Dr Alice Ashcroft’s Post

You do what you do because passionate about working with teens, tweens, or their families. And we’ve got some exciting events lined up just for professionals like you! Come connect with others who have a similar business focus and grow your network at one (or all!) of our upcoming ParenT(w)een Professional Networking Mixers. Event Details: THIS FRIDAY in Centennial, CO When: 11AM MT, June 14 Where: Navigating Education https://lnkd.in/e-3NYmnM Next Monday in Colorado Springs When: 10AM MT, June 17 Where: Mandy Penn Photography https://lnkd.in/e9fWVfhY Virtual Gathering When: 1PM ET, June 21 Where: Online via Zoom https://lnkd.in/eVAPHZy9 Why Attend? Build Powerful Connections: Expand your network with fellow changemakers, educators, therapists, parents, and more. These connections can become valuable referral partners and collaborators. Engage in Insightful Conversations: Participate in dynamic discussions fueled by shared experiences and fresh perspectives. Enjoy a Lighthearted Atmosphere: Unleash your inner child and enjoy laughter in an environment that fosters genuine connection and a sense of community. What to Expect: Intriguing Activities: Go beyond traditional networking with engaging icebreakers and interactive exercises. Timely Topics: Dive into relevant discussions tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by those working with teens, tweens, and families. Actionable Takeaways: Leave with new ideas, resources, and connections to empower your work and make a lasting impact. Don’t Miss This Opportunity: Amplify Your Impact: Collaborate and learn from others who share your mission. Recharge Your Passion: Reconnect with your purpose and find renewed inspiration. Grow Your Network: Build valuable relationships that can support your professional journey. Spread the Word! Share this event with other professionals who work with teens, tweens, and families. The more the merrier, and the greater the impact we can create together. Join us for any or all of these exciting events. We look forward to seeing you there!

Events are the ultimate example of hope. As children we trust hope because our world rewards us in doing so. We hope to eat sweets, play with a friend and watch cartoons. As adults we trust cynicism because we get cut off on the highway, expenses go up and our health isn’t a given. But events are powerfully hopeful. With events, we have data, we have technique and we have established brands that deliver. We know how to market, provide compelling content and create surprise and delight. We can prove the value of our events. But hope is a more powerful tool than all of the above because it validates needs and wants, just like when we were children. ⭐️Hope that you will connect with new people and reconnect with those you know. ⭐️Hope that you will have some tangible takeaways . ⭐️Hope that you can source and fill a need. ⭐️Hope that you will have fun and joyful moments. At events, we deliver to those emotions fueled by hope. ✅ You make new connections. ✅ You learn tactics you can deploy immediately. ✅You source a great new solution. ✅You have a fun and inspiring experience. If we take our design strategy and map it all to delivering against hope, our events are stickier, compelling and memorable. Cheers to all my fellow organizers delivering the hope and filling our inner children with joy.

As the end of another full year begins to creep up on us, I thought it was a good time to check in on everyone! Each of us shows up differently in our communities, and whether we’re heading up a CIC or carrying out a random act of kindness, we’re all making positive change happen where we live, while improving our outlook and the outlook of those around us. You're all playing your part! In our increasingly busy lives, we are forever trying to postpone the onset of winter, and a cost-of-living crisis brings its own set of challenges, be that for ourselves or the communities we’re supporting; but we know the Network is active and resilient in its togetherness. While it’s important to care for and maybe repair ourselves, it’s also a time to celebrate what we’ve achieved or overcome, whatever that looks like for you. With that in mind, I’d love to hear about your small wins and big ideas, or something or someone that's helped you along the way. Over the next few months I’d like to organise some informal meet-ups to bring the Network together, connecting past participants of our Community Action courses, Big Lunch organisers, community doers and organisations, in several locations across Central England and online. Whether we get together in this wave of meet-ups or beyond, I’d love to know your thoughts about central locations and venues, where a cuppa and connection can take place and we can spend a few hours exchanging experiences and energy with one another. Comment below!

The phrase "accessibility is a journey" is one that you have probably come across before, it's often spoken at conferences, presentations, meetings with stakeholders, and it's probably on a really cool sticker somewhere too. We'd like to level up that phrase and say "Accessibility is a community journey". Why? The quality of access is the sum of its parts. This means that accessibility is created by the community that goes into it. This can be both a relief and a challenge: - the relief (you don't have to do this by yourself) - the challenge (where do you start in building your community?) Both of these parts help to form the journey. At Modality Co, we're here to help you with all three: the accessibility, the community, and the journey. We're really excited that later this week we will be announcing our first community events based in lutruwita/Tasmania, this could be your first step in forming your accessibility community. To be the first to know sign up for our mailing list: https://buff.ly/3OYtOwl Need help with your journey? Get in contact with us by emailing Hello@ModalityCo.com, or fill in our contact form here: https://buff.ly/43bENbM Hashtags: #a11y #AccessibilityCommunity #DigitalAccessibility #DisabilityCommunity #AccessibilityCommunity #DisabilityLed

1. A timely reminder to: start your chaotic clothing swap, go to your first member meeting, get a weekly Sunday dinner on the cal with the friends you keep wishing you saