sharing learning

We have learnt that amazing things are possible: Sharing Care – a brief closing reflection

Veronika — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 12:47:51 +0000

We have learnt that amazing things are possible: Sharing Care – a brief closing reflection Veronika Tue, 11/30/2021 - 12:47

The opportunity to take time to learn, reflect, pause, reach out to others, connect, support and bring it all together has been amazing! Thanks to the funding from Power to Change we have had resources that have allowed us to support the building of the movement in the co-operative and care sectors, learn alongside others and take steps towards realising our vision of great care that works for everyone involved. Here are a few things we have learnt that feel worth sharing…

We’re holding this big slate.
Sue, one of our board team members, our Nominated Individual, and also one of the researchers on Sharing Care has coined this sentence and we have all felt it land. Each of us is in a corner of this complexly shaped thing, sometimes others join to support us holding it as well, and the moment one of us lets go, it gets that bit heavier. We’ve been through all sorts of pinch points – minor crises, and what felt like major crises. We’ve also been through great milestones, achievements, leaps forward. And the team dedication means we are still here and moving forward.

The pit of challenges can feel bottomless.
When we started we thought agreeing on the type of PPE we will use was the hardest thing we did – exploring waste management in our area, finding out innovative new products, debating cost versus environmental impact. It was a very long debate that has helped us set ground rules for our environmentally aware procurement. And then the pandemic arrived. Everything shifted for everyone in many ways. The ripples are felt throughout the societies and systems globally as well as locally. Recruitment. Procurement. Financial pressures.

It’s worth looking at finances again and again...and again.
We held our second AGM on 25th November 2021 and we have been able to tell our members that things are going...we are still here. We are now registered, offering care and support in the community, have a committed team of staff. When we were preparing for the AGM to be able to discuss the current financial situation, we realised that we were on the track, slower, yet moving in the right direction – the hours, days and weeks of looking at, reviewing, throwing out of window, starting from scratch, reviewing again of finances is paying off. The time of so many of our members, experts, supporters, advisors has contributed to this and we are so grateful for all the support. We shall continue to review and reshuffle and again and again.

We are not alone and people want change.
Running learning webinars, holding meetings with community groups, local authorities, being invited to speak at events and conferences has been really affirming. The day to day doing of setting up the care co-op has been hard work and it has been uplifting and re-energising that we have been able to see that others feel really inspired by what we know. We have been speaking with peers from other organisations who have gone through similar struggles, have been able to share our creative solutions to some of the challenges and recognise ourselves that, as pioneers, we are doing what we can to make the care co-op a success.
Most importantly, we hear from people that they want change in care and when we have been able to offer care and support in our community the way we want we have had great feedback!

We don’t have it all worked out it – far from it – we are committed to keeping learning, consulting with our staff and volunteers, getting our members engaged and drawing on the support of the community when we can while offering our learning, wisdom as well.

Great care can make living good lives possible.

Blog tags

Power to Change

sharing learning

Sharing Care

great care is possible

Webinar with folks from South West

Veronika — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 18:56:36 +0000

Webinar with folks from South West Veronika Mon, 02/22/2021 - 18:56

On Saturday 23rd January we were speaking at the webinar hosted by South West Peninsula Co-operative Party Council and Devon Local Campaign Forum.

The session was recorded and has been kindly shared with us. Enjoy!

The previous blog about us joining the session & the programme are here.

Any questions, comments, feedback - do get in touch!

Blog tags

Learning while setting up a care co-op - January webinar videos

Veronika — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 18:28:26 +0000

Learning while setting up a care co-op - January webinar videos Veronika Mon, 02/22/2021 - 18:28

At Sharing Care January webinar we looked at what have been the main strengths and advantages that have got us to the point of now being business ready and also have talked through the barriers and challenges we have faced and what we have learnt from them.

Here is a summary of key points from our speakers.

Here's Graham, Founding Member at Co-operative Care Colne Valley and the current chair offering an overview of the set up journey.

Here's Jan, Founding Member at Co-operative Care Colne Valley and the current secretary talking about some of the positives we have been able to benefit from on our setting us journey.

Here's Sue, the Nominated Individual at Co-operative Care Colne Valley talking about some of the challenges we have faced.

Here's Dorothea, Founding Member at Co-operative Care Colne Valley talking about some of the challenges we have faced.

Here's Graham again talking briefly about the community share offer and how we've made use of technical platforms.

We are planning more sessions - have a look at the outline here.

And don't hesitate to get in touch with comments, feedback, co-operation interests or any other enquiries.

Blog tags

community share offer

communication

recruitment

January webinar - learning while setting up a care co-op

Veronika — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 19:08:34 +0000

January webinar - learning while setting up a care co-op Veronika Tue, 01/19/2021 - 19:08

Co-operative Care Colne Valley - initial learning from journey towards setting up a care co-op

We would like to invite you to the first of our webinars where we will be sharing our learning as well as bringing in experts exploring different challenges and joys on the journeys of establishing different innovative community based care organisations.

To start the series off, and in response to feedback we have received, we would like to share our learning on the journey of setting up a care co-op in Colne Valley so far.

We’ll look at what have been the main strengths and advantages that have got us to the point of now being business ready and also talk through the barriers and challenges we have faced and what we have learnt from them.

While this won’t cover all the elements of our journey it will both show the possibilities and potential and the challenges and difficulties and will show our way through this process in context of time.

We would be grateful if you can join us on Wednesday 27th January at 7pm

The session will open at 6.45pm for 7pm start.

If you want to join us, drop us a line: sharingcare@valleycare.coop

Blog tags

webinar

care co-op set up

sharing learning