their own experience, wisdom and judgement to help out other people.

We need more innovations like these and that's why Nesta has been working with the Young Foundation on the U, a new citizens' university that is testing new ultra low cost ways of teaching ordinary people useful skills.

Is first aid for antisocial behaviour all that different? Clearly there are those who think it is a step too far, but I wonder how many of us have seen something anti-social happening, wanted to intervene, but didn't have the skills or confidence to do so.

It's not about creating an army of have-a-go heroes, but simply putting useful knowledge that already exists into the hands of citizens so that they can put it to use."

Georgina back again. So what do you think? Would providing more people with first aid skills be a positive move? What are the implications of this? Would it encourage more people to step into dangerous situations? Would it create a kinder, more caring society?

I was particularly struck by the example of the Expert Patient programme - we were asked recently what qualifications we possess to speak to people about otherwise hidden trauma they have (should work we are doing bring about such emotions and feelings) - and the response we gave was to value the sharing of personal experiences and stories with empathy as well as providing links to the professional services. It's interesting to consider where different responsibilities lie in caring and looking after each other.

What do you think?

"I've got an opinion!"

2012-09-05T08:51:09.000Z

This was the refrain from the floor as well as the panel at the Bishop Creighton Academy – Peterborough Cathedral ‘Question Time’ event held in Peterborough last week last week. Around 30 students from Bishop Creighton Academy filed into the Bishop’s Palace in Peterborough Cathedral to quiz faith leaders from the city about the role of their institutions in a diverse 21st century city. The event was the culmination of a year of work that school teachers, the school council, and the Cathedral have developed in partnership under the banner of the Peterborough Curriculum.

Students, senior clergy including the Bishop of Peterborough, and members of the Peterborough Inter-faith Council, sat on the panel, while pupils asked questions from the floor.

The project had multiple aims for the school:

to allow students to learn about the role of the Cathedral through the ages, incorporating history, geography and other subjects into the project;
to encourage students to reflect on the role of other faith institutions;
to project the Cathedral as a place for students and their families of all faith backgrounds to visit, to learn and to feel at home in;
and to develop critical, questioning and debating skills in the students.

Question the panel the students certainly did. About the Cathedral, its history, its role in the community, and that of the Hindu temples in the city. Although it was the opinions voiced from the floor that were most striking: almost exclusively relating to the importance of different faiths and communities living well together in Peterborough. This was particularly profound because it was at this school during the build up to the English Defence League march in the city in December 2010 that I heard about children crying, believing that people were coming to cut their heads off. The class of majority Muslim Year 5 students being offered the chance to express their views and question Anglican, Catholic and Hindu faith leaders on the role of their institutions in the city was an exciting idea, and one that came directly from the teachers and Cathedral staff working together.

The plan is to repeat and extend the idea of a ‘Question Time’ format to more schools in Peterborough in future years, to include a diverse range of issues, and to include live broadcasting into the event. The event is prepared for throughout the school year, and embedded in the school curriculum.

Sometimes, however, it is the simplest and most unexpected things that come out of projects like these, that are the most powerful.

When the Bishop of Peterborough explained to the children that their school was named after a former Bishop who had lived in this very building – heads whizzed around to stare at the painting of the eminent Bishop Creighton on the wall. The children were palpably surprised and excited that their own school shared a name with this eminent individual on the wall.

And it was this connection between the Cathedral and its geographically closest primary school that has been reignited by the Peterborough Curriculum work. Last year, when the school was flooded during a heavy downpour, the partnership that had been developed around curriculum design meant that teachers could pick up the phone to the Cathedral Education Officer: and the entire school decamped to the Cathedral for the rest of the day.

The curriculum work and learning that students are doing through the school’s partnership with the Cathedral is yet to be evaluated. But the relationship between students and their locality; between their own identity and that of the city in which they are growing up; and between the school and the Cathedral are already profoundly different.

The Cathedral, our other partners, the schools with whom we work and others in the city are now debating how to spread and embed the idea of educational partnership throughout Peterborough. Watch this space!

The man with the golden deely-boppers.

2012-07-25T21:30:09.000Z

Putting some of my children to bed I found a pair of deely-boppers in the wrong place.

'Who's are these deely-boppers?' I asked.

' I think they're mine' said my eldest. 'That's a good name for them, Daddy' she added.

'That's what they're called' I said. 'They've always been called deely-boppers'...

They've always been called deely-boppers since they were first invented, probably in the late 70s or early 80s. I'll look it up on google in a minute. I wondered to myself who had invented them and who had the brilliant idea of calling them 'deely-boppers'. If I had a penny for every set of deely-boppers that have ever been sold I could probably retire comfortably and devote myself to a life of leisure and eco-socialist campaigning. I wouldn't have as much money as the man who invented the barcode. He really is rich. My brother-in law used to work in a restaurant in Hereford owned by barcode-man. He had visited Hereford and thought to himself 'There aren'd any decent restaurants around here', and so he just set one up for his own amusement, or rather paid other people to set it up for him. This is barcode-man doing all this, not my brother-in-law, you understand?

Of course is I was really an eco-socialist I would share my deely-bopper wealth with my fellow workers and creatives which would reduce my personal income considerably meaning that I would have to work again and would have less time to devote to eco-socialism. Anyway, whatever....

As I thought about it a bit longer I realised that I'm now in my early 40s, approaching my mid-40s, and although I like to think I'm full of good ideas I've probably never done anything nearly as creative and/or successful as inventing deely-boppers or even inventing a name like 'deely-boppers'. And, lets face it, deely-boppers are a bit crap, and the name deely-boppers make them sound even worse than they are. Even in the hey-day of the deely-bopper craze, the zenith as it were (or is it the nadir I can never remember which is which), even in their hey-day deely-boppers were naff, so naff in fact that it made them everso slightly cool. So all I need is one really really good idea and to have it arrive at the right time, and then I can relax like the fellow or lady who invented deely-boppers.

