By Richard McKeever
Chain Reaction saw the launch of a series of publications detailing the work of the Council on Social Action (CoSA) and suggesting policy recommendations for government. CoSA brings together innovators from every sector to generate ideas and initiatives through which government and other key stakeholders can catalyse, celebrate and develop social action.
One of these reports “Side by Side” sets out CoSA’s work on one-to-one working, this is defined as: “…mentoring and befriending and all kinds of transformative relationships where knowledge and experience are shared with another person who is not a family member or close friend”. The full report is available as a PDF download from the CoSA website.
In the Chain Reaction session entitled “Personalising Social Change” representatives of organisations cited as case studies in the report shared experiences and insights. One of our volunteer Social Reporters, Clare White, posted her notes on the session on the event website and interviewed Richard Hardie of UBS about his part in the report.
For me one of the most powerful parts of this session was the remarkable work of St Giles Trust who are mentoring and befriending “at the sharp end” with ex-offenders and those soon to released from prison. The power of this work was represented in a most compelling way by Erbay Safer one of St Giles Peer Mentors who told his story using VideBoo technology from BestBefore Media.
One-to-one was a theme picked up in several conversations across the event. Gracia McGrath Chief Executive of Chance UK and Suzy Messenger CEO of 1-2-1 Befriending also used the VideoBoo system to appeal to others who are keen to connect, collaborate and commit to working together on a one-to-one approach.
[...] work of CoSA, including policy advice to government about the power of one-to-one working in “Side by Side“ available for free [...]