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With a change in government and one committed to taking a “preventative approach” to social issues, more than ever, Dartington Service Design Lab’s work is needed.
We’ve not only been reflecting on what this change means for children and young people, but by harnessing the evidence and our expertise, we have identified five ways to turn government rhetoric on prevention into reality.
Read MoreThis Mental Health Awareness Week we’re exploring our role as researchers and designers in projects that centre mental health and wellbeing for young people. We are particularly curious about how we establish the right conditions for exploring these issues with our partners in the work – and how we can best share our lessons with others.
In this blog, we focus on three areas that have become especially important to us at Dartington:
the beginning of the projects and our own standpoint as we begin,
the process of establishing strong relationships that can hold complexity and trust, and
the sustainability and impact of our shared work on mental health.
Dartington Service Design Lab has teamed up with UK Youth, a leading youth charity working across the UK with a vision that ‘all young people are equipped to thrive and are empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives’. Together we’re using learning and insight to guide the strategic development of the Thriving Minds Fund over a three-and-a-half-year period.
Read MoreFrom training packs for teachers on how to respond to disclosures of abusive relationships, to resources for young people on how to recognise the signs of coercive control, there’s something for everyone to feel better educated on both topics and empowered to take action so that young people and families have their needs met. We’ll be celebrating and sharing the exciting work these young changemakers have been designing – in person – at the #ChangeUp Exhibition in Paisley. This exhibition, open to everyone in Renfrewshire and beyond, is packed with the innovations designed by and for young people and system leaders, to inspire all of us to educate, empower and equalise systems to tackle coercive control and take early action on mental wellbeing.
Read MoreThis blog reflects on parents’ experiences of services during the pandemic and staff’s hopes and concerns for future delivery. We also share how evaluation has helped organisations understand these, and how it can be used to shape delivery in the future.
Read MoreDartington has formed an exciting partnership to develop, test and refine an ambitious approach to help young people and local areas develop locally produced and evidence-informed approaches to improve adolescent mental health. The team is led by Research Director, Professor Peter Fonagy OBE (UCL Psychology and Language Sciences) and Professor Tim Hobbs (Dartington Service Design Lab). Their partnership has been awarded a UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) Consortium award of £5.3 million over five years.
Read MoreNature is an important and well-evidenced mechanism for supporting mental health for both children and for adults (WHO, 2014). We’ve explored this in our work on potential interventions for enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of children and young adults in the Midlothian area of Scotland.
Read MoreThe Dartington Service Design Lab joins the Centre for Youth Impact, Research in Practice and the University of Plymouth to form the Learning Partnership for the new Youth Endowment Fund COVID-19 Grant Round. We will focus on understanding the impact of COVID-19 on young people at risk of being drawn into violent crime, and the most effective approaches to reaching, engaging and serving vulnerable young people during the pandemic.
Read MoreAcross our projects at the Dartington Service Design Lab we are seeing many Local Authorities who want to empower parents and other community members to support each other during crucial times – including during children’s early years. The role we play is to ensure that any ‘people powered’ support works in the best way it can. So far, we have learned three key lessons.
Read MoreA tool to help service planners consider and respond to risks posed to children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated control measures
Read MoreIn a time where everything feels unprecedented and many services are in crisis response mode, we ask the question, what should we prioritise under the “new normal” and what can we do to prepare our resources now? Rachel Lily explores…
Read MoreThis year, the Lab, in partnership with Renfrewshire Council, Engage and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, hosted a Learning day for the Early Action Systems Change initiative in Renfrewshire. The initiative aims to address two priority challenges: emotional wellbeing of children and young people, and coercive control in adolescent relationships. Ruth Wallace, System Change Lead Officer, from Renfrewshire Council explores what was learned that day, and what is means for the future of the area …
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