I now blog at www.workingwithjoe.co.uk

Here's the link: www.workingwithjoe.co.uk

An update on me

An update

I recently got back in touch with a group of supporters who'd all offered me advice on finding a new job or going self-employed. Here's what I had to say...

Three and a half months ago I was offered an 8 month consultancy role by Cernis, working on an online participation tool for children & young people who’ve used mental health services (www.morethoughts.org.uk). This put me in a position where I had some options and could consider a full or partial jump into the world of self-employment. Then a few weeks later I secured another 8 month piece of work with CROA (a national umbrella organisation for advocates and children’s rights officers). They asked me to organise their national conference (www.croaconference.com) and work on their Children in Care Councils campaigns project. 

So I jumped, leaving my job with Advocacy in Somerset, an organisation I’d been involved with since I was 25 (I’m 34 now). Eyes open, thanks to the advice I’d had.

After a fairly hectic start navigating the (ongoing!) sole-trader learning curve I feel like I’m starting to get an idea of what I’m doing! It feels like I’m re-surfacing, starting to get some perspective and some time to plan for how I can make myself sustainable post-March. Not that much seems certain for anyone in the sustainability stakes at the moment…!

At the moment I’m developing my skills in using social media, digital networking and other e-jargon laden tools to consult and connect with service-users and other people online. I’m also broadening my experience of organising events and working with a range of different people from different backgrounds. And I’m looking forward to getting back to developing my writing further, my one big aim for this year.

Work swings

Well, my changing world of work continues to swing dramatically.

Low point: the landlord I was going to hire desk space from pulls out of the deal

High point: achieved my first day's work from our caravan at home, complete with brand new kit and supportive family

In the balance: will I get a job co-ordinating and marketing CROA's conference in October?

I also hope to get some writing work, polishing off CROA's publication Further Down the Rights Track. Amazingly I've also been asked to look at another publication on independent visiting that needs finishing off for Tros Gynnal. Will I be hoping that they all come through as deals or will I be having to turn work down?

Guess this is welcome to the world of self-employment!

Advocacy: my take on it

As part of my job as a children’s advocate I’ve spent seven years explaining what advocacy is. This includes explaining to myself as much as anyone else. I am coming to the conclusion that of all the things that advocacy is ‘about’ it is most of all about a certain quality of relationship, whoever may be doing the ‘advocating’.

Whether an advocate is someone completely independent or someone as close as a parent doesn’t matter; ultimately it’s the quality of the relationship that counts. Because advocacy is only as effective as the relationship is effective. And the relationship is only effective as the trust that exists.

Trust can be developed over a lifetime or it can develop over a meeting or two. There are no rules for how long it takes.

By their very word and actions, an advocate makes a promise that says “you can trust me”. That promise is that they will be a rock solid wall behind that person. They will stand up for them; be their champion when they can’t be it for themselves. And keep their own counsel, even when inside themselves they disagree with that person.

In effect, an advocate is trusting in the process of that person’s journey, whichever way it twists and turns, for better or for worse. They are trusting that the process may actually be just as important as the end result.  

Showing that type of trust in people wins trust back and develops powerful relationships. Relationships that change people’s lives. Simply because the advocate has stood alongside them.

Young people are naturally good at branding

It’s a known language to them.

They do it all the time.

Tagging public space, tagging themselves; expressions of identity in a form.

Online: personalising facebook, recreating their own identity in multiple media.

Manipulating media to express their view comes naturally to them.

Just like branding themselves.

They are the rookie sailors on our post-modern ship.

They are the crew who challenge convention.

Living in tribes within worlds, living the relationship between image and reality.

They intuitively understand its fluidity.

They represent the freedom to try something new, take a lateral chance.

They know how to make a new connection between function and form.

That’s why they’ve always been the voice of change, of free expression.

They are ready to experiment with their own identity to get the message across.

Savvily speaking, they know they are the largest target market.

They are easily exposed to multiple information in multiple forms.

But many young people have honed their skills of discrimination.

They realise that having brands thrown at them has a flip side of free benefits.

They’re a step ahead, reinventing it into their own slogans and their own tags.

They’ve downloaded so much brand information that they’ve learnt the language of it.

Which is what makes them good at speaking it.

Which is what makes them good at doing it.

They also tend not too over-complicate stuff.

Life is here and now, uncomplicated by jobs, career progression and family life.

This makes them good at seeing the essential aspects of a brand.

To them a brand is good because it just is.

They don’t care if it ticks all the boxes you learnt in marketing school.

To them, its not rocket science.

Because it doesn’t need to be.

May

May

My favourite month

There’s something special about this May.

It was so cold, and now’s so warm.

Hawthorn’s run riot; so bright it lights up the night.

It’s everywhere!

The air pulsates to thick waves of its scent.

So pungent it knocks me out.

I watch the sun sink like a zephyr into a sea of purple, Venus overhead.

Its been such a stonking month.

I know I’ll miss it, then forget it, only for memory to return next year, when I am again astounded.

But right now, I wish it was May forever.