Maybe I could make a fortune by writing a blog? If you suspect I could be doing something more useful than musing on deely-boppers, don't worry, all this creative energy was generated while doing the hoovering. I think that's how Dyson got his inspiration too, isn't it?

(Footnote: Stephen Askin invented the original deely bobber in 1981, total sales by August 1982 were estimated at 2 million, with Askin getting 5% of the wholesale price! Source: WIkipedia)

Save the Green Backyard!

2012-07-17T07:30:00.000Z

The Green Backyard, which is a shining example of what happens when local people are inspired to get involved, and which has helped and inspired many Peterborough citizens to make changes to their lives that make Peterborough a happier and more sustainable city, is now threatened with eviction by Peterborough city council, which would like to sell the land for development, and move the project to a smaller and less suitable site at Railworld. Concerned friends of GBY have started a campaign to persuade the council to change its mind and abandon a policy which would make a mockery of the city's environmental capital aspirations.
In just two days our online petition has gathered over five hundred signatures. Many of the signers have left comments explaining just how much the project means to them.

I'd be grateful if Citizen power members could help us by signing the petition and sharing it on facebook, twitter etc.

The Green Backyard is also on Project Dirt and on facebook

You can watch a short film about GBY by Daryl Mulvihill on Vimeo.

Eid Mela 27th October 2012

2012-06-22T22:53:19.000Z

Eid Mela

Featuring: Stalls, Books, food, henna, sweets, facepainting, Clothes, Video exhibition.

A live Naat singer

A Dj

A whirling Derwish

A speaker on spiritual healing plus crystals stall.

Peterborough's education partnerships - towards a vision for young people in city

2012-05-22T13:49:42.000Z

Peterborough is on the cusp of doing something really exciting in education, with a whole host of people getting involved in the learning of young people. I ran an event there a couple of weeks ago which sought to surface, celebrate and build upon a range of partnerships in the education sector in Peterborough, including our own Peterborough Curriculum.

There was enormous enthusiasm for more partnership working, more collaboration, and multiple organisations working together. What’s needed now is a vision for young people that makes all the fantastic work and collaboration going on really more than the sum of its parts.

Collaboration in education can mean a variety of things and these tend to be fudged a little when we talk up the general Good Thing that is working together with others. There are collaborations between schools and other schools; between different phases of education; between education institutions and other formal sectors (e.g. businesses, public services); between schools and parents or communities; between teachers within schools…

But an important challenge was put to a seminar on leadership for collaboration last week: do we have any evidence to show that ‘collaboration’ has any impact on young people’s outcomes? I confess I was stumped as to the answer. Yet much of current government policy relies on notions of collaboration for the improvement of the system.

In Peterborough there are a number of collaboration types from the above list in existence: the Peterborough Learning Partnership, which is primarily a network of primary and secondary schools, but is now branching out to include other phases and sectors; the Peterborough Skills Service which brokers links between employers and schools; and the Peterborough Curriculum (run with the RSA) which supports a small number of schools to form curriculum development partnerships with non-educational partners from the local area. There are others too, both individual partnerships between schools and local organisations, and high level strategic links between sector leaders city wide.

The question now is, can these be made more than the sum of their parts to provide a powerful ‘coalition of the willing’ that will ensure the best for Peterborough’s young people, rather than a dissipation of effort despite the undoubted benefits being won by each? In this Peterborough is not atypical of the rest of the country: where Local Authorities are drawing back on the educational front, other collaborations and networks are beginning to take up the slack – and often driving new approaches to drawing in other stakeholders as well. All this collaboration and effort, however, needs to have vision and purpose if young people are to remain front and centre.

That is not to say that children always remain front and centre when the business of education is left only to the education sector. We know too well the sometimes distorting effect of accountability, the resources devoted to children on the C/D boundary, the teaching to the test that goes on in Year 6. The school’s best interests are not always the same as the best interests of every child within that school. If the school’s agenda alone is not always the best proxy for a child’s best interests, then perhaps collaboration is the answer. It’s tired and overused, but does the proverbial ‘village’ have a role in formal education not only because of the additional resources it can bring in austere times, but because it prevents institutional agendas, targets and numbers, including those of the education system itself, sidelining the young people?

While upward institutional and funding issues will necessarily make the willingness and enthusiasm for working together complex, I have real faith that we can link Peterborough’s existing successful collaborations together to the benefit of Peterborough’s young people. We should welcome the willingness of the wider city to get involved, and of schools to work together.

But I think that to be really transformative we need to add these things up into an inclusive vision that allows the different collaborations which have their own upwards targets to work with one another towards a common end, but also for the participation of more than just the formal partnerships and institutions. For perhaps it is by continually looking outwards, juggling and reconciling different and sometimes conflicting agendas, rather than simple upwards hierarchies, that we are forced to think about what we are doing, for whom, and why.

Perhaps this is how what we do becomes truly accountable to the young people and their families, rather than the schools, businesses or politicians, in whose interests we collaborate.

Community groups' use of social media

2012-05-18T16:30:00.000Z

I am Didier Soopramanien and together with my colleague Edward Truch we are delighted to be involved with Citizen Power and the social media initiative in Peterborough. We are both researchers at Lancaster University and Fellows of the RSA. Our involvement with Citizen Power is through the RSA. Amongst our various research interests, we are particularly interested in the impact of online technologies on businesses and communities.

As part of this research, we want to look at Peterborough’s community groups’ use of social media and exploring how and whether social media can be used to encourage an increase in participation and involvement in community activities. We have already collected some data and we would like to get a few more insights from you about this issue. So, what do you think about the use of social media to “engage” people in community activities. Do you think that social media really has the power to get people engaged and involved in the community? So tell us how you feel about this issue? Share your stories or scepticism with us.

We are also organising a workshop on the 13^th of July 2012 which will be another opportunity to share how you feel about the use of social media for community engagement. The workshop will start at 9am until 1pm. The venue is Peterborough town hall. Please sign up for the event and we look forward to meeting you. We also want to know what you would like to do and learn during the workshop; we have some form of agenda but we want it to be an opportunity for people to share their experiences or how they feel about the use of social media to enhance community involvement.

We plan to write up all what we have learned into a report which will be shared on the Citizen Power website and we also hope to produce some videos from the workshop and research.

If you have any questions about the workshop or our research please do not hesitate to contact us. We hope to see you on the 13^th of July

Best wishes

Didier

Didier Soopramanien

Email: dgrsoop@gmail.com

Twitter: @didsoop

Web: https://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/profiles/didier-soopramanien/

Edward Truch

Web: https://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/profiles/edward-truch/

Eid Mela 2012 Featuring milad Raza Qadri

2012-05-02T21:06:16.000Z

We are proud to announce that a Eid Mela is in planning stages and we will update you as soon as we have confirmed details. IF you know of any henna artists or facepainters please get in touch.

Peterborough at the Hajj exhibition at British Museum

2012-03-31T08:30:00.000Z

If you haven’t seen it already, it’s well worth Peterborough people trekking down to London to see the British Museum exhibition ‘Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam’, which is on until 15^th April 2012. As well as the admirably inclusive audience drawn to the event – Peterborough children from schools and mosques have been bussed down to see it ever since it opened in January – there is an interesting Peterborough connection in the figure of Thomas Cook, who in 1886 was made the official travel agent for the Hajj by the British Government of India and operated services across the Indian Ocean, only to give up this monopoly seven years later due to apparent lack of profitability. For the 2000 employees working at the Thomas Cook headquarters in Bretton, as for other people living and working in the city, this colonial connection between Peterborough, the Indian subcontinent and Indian Ocean may be food for thought.

The exhibition brings together exquisite artefacts tracing four ancient pilgrimage routes – across Arabia, North and West Africa, the Ottoman Empire and the Indian Ocean, the latter including a map of the Indian Ocean made by a seaman from Kutch, annotated in Hindi, Gujarati and English, as well as prosaic items such as tickets for a Thomas Cook Hajj ship and an example of a Bengali embroidered rumal cloth, shipped over the Indian Ocean to be traded at Mecca and taken home by Indonesian pilgrims as a souvenir. The fifth pilgrimage route depicted is the contemporary journey made by 20,000 odd British Muslims every year from Heathrow airport, which would be recognizable to many Peterborough people in the form of everyday scenes from modern-day travel agents specialising in the Hajj, guides to its rituals, entrance tickets, IDs, certificates and familiar souvenirs such as rosaries, electronic prayer counters, prayer caps and prayer mats. At the exhibition’s end is an audio exhibition playing some moving testimonies from British Muslims of their Hajj pilgrimages, recorded by anthropologist Sean McLouglin from Leeds University.

The British Museum is a relic of colonial plunder, but it’s nice to see that they are putting something back!

Creative Gatherings April - July 2012

2012-03-23T15:55:13.000Z

Hello all,
My name is Tom Fox. I live in Peterborough and have had the pleasure of seeing the Citizen Power program from its very birth to the present day. I have attended and enjoyed the Creative Gatherings and marvelled and joined in on many of the Arts and Social Change projects, from Experiments in Place Making, Context Matters, Dialogue in Action and the next and final stage... The Emissary Project.

I now have the pleasure of working closely with the RSA and Chris Higgins and the team at Map Consortium to hold the next three Creative Gatherings. Using the same format as before, the gatherings will be an opportunity to network, promote events, pass around ideas, concepts and partnerships with other creative minds who live and/or work in Peterborough. Also, being facilitated by other practitioners from the area, I will help with holding the events and seeing the gatherings are what they could be, to keep them fresh and interesting and a superb springboard into all the creative activities now happening in the area.

Hope to see you all at the next Creative Gathering in mid-April, being organised as we speak, and love to see your ideas for the Emissary Project.

UROCKING

2012-02-22T15:56:05.000Z

I began UROCK youth Company in 2005 when I realised Young people benefit from an arts environment which supports them socially. They come to our group from across the city and the educational primary /secondary divide. Being part of the company means they make full commitment to the idea of exploring “The Arts” they try everything and they attend for 3 hours every Saturday morning. Sessions are based upon creative approaches and every student is encouraged to think independently and support others they work with. The age range reflects ability and stage, not age. Students have grown into leadership demonstrating a maturity they can offer to their own community. They also have taken the knowledge skills and experiences and have used them as a lever to advance into HE courses and university qualifications. They also embrace special needs and assure their inclusivity. This group is an extended family and I think the hat I wear for this role is close to my personal values and as such is not the day job, just the way I spend Saturdays!

In the October half term of 2011 UROCK had the pleasure of working collaboratively with RAILWORLD [and John Turner] at their exciting Peterborough Site.

An independant evaluation of the partnership identified:

"Both stressed the importance of place and space as a great building block for what you could do or make or perform in an environment. UROCK said that there were challenges of performing underneath the “bridge” but found it worth it to explore such an obscure performance space and would investigate something like that again. They would like to use the wildlife space more in future projects.

A future point for performances in the Globe room was that it works well as a space where you stand and walk instead of sitting and just watching.

The scientist activity during the performances turned out to be very rewarding for the participants. This could be explored on the site with more ‘hubs’ for resource storage where visitors can come and create their own inventions etc. Without a situation it was noted that the creative purpose would be lost. To display people’s inventions on the walls was another idea to inspire present visitors to participate in the activity.

All found that the project cost a lot of time but not much money!

So watch this space for a possible summer partnership”

My current status as a freelance creative facilitator has taken me right across the East midlands working with schools and commissioning artists to develop innovative approaches to learning. I have also enjoyed developing new participation models for partnership working with venues and festival teams. Here in Peterborough I am currently proud to be part of an excellent Map facilitation team brought together by the Royal Society of Arts to work with the Single Delivery Plan and our city’s most senior leadership.

*Di Goldsmith is an accredited advanced Skills Performing Arts Teacher with 26 years teaching experience in Peterborough Schools.

First ChangeMakers meet-up on the 6th February

2012-02-10T15:58:30.000Z

Thanks to all of those ChangeMakers who made it to the first meet-up earlier this week.

Among other things, we used the ‘open space’ discussion to talk about:

The CSR Forum developing in the city and how this could link in with the existing efforts of businesses and volunteer groups, for instance the Rotary Club and Churches Together.

Peterborough in Transition, a new project being spearheaded by The Green Backyard and something that is part of the wider ‘Transition Towns’ movement helping towns find community-led responses to climate change. The conversation focused on how we might learn from past environmental campaigns that have now entered the mainstream, for example recycling efforts. It was also mentioned that we should try and ask ourselves the same questions that everyday Peterborough residents might ask about the project, for instance why is it being put into place now, why are we passionate about this, and why are those who are running the project involved in it? This might enable us to better articulate the work and get the message out more effectively.

Speak Up, the website supporting young people that is going to be developed by Kamal, Niamh and others. The conversation in this group centred on how the website might tie in with what local groups and neighbourhood associations are already doing with young people in Peterborough. This includes the work of MANERP, the project that Brian Gascoyne chairs, and also the efforts of Dominic’s neighbourhood policing teams. Speak Up was also offered some venue space, should they need it for a launch or other similar events.

The issue of how to encourage Peterborough’s ‘hard-to-reach’ groups to participate in and shape cultural activities in the city. The group identified two ways to do this: word-of-mouth (which works well but is prohibitively time-consuming) and marketing (which is difficult as there is no publication with a wide enough reach). Several organisations were suggested as models of how to approach engaging people who otherwise aren’t interested in the arts: the fire service, who do a great deal of outreach and education work; the Millfield Health centre; and Peterborough United Football Club. The most challenging constituency for arts provision are those who claim that ‘nothing ever happens in Peterborough’: in order to reach them there is a need for a way a publicise events that are taking place in the city. (See attached image for the full mindmap).

Following the open space discussion, we heard from John Turner, who talked about the work of Railworld; Richard Astle, who spoke about the Single Delivery Plan and its strategy and key priorities; and from Rod Allerton, who told us a bit more about how the Corporate Social Responsibility Forum is taking shape in the city.

If anybody has any thoughts on the topics discussed, please feel free to use this forum to air your opinions.

Thanks,

Ben

Promoting recovery in Peterborough

2012-02-02T12:43:49.000Z

Talk about 'recovery groups' can often lead to a discussion of 12 step based groups, SMART groups, service-user groups and so on. These types of groups are fairly easy to understand from the ‘outside’ and thanks to the media portrayal of some recovery groups, there can sometimes be a narrow view of them. They can follow particular formats, they can have certain traditions or rules and they can aim for specific outcomes that may be measurable.

But there are also those recovery groups that are simply individuals that come together on a regular basis to a venue with no particular objective other than to have something fun or different to do and meet like-minded people.

The FREE group in Peterborough is a good example of this. The group, which developed out of a series of activities for the Recovery Capital project, has doubled in size since forming just 8 weeks ago, they now have a new permanent home and are beginning to meet more frequently. As one member put it at our co-design event in mid-January: “we get together and have a giggle!”

The group are already having a big impact on each other’s recovery and lives and want to do more to help others in the city. But they have found – as we did in our Recovery Capital project research – that people are reluctant to get involved in activities like this; they have preconceived ideas of people sitting around in a circle and talking about their addiction generated by years of myths, few opportunities available in the past and the media representation of recovery support groups.

So together we made a short film to tell people about FREE - which stands for Free Recovery for Everyone Everywhere - and what to expect if you attend and the impact it has had on their recovery.

I hope you'll agree they've done a great job!

You can find out about when and where the group meets by visiting www.citizenpower.co.uk or contacting recovery.intern@rsa.org.uk

Places for All website

2012-01-31T16:00:00.000Z

If you've got a moment, why not take a look around the Places for All website?

Hosted by a team of University of Sussex researchers and arts practitioners funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, working in partnership with Citizen Power, the website brings together pictures, words, film and theatre drawn from Peterborough residents’ stories.

The team have been collecting photographs, memories and ideas from oral history interviews with a diverse range of people who live and work in Peterborough. Some of these have been turned into:

Photographs which tell a fascinating story about their subjects.

A captivating series of short film clips featuring people who have some experience of homelessness in Peterborough, which will later be turned into a full length documentary film.

The makings of a play performed by young people from a diverse range of backgrounds, which will be performed during the Peterborough Arts Festival in July.

www.placesforall.co.uk

Co-designing Recovery for Peterborough

2012-01-24T16:12:47.000Z

Tuesday 17 January saw several members of the Citizen Power team descend onPeterborough Town Hall for the Recovery Capital Co-design Event – a tightly-packed morning of presentations, brainstorming, discussion and against-the-clock pitching as the city’s Recovery Champion Network put their heads together to come up with potential solutions to Peterborough’s substance misuse problem.

The energy and enthusiasm in the room was palpable from the get-go – not least because those who mattered the most were represented en masse in the form of FREE, the independent recovery group that emerged from the arts activities the Recovery Capital team initiated leading up to Christmas. The founding members were joined by the city’s most promising recovery stakeholders – some of whom were not even aware of their positive contribution to the city’s recovery movement until we revealed the 2011 research findings.

The event cast the net wide to bring together a diverse and committed group of individuals from the Council, Probation,Cambridgeshire Constabulary, HMP Peterborough, the NTA and Peterborough’s newly installed treatment provider, ASPIRE. Alongside these were representatives from Peterborough Streets, The Women’s Centre, the SaferPeterborough Partnership, Cross Keys Homes and KingsGate Community Church.

Together, they form the foundation for Peterborough's Recovery Champions Network, which we hope will help to strengthen and build the links between the key organisations, individuals, community groups and opportunities that we know can help to make a sustainable recovery more accessible for a greater range of people.

After reflecting on the research findings, the participants broke off into 3 groups to open the debate around what Peterborough needed to bridge the gap for those in recovery between service provision and integration into the wider community, and how existing resources might pooled to make this a reality. The solutions unearthed were each distinct and innovative, addressing the problem from markedly different angles.

By the close of the session, after each group had pitched to the others and honed their proposals based on the feedback, the possibilities for really sparking a recovery movement that stretches far beyond access to treatment felt tangible and do-able. We’ll be revealing what everyone came up with in the not-so-distant future when the ideas are integrated into a report.

Watch this space!

Calling all residents in Bretton...!

2012-01-12T10:28:10.000Z

Do you live in Bretton, or know someone who does?

Could you spare 15 minutes to help Citizen Power, the RSA and local partners to improve wellbeing and connections in Bretton?

Please fill in this short survey [https://www.s2.onasurveys.com/register/register_user.php] and help us to design local projects that use people’s connections to improve local wellbeing in practical ways. And please pass this link on to others who might also be able to help.

Your contribution is very much appreciated. Many thanks!

A river runs through it

2012-01-09T12:59:30.000Z

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, YOU KNOW!

ONE thing I find astonishing about Peterborough and its planners is the way the latter have failed to make the most of the River Nene that flows through the city. Or at least they have failed to make the most of it for the majority of the population...

The people who have gained are the usual suspects: the property speculators and developers who have built flats on the north bank upstream of the town bridge. This could have been an opportunity to create an imaginative riverside space, close to the city centre, but that opportunity has of course been squandered.

I wonder why? Then again, when it comes to planning, politicians (local and national) and people who talk a lot about "investment" and "growth", I do a lot of wondering.

I'm not, of course, suggesting anything underhand in the planning of Peterborough, past or present. Perish the thought! Blame my naturally suspicious nature. I've been a journalist for over 30 years and it has become part of my DNA. It's just that when poor decisions are made, I can't help worrying...

I wouldn't have such a suspicious nature if only decisions were made that benefitted everybody. And by everybody, I mean everybody, from all walks of society. Imagine if you can a beautiful, paved riverside area with cafes and outdoor tables, where you could sit and watch the world, and the River Nene, go by. Is it just me that finds the view from Peterborough's Town Bridge depressing? Happily, I can soon descend to Charters, the floating pub moored by the bridge, and drown my sorrows.

Charters, of course, is one of the exceptions to what is otherwise a grim vista. But then, Charters was the result of one man's imagination (and determination). It didn't involve politicians, planners and developers. Paul Hook did it all himself by going to Holland, buying a great big boat and sailing it back across the North Sea and up the Nene to the city. Today it's my favourite Peterborough pub and an example of what can be achieved.

The river flowing through Peterborough wasn't always ignored. The illustration at the foot of this blog shows what it looked like in Edwardian times, when you could hire rowing skiffs by the bridge and explore the river under oars-power. I love this scene with its moored houseboats, quaysides and riverside industry. Happily, the smoke-belching power station is long gone...

That's one of the old images I dug out while researching the second edition of my book, The River Nene From Source to Sea, which I published late last year as an e-book, on Amazon's Kindle platform. Secondhand volumes of the previous hardback edition (published in 1997) had been selling for over £100, so I thought I'd update it and make it readily (and cheaply) available to a new audience. If you do read it, you'll be relieved to learn that my views on the whole river, from the source above Northampton to the sea below Wisbech, are every bit as forthright as they are in this blog!

Anyway, I'm digressing. What I really want to say is that I sincerely hope that Citizen Power Peteborough changes things for the better. The truth is that we probably get the politicians we deserve, because so many of us - myself included - are reluctant to get involved.

I would really like to see a new generation of enthusiastic, intelligent and public-spirited people getting together and making Peterborough a better place to live in. And I for one would be delighted if they started by the River Nene...

David Phillips

www.nenemedia.com

Email: david@nenemedia.com

Michaela's RSA Blog

2011-12-13T14:28:20.000Z

Michaela Jones contributes this week’s guest blog exploring how social anxiety can act as a barrier to recovery. Michaela is Community Director for Wired into Recovery.

Read it and more @: https://www.rsablogs.org.uk/category/recovery/

Serendipitous Recovery

2011-12-09T12:05:33.000Z

Check out my new blog on our work in Peterborough: https://www.rsablogs.org.uk/2011/uncategorized/serendipitous-recovery/

Expressing Recovery update

2011-12-08T17:52:08.000Z

I can't begin to tell you how brilliant the 'expressing recovery' activities have been.

Yesterday was the third week of activities for the Recovery Capital project and again resulted in great discussions, sharing of experiences, giving each other advice and relaxing in a warm and friendly environment with a cuppa and some mince pies. It was brilliant. There is a really good group forming amongst those attending the activities - there may have even been mention of them setting up their own independent peer led group... Watch this space!

The main activities yesterday - apart from the above - revolved around making keyrings that advertise the free phone recovery helpline that few people seem to be aware of. The phone line is availab

le 24 hours a day everyday even over Christmas and New Year and so will be a great support while services are shut for the holidays.

These are just some of them - the pictures show both sides of the same keyrings. We hope to distribute them across the city to help spread the word and keep more people safe and on track over the coming weeks which, as we know, can be one of the most difficult times for someone in recovery.

By the way - due to popular demand we will be holding another one next week! Wednesday 14 December, 2-5pm at St Mary's Church on New Road, Peterborough.

Kerbside haikus for Peterborough?

2011-12-01T15:43:04.000Z

I was at an interesting social media roundtably thing on Tuesday all about whether connecting neighbours can make areas better places to live. In the context of this, we discussed how sometimes social media, i.e. leaving posts or comments on websites, blogging and tweeting can be a daunting thing to do, particularly if you hold a public office and you've got a media team who at arms length from the action 'do that' or if you are in an organisation with a strict communications policy when you've got things to say.

One of the names that kept coming up as being rather good at walking this line was Cllr James Barbour in East Dulwich. I've just checked out his website and felt the urgent need to share his post from today's (1 December) about haikus and road safety.

https://jamesbarber.mycouncillor.org.uk/2011/12/01/kerbside-haikus-for-east-dulwich/

How very wonderful, no?

Expressing Recovery

2011-11-25T17:00:45.000Z

It has been quite an eventful week for the Recovery Capital project in Peterborough which accounts for the semi-radio silence on the blog front. But as the week draws to a close I thought I would share some of the excitement and ease you into the weekend.

On Monday I took six people in recovery to the Key Theatre in Peterborough to meet the writer, Director, producers and actors of a play being developed for Eastern Angles called ‘I heart Peterborough’. The play tackles issues of addiction and recovery in Peterborough and they wanted to make sure that they portray a true and not wholly sensationalised version of it. The cast and crew are committed to not perpetuating the stereotypical ‘addict’ who cares for nothing and would be happy to mug a granny, and to use the play to educate a broad audience.

We spent nearly three hours talking through a few of the scenes, with the cast asking lots of questions about the realities of using and recovering in Peterborough. It was amazing to see how quickly changes were able to be made to the script to incorporate the ideas and suggestions put forward. The script is still being developed and we look forward to contributing further and seeing the final play. You never know, it might come to a theatre near you one day...

On Wednesday we had the first ‘Expressing Recovery’ activity which is designed to get people in recovery talking to one another in an informal setting; start to build relationships and strengthen the links between one another; provide the space and time for participants to think about their own recovery, talk about it and express it in a variety of ways including through painting (check out the pictures); somewhere to come into the warmth and have a cup of coffee; provide information and a Q&A session about the new CRi Recovery Service coming in January 2012; and then end with a recovery peer group meeting with the local Recovery Champion.

This is the first of three initial events. If they’re popular then we will look to continue them. I certainly enjoyed myself and got to meet some incredible people who are chomping at the bit to be at the forefront of the developing Recovery Community in the city.

I can't wait to see what next week brings!

A holiday from methadone?

2011-11-14T10:07:52.000Z

The second guest blog to the RSA Recovery blog has been contributed by Russell Webster. Russell explores the role of methadone in recovery and the different attitudes towards it.

What do you think?

Add you thoughts to the blog at https://www.rsablogs.org.uk/2011/recovery/holiday-methadone/

Recovery and the RSA Social Brain

2011-11-09T16:51:10.000Z

In remarkable paper Transforming Behaviour Change there are many parallels to recovery from, for the purposes of my blog, addictions. The author, Jonathan Rowson opens with a request for a deeper discussion about the increasingly important relationship between neuroscience, behaviour and society. Possible fears about governmental use of new techniques to control society, with science and pharmacological are set aside early on, although I would state my belief that a vast proportion of Western society is legally medicated, anesthetised with alcohol, nicotine, antidepressants, caffeine and other drugs on a daily basis.

If addictions are the long, dark tunnel of isolation and oblivion, then recovery is stepping into the light of transformative behavioural change via social interaction, and by exploring the concepts of the (RSA) Social Brain project.

In my view, addictions can be seen as fault attachment being acted out using mind and mood altering substances to self-sooth emotional problems. For many, the substance such as alcohol or other drugs is used to medicate or anesthetise the unbearable feelings of loss and becomes a surrogate soother replacing the human contact. The consumption of many of these toxic chemicals can eventually create a neurological problem and physical dependency - addiction.

The social brain can problematise this process as we copy what we see others doing in our social setting whether at home or our community. If using alcohol is the norm at home we will almost certainly continue that behaviour or feel ambivalent to the inherent dangers. If our social group smoke or use cannabis or other drugs, surely the same can happen?

This is perhaps a little over simplistic, but so much happens out of our conscious awareness. The ideas proposed in the report are that we can grow and evolve a greater awareness. However, it can be all too easy to sit back and say we have no control because we act in the context of the effects others have on us and us on them. In a way this may be true to some degree in the context of addictions where compulsive behaviour can form over time and can become very hard to stop even in the face or increasingly problematic consequences. From a Social Brain perspective, by offering salient information to people who want to stop destructive behaviours and want to change themselves on their terms, will create the possibility of new health behaviours and lifestyles. “If knowledge is power, then knowledge about how to change our own behaviour ought to be particularly empowering.”

Recovery starts first with stopping self-medication. To us a metaphor of a shaken fish tank, when the shaking the sediment settles. The water clears and vision, the ability to see clearly is restored. This can be the emergence of a key part of the Social Brain theory reflexivity which is not a term in daily use but describes self-awareness in action.

Recovery is both an outward and inward looking process. The outer process is to start to see what other do to get through life more smoothly. Addiction is often seen by society as anti-social behaviour from the perspective of the socially constructed set of norms of pro-social behaviour. Those who are addicted to substances generally get bad press, though these tend be the financially disadvantaged, or wayward high profile people. Extremely negative slang and derogatory language exists for those who we see out of control, from the use of whatever substance we make sense of via the situation we see the person in. The person we look upon inevitably feels worthless without our gaze. However difficult it may be to make the connection from a degrading “it”, to a human being doing the best they can in that moment, the life before us has engaged, as the paper suggests we all do, with mirroring the social system we are part of. A growing body of evidence shows that we have mirror neurons which explain empathy and our automatic response to the actions and experiences of others as though they were our own. Someone with an addiction to a particular substance will tend to mix within that group, to normalise their behaviour and to be able to deny a problem; ‘they all do it, so what’s wrong with me doing it?’

In recovery, this process can be turned around into something very positive. As the report says “the contagious effects of the experience and actions of others align us with the group, and primary group, rather than selfish interests.” For me, this is what Recovery Champions are about; carrying a physically evidenced efficacy of the recovery experience that can create contagious recovery within groups and communities. Engaging in a reflexive lifestyle people can become aware, through the engagement with others who have been there before them, with the general principles that underlie their behaviour. Pro-social behaviour can emerge demanding a shift in the way we know ourselves and others.

This new found self-knowledge includes a growing emotional literacy, having a positive relationship with feelings. Alcohol and other drugs are often used to supress, or as an antidote to a whole range of feelings; sad, bad, alone, angry, happy, etcetera. Recovery requires a changed perspective about this emotional world that all humans have, and an understanding that drug use just deadens the constant flow of feelings, that they will pass, won’t kill us or destroy our lives where drug use might.

The process of recovery and living with others we are socially engaged with requires mindfulness. The social brain paper talks about mediation and mindfulness as necessary to remain in a change process. We live with a varied amount of lives out of awareness, and in a state of perpetual anxiety and denial. Freud might talk about death anxiety, perhaps. How often do we go to a restaurant and wonder whether the staff serving us have washed their hands after using the toilet, before resuming working with food? Not often, I would suggest, but this and many other unconscious fears prevail every moment of every day. It would be too much to bear for anyone, so we either suppress the feelings or we can suffer from cognitive dissonance, which may become stressful, uncomfortable to be with. In recovery these feelings need to be brought into awareness. Mindfulness can assist this, a reflexive practice of what the day held, who, what, where, when, and feeling attached to this contact. It is not a place of judgement, just to look, see, feel, let go, and remain present.

The Social Brain paper may not have been designed or focussed on recovery or addiction, but it overlaps just as so many of the RSA projects do, with all walks of life. Addiction, just as the common cold, is a very human response to something we cannot always see, the social brain project, and its next steps can assist in engaging all with a life transforming process. I encourage you all to read its’ offerings.

Transitioning to a new life: recovery & rehabilitation

2011-11-08T14:54:09.000Z

Massive overcrowding, high rates of re-offending, and an estate largely built for a Victorian-variety punishment and retribution. Not the most stable of foundations on which to build a ‘rehabilitation revolution’ or even the watered down proposal for working prisons. They're not new challenges either. But the responses are getting interesting!

I’m sure we all have our own idea about what prisons are for, usually falling within the trusty ideals of punishment, retribution or rehabilitation. Thankfully recent focus has been on the latter of these three. As our Chief Exec says "the government has been brave; there are few votes to be won when it comes to prison policy. Yet, it announced its rehabilitation revolution and, in its emphasis on work, recognised the futility of locking prisoners in their cells all day.”

But I find myself wondering what’s revolutionary about working prisons (which now seems to be the focus of the rehabilitation revolution)? For me, rehabilitation is about much more than being work ready, having work while in custody and able to find work on release. Rehabilitation is about transitioning to a new life with improved well-being, greater participation in society and the ability to access a wider range of resources that can help individuals meet their goals in life. For me, it smacks of the core principles of recovery that are about enabling a more positive and more reasoned debate around how to build the right public services and community support to meet the needs of individuals.

But this is a hard sell when it comes to prison. Prisons are rarely seen as a core public service by the public or policy makers alike. This has reduced the ability to have a reasoned public or policy debate about the role of prisons in providing people with a second chance through efficient and effective rehabilitation programmes, and by doing so keeping the wider public safe. It has led to emotional media driven responses to policy development that fit with political agendas (prison works…) and has arguably created the crisis we now find ourselves in: a prison population at its highest in history, a staggering re-offending rate and a fixation on the idea that work – any work - equals rehabilitation.

We published RSA Transitions yesterday which sets out an alternative model of a not-for-profit community prison that would provide custody and rehabilitation services on a single site. This vision has a strong work element to it but it goes much further to emphasise the importance of empowering service users and communities, supporting and building prisoners’ capabilities within a learning culture, maintaining strong family links and developing new robust networks through the gate with local employers and the wider community. It’s about opening up a range of opportunities to enable people to transition to a new life, helping them develop the skills and capabilities they will need to take advantage of these opportunities and by doing so reduce the likelihood of re-offending and keep communities safe.

