Work
My work focuses on people's stories:
I sometimes do some work for a charity called CASCAIDr, which doesn't quite fall so neatly under those headings. CASCAIDr (Centre for Adults Social Care - Advice, Information and Dispute resolution) gives specialist legal advice about adult health and social care in England, to help ensure sound administration of justice. This work involves me looking at lots of written information from someone - often from many long emails and letters - and pulling together a coherent 'story' of what's happened for them so far and whether there are grounds for further action.
This is sometimes needed when you're in the middle of living through this kind of story, because it can be really hard to know which parts to tell and which parts to leave out. My job is to sort through everything and find the gaps (where more needs to be found out from the person sharing their story) as well as the parts of the story where CASCAIDr might be able to help.
- supporting storytelling - for people to tell (and listen) to stories
- sharing stories - in talks, presentations, or reports
- finding out about people's views and experiences - in qualitative research
- evaluation - bringing together stories, data, and research
- writing.
I sometimes do some work for a charity called CASCAIDr, which doesn't quite fall so neatly under those headings. CASCAIDr (Centre for Adults Social Care - Advice, Information and Dispute resolution) gives specialist legal advice about adult health and social care in England, to help ensure sound administration of justice. This work involves me looking at lots of written information from someone - often from many long emails and letters - and pulling together a coherent 'story' of what's happened for them so far and whether there are grounds for further action.
This is sometimes needed when you're in the middle of living through this kind of story, because it can be really hard to know which parts to tell and which parts to leave out. My job is to sort through everything and find the gaps (where more needs to be found out from the person sharing their story) as well as the parts of the story where CASCAIDr might be able to help.
People's stories
I work with people about stories from their lives in two main ways.
The first is supporting someone to find a story they'd like to share. This isn't the same as taking part in interviews or discussions because those people already know the subjects or topics that will be talked about. The second is supporting how someone wants to tell and share their story. This might be written, told verbally, or maybe shared in another, artistic, way. |
People's views
Often, people's views - and experiences - are found out about and shared in group discussions. Or, I might speak privately with someone on their own - perhaps in their home, on the 'phone, or find out more through a survey.
You always need someone's agreement (consent) to their taking part, especially about what happens to what they've shared. Interviews and discussions might be recorded. Notes might be taken, to use as a reminder. |
Evaluation
Evaluation means using a particular approach, or method, to weigh up what's been happening - perhaps at a place or in a service or a project. It's generally looking at what's happening over a particular time - for example, the length of a project, or over a period of time when the way a service is run has been changing.
The two evaluation methods I've been involved with most are Realistic Evaluation, and Most Significant Change. |
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Talks
My talks draw on everything I've learned about older age, including insights from the many stories people have shared with me about reaching this life stage. |
Writing
All the work described above includes writing. This might be my writing or co-writing a report, or it might be supporting someone else to write their own story. |
