A beautiful piece from @tadafrazer.bsky.social on the quiet, powerful work of people in #Gateshead showing up for one another: "sometimes - if you’re lucky - it becomes something that feels a bit like a relational revolution."
relationshipsproject.org/be-more-batt...
"Meaningful change doesn’t start with programmes or policies—it starts with relationships."
relationshipsproject.org/be-more-batt...
3) Learn more about the free event, and sign up here:
relationshipsproject.org/connect/
2) Gillian's book, Once Upon a Stranger, has just been published, and focuses on all the reasons to push past your fears and reach out to people: joy, connection, learning, a sense of possibility, the opportunity for kindness. It ends with a "how-to" appendix, with practical tips.
1) 10 days to go until our event with the brilliant Dr Gillian Sandstrom about the importance of talking to strangers.
When: Thursday 23rd April 2026, 1pm-2pm (BST)
Where: Zoom
On Thursday 23rd April, 1-2pm BST, we'll be speaking to Gillian Sandstrom about her upcoming book, Once Upon a Stranger: The Science of How "Small" Talk Can Add Up to a Big Life (out on 31st March 2026) On Tuesday 12th May, 2.30-3.30pm BST, we'll be joined by Allison Pugh to discuss her book, The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World (2024) And on Thursday 18th June, 1-2pm BST, we'll be hearing from Maff Potts about his book, Friends and Purpose: Stories from Sofas on the Streets and Some Confounding Ideas for Tough Times (2025)
Join us this spring for a series of discussions with the authors of three brilliant books – all about relationships.
Learn more and RSVP: relationshipsproject.org/connect/
Did you know that loneliness can have real health implications?
Our latest article explains how human connection is integral to delivering good public services.
#CivilService #Delivery #PublicPolicy @rshipsproject.bsky.social
The Sixth Edition of Heywood Quarterly – Time to deliver – is out now!
Dive into articles on delivery, long-term thinking and leadership.
heywoodquarterly.com/editions/
#CivilService #Policy #PublicPolicy #Government @profserious.bsky.social @rshipsproject.bsky.social
It makes us very happy that after connecting in the space, people have told us that they’ve met up in person, appeared on each other’s podcasts, found useful research papers, and started working on projects together.
The next session is taking place on Wednesday 11th March, 9.30-10.30am (GMT).
Each month, we host Time Together, space for those in the relationships field to learn about each other’s work, make new connections and explore areas of shared interest.
We'd love you to join us. Sign up here: forms.gle/wTojLYhBkHCY...
In this blog, Rich Bell explores why revitalising grassroots democracy and community life must mean directly supporting people to develop the relational skills that make the work of weaving community possible.
relationshipsproject.org/beyond-pound...
The case for shifting power into communities has never been more clear in the wake of last week's Mandelson-Epstein revelations, and delivering on the programme's potential will take bold action to strengthen the relational foundations of our communities.
Last Thursday, the Prime Minister made a speech that would - in any other week - have made some waves. In it, he announced the expansion of the government's Pride in Place programme into forty new areas.
In the latest article from our Sixth Edition, Ray Shostak, Richard Bell and David Robinson explore the power of human connection in public services.
Read the full article here: heywoodquarterly.com/the-role-of-...
#Government @rshipsproject.bsky.social
And we interrogated the relationships scale. Some of the group described this as an "aha" moment – the understanding that sometimes deep relationships are needed and sometimes a transactional relationship is more appropriate. (more on this here: relationshipsproject.org/what-we-mean...)
Change doesn’t start with systems. It starts with relationships.
We've assembled 10 funders who are getting into the possibilities of relational funding over a year-long programme – testing approaches and working through challenges together. On Friday, the cohort came together for the 1st time.
What if we enlarged the human element in 2026, refusing to subordinate it to process and protocol?
relationshipsproject.org/make-yoursel...
#relational
#relationships
Too often systems and organisations make us small. Increasing dependence on rules and automation and transactional processes diminish us all, stripping away the agency, the compassion, and the common sense.
In a new blog, David Robinson shares the wisdom of Wes, his son's football coach who would "scream from the bench like his tracksuit was on fire, “Make yourself big! Make yourself big..."
Anybody who believes in the importance of relationships can put themselves on the publicly accessible Relationships Map – and help connections to be made, ideas to be shared, and resources to flow: airtable.com/shr6pVk5hFEH...
What inspires people who put relationships at the heart of their work? 💡
In this piece – drawing on contributions from over 170 individuals and organisations on our Relationships Map – we share resources that have shaped people's relational practice.
relationshipsproject.org/what-shapes-...
Relationship centred practice isn’t new, it isn’t radical, and it has proved its value repeatedly. So why is it still so often at the margins of big organisations and complex systems rather than embedded in the middle, and what are we doing about it?
relationshipsproject.org/notes-on-a-j...
In a new essay, David Robinson shares how he and friends, all teenagers at the time, clubbed together to buy a Routemaster bus, and how meeting people where they were at, literally and metaphorically, brought the community together
relationshipsproject.org/notes-on-a-j...
🧵 2) If you live, work or volunteer in Middlesbrough, are active in your community and want to make your town a better and safer place, book a taster session:
mvda.info/user-events/...
🧵 1) Our Community Bridgebuilders programme is coming to Middlesbrough in January!
It's a free programme that supports people to:
🌉 Talk to people who bring different perspectives
🌉 Challenge well while staying open and meeting needs
🌉 Encourage positive changes in your own community
🧵3) Gwen is inviting bridgebuilders to be a part of the research in Britain. Do you know anyone who might be interested? Please tag them in the comments.
🧵2) @gwenburnyeat.bsky.social is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. In this blog she introduces her work researching people seeking to create and nurture relationships across complex political divides:
relationshipsproject.org/bridgebuilding-in-colombia-and-britain/
🧵1) "...often, major social changes, from the end of Apartheid in South Africa to women's suffrage in the UK, have been driven by a combination of resistance and filigree bridgebuilding across difference. Yet history doesn’t always make visible this painstaking work."