As the RSA seeks to take this vision forward to a practical end, I would suggest that there is a lot to be learned from the development of the recovery field in driving a debate focussed on transformation, saving lives and healing communities. The reality is that ex-offenders are faced with a myriad of barriers to finding employment – some suggesting they are 13 times more likely to be unemployed than the general population. And we’re hardly in a time when there are jobs-a-plenty.

So perhaps we should temper back the single-minded focus on work equaling rehabilitation and explore the broadest vision of rehabilitation – one that is perhaps akin to the vision of recovery?

Getting creative about recovery

2011-11-01T17:05:38.000Z

Link to the original blog on the RSA website - https://www.rsablogs.org.uk/2011/11/01/introducing-amie-recovery-interns/

This is my very first blog post (inside and outside of the RSA) and it seems fitting that my opener is on a subject about which I am fiercely passionate.

As one half of the Recovery Capital Project internship team, my focus over the next 3 months will be to come up with organise a range of artistic (I use this term loosely) activities to engage and inspire current and former problem substance users in Peterborough. The time-frame is dizzyingly short, but having had a look at the creative endeavours the city already boasts, I feel confident that we can pull this off.

The idea that artistic expression can be an effective way to spark, support or even sustain recovery has become increasingly accepted on the treatment circuit. Art therapy and relapse prevention role-play are often included in the programmes of facilities that take clients beyond detox – although I hear these will be the first for the chop in the wake of spending cuts. Beyond treatment, there are a number of independent theatre companies that champion recovery and produce impressive, widely respected work – just look at The Outside Edge Theatre Company.

But what’s in it for the service-user? I can only relate my own experience, but the creative arts were an invaluable part of my own early recovery. Whilst I might not have taken it wholly seriously at the time, I only have fond memories of the art therapy sessions I attended in my first weeks of treatment. It is the sense of fun, the sudden exposure to colour and the license to create and emote without censure that was so appealing. Others found their artistic home in moderated creative writing sessions, where some of the pieces produced were mind-blowingly dark, beautiful, poetic or a combination of all three. I know of still others who regained their confidence (and their sense of humour!) through participating in the aforementioned relapse prevention role-plays. Further down the line, I was lucky enough to get involved with Clean Break, a theatre company that works exclusively with women whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system. They support women of a shared experience to develop personal, social, artistic and professional skills and provide opportunities to enter into further education or work placements.

The point is, there is everything to gain and nothing to lose when it comes to getting creative in early recoveryThe point is, there is everything to gain and nothing to lose when it comes to getting creative in early recovery. Whether it is an opportunity to share your experience, connect with others, play to your strengths, regain self-esteem or just break the isolation of active addiction, the creative arts provide a non-discriminatory outlet. Anyone can get involved and no-one can get it wrong – essential when you consider the shame and sense of judgement an addict might feel about his or her past and present.

My hope is that by bringing similar activities to Peterborough, together with the collaboration of the city’s thriving artistic community, we can start to change the tide of how recovery is experienced and viewed.

New RSA blog dedicated to the varied subject of RECOVERY

2011-10-26T13:03:33.000Z

We have launched a new RSA blog dedicated to the varied subject of recovery.

Please follow the link below to read, reflect, and respond to our first contributor, Professor David Best.

The blog, entitled "Lions Lead by Donkeys," is a challenge to all involved, at all levels, with respect to recover.

Your thoughts on this and other matters within this sphere can be passed on here.

The Recovery Projects Team.

2012 new adult drug treatment provider

2011-10-20T10:09:08.000Z

You may have heard that CRI have won the tender contract to provide all adult drug treatment services across the city. CRI already work in the city providing the Drug intervention programme and have made themselves available to answer any questions you have about what the new recovery services will look like from 1st January 2012.

Peterborough Recovery Service - what will it include?

Peterborough Recovery Service - Q&A

For more information about the new service, please contact Alison Snelling – CRI Implementation Manager at alison.snelling@cri.org.uk or call 07918 906 521 or Marcia Pammenter – Substance Misuse Lead Officer from SaferPeterborough Partnership on 01733 747 474

ChangeMakers identified

2011-10-05T12:35:42.000Z

Hello all,

As some of you may be aware, we've recently been asking people in Peterborough to name those who they would consider to be 'ChangeMakers' (key people in the city who can help to address the social, economic and environmental challenges facing Peterborough). We used what we call a 'snowball sampling method' whereby we contacted all of those of were named as ChangeMakers and asked them for their own suggestions of ChangeMakers, and so on for a number of survey waves.

This is just a quick update to let you know that over 300 people were identified through this surveying. Our plan is to now send a more detailed follow-up survey to many of these ChangeMakers, asking them about their background, skills and knowledge as a ChangeMaker, and to ask them about their connections to all of the other people who were identified as being a ChangeMaker.

The idea is that once we have this information we can then form a 'ChangeMakers Network' which can work together and with the council and public services to improve outcomes in the City.

The surveying should finally be complete by the end of October. After that I can provide you with some initial results and let you know what the next steps are for the Network.

In the meantime, if you'd like to know a bit more about the research, feel free to email me on benedict.dellot@rsa.org.uk

Ben.

Virtual attendance

2011-09-26T16:53:30.000Z

Follow me tomorrow as I tweet from the annual Recovery Academy Conference in Edinburgh... apart from when I'll be presenting that is!!

Follow me @rjdaddow or hashtag #RecAc2011