Blog

What is this life?

12 Jul

“What is this life, if full of choice
If you take control, and we have no voice?”

We are working with Essex County Council to rethink what are currently called ‘day opportunities’. This week we have run a deliberation event, bringing together a wide range of people to engage with a huge range of insights (including disabled people’s views, national and local data, parents’ and carers’ views, young people’s views, social workers’ perspectives, inspiring horizon scanning exemplars) in order to think afresh about what people want, what they need, and how the system could be more helpfully configured to support ambition, aspiration and wellbeing.

Just before the referendum, we spent a day with the wonderful members of the Clacton Changing Faces drama group, and made this film in which they speak powerfully for themselves. When we showed the film yesterday you could have heard a pin drop. These are the voices from whom we need to be hearing much, much more…

What is this life? from ThePublicOffice on Vimeo.

Ruth Kennedy

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Ruth Kennedy

July 12, 2016

Testimonial

ThePublicOffice brought fresh thinking to our work. The processes and materials they used were well chosen, creative and engaging, and prompted participants to look at old problems in new ways. Lambeth Council

If you get ThePublicOffice team working for you, you’ll be lucky. They don’t sweat the small stuff… It’s a rare kind of alchemy in the public sector, to deliver innovation and results with creativity, deep insight and a transfer of learning. They do it every time. Essex County Council

The team at ThePublicOffice are a fantastic blend of expertise, insight and boundless energy and enthusiasm. They were a delight to work with from start to finish and really helped to hone and target what we wanted to get from our learning and sharing event. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone, they fitted in with our team and partners and took all the stress out of the day.. Spice

ThePublicOffice team may originate from different backgrounds but they share a strong sense of values, and a commitment to change lives for the better through listening to people’s stories and crafting solutions built on solid research and experience. After 40 years working in social care it is refreshing to work with an organisation that complements my values, challenges my practice, and offers insight for change and improvement. Essex County Council

ThePublicOffice are great travelling companions on the road of change. Essex County Council

We believe our engagement with ThePublicOffice has improved outcomes for our citizens, and the effectiveness of the organisation. Essex County Council

Implementing change in a large organisation is tough; gaining traction and maintaining momentum is even more difficult. ThePublicOffice has utilised their considerable skills to help us identify the issues and options for improvement. The team opened up with clarity a vision of where we wanted to be; their engagement and analysis offered us insights that changed our practice. Working with them has undoubtedly moved us closer to where we want. Essex County Council

“It has been such honour to work with ThePublicOffice. The journey has been amazing, enhancing, stimulating and a huge learning curve for service leaders.” Barnardos

”You have transformed our conversations into inspirational ideas for innovative services for families” Barnardos

“ThePublicOffice is able to be brave and challenging in order to drive the change. Their team brings energy and a language that generates appetite for codesigning.” Barnardos