At Changing Futures, we are piloting a My Team Around Me approach to better meet the needs of people facing multiple disadvantage. In this blog, Ben Muton-Phillips, our Data and Evaluation Officer, explains how he developed a tool to review how teams are progressing with their implementation of MTAM.

Transition and endings are a particularly challenging time for people facing multiple disadvantage. It is also when they are most likely to fall through the cracks in the system. In this blog, Cassandra shares their personal experience of endings and their suggestions to avoid re-traumatisation.

Coproduction and trauma-informed practice have featured heavily in the Changing Futures programme since its inception. In this blog, Tom reflects on how the two complement each other.

How does multiple disadvantage intersect with criminal justice involvement, and what can be done to prevent people with co-occurring health and social needs being pushed into the cycle of crisis and crime? In this piece, Tony, a member of the National Expert Citizens Group, discusses how the criminal justice system fails people with multiple disadvantage.

Megan Cowles is a Clinical Psychologist for the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP). In this blog, she gives us an insight into the day to day of her role.

Kinga is a member of Independent Futures and one of our consultants with lived experience. In this blog, she makes the case for a different approach to tackling squats and the housing shortage in Bristol.

Working with individuals with lived experience as a means of changing and improving services, as well as the practice of coproduction, has been an essential part of the Fulfilling Lives programme since 2014 and now of Changing Futures. Advocates of coproduction make the case for this approach through theoretical frameworks and more significantly, through evidence-based practice.

Adultification is something that has come up a lot recently in the media following the case of Child Q in Hackney, London. As Changing Futures Bristol engages with a cohort of 16–25year-olds experiencing multiple disadvantage, the concept of adultification is very relevant to the work that we do.

One of our ambitions at Changing Futures in Bristol is to have a standard of good coproduction that everyone could adhere to across the city. In September, we hosted an event at Bristol Beacon which gathered people with lived and/or learned experience from many organisations and sectors across the city. Together we co-produced and agreed a set of six principles which define what good coproduction looks like.

Cassandra* is one of our lived experience consultants. In this blog, they look at the benefits and disadvantages of assigning labels to people.

Nyx is a person with lived experience who currently works for one of our partners, Missing Link. She has agreed to write a regular blog for us and this is her first instalment.

Fiona* is one of our lived experience consultant. In this blog, she talks about Family Court

Akira Johnson works in the communications team here at Changing Futures. In this blog, she sheds light on what Black history month means to her and why there should be an ongoing conversation about teaching Black history all year round.

We’re delighted to welcome Abdul Mulla, Veron Dowdy, Alison Comley, Ellie Placide, Darren Alexander and Jeremiah Dom-Ogbonna as our new independent chairs for Changing Futures’ three boards: The Programme Board, the Creative Solutions Board and The Changing Futures Collaborative.

Tom Traub is a member of Independent Futures, our consultants with lived experience. In this blog, he talks about the value of coproduction and what it takes to make it a success.

Lisa Catling is a service coordinator here at Changing Futures, this is a cathartic piece which showcases Lisa’s view on working as a service coordinator yet still “being human”.

Katherine recently joined the Changing Futures team as our Learning Academy Development Officer. In this post, she shares what she’s learnt in her first month on the job.

Ben Muton-Phillips is our Data and Evaluation Officer. In this piece, he reflects on the importance of presenting data in different ways to stakeholders in a system change programme and the challenges he faces.