Some things I’ve learned about change – blog series by Alex Fox, CEO

How do charities create change? And what keeps us, and the people we seek to support, stuck?

I’ve spent the last 11 ½ years working with the team and UK network of Shared Lives Plus. During that time we’ve celebrated some incredible success in creating change from a position of very little money, power or awareness. And we’ve felt frustrated, thwarted and like we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of the monolithic bureaucracies which surround us.

I’ve learned from the people we work with how to be more human. I’ve learned to see the invisible asylums we build and maintain, while telling ourselves we are offering ‘community’ care. I’ve watched in awe as some people have broken out of long stays in those places of safety and constriction, and built lives for themselves which are both freer and more connected with others. And I’ve felt the creeping power of ‘the system’ as it grows imperceptibly but inexorably back into any space cleared for human habitation. I’ve not always been able to see where I’ve been part of that system and its pernicious effects, particularly when I’ve been thinking and acting from a position of privilege.

This final series of five blogs for Shared Lives Plus are about some things I think I’ve learned. I hope they are of interest or comfort for all those on the endless journey of trying to humanise our public services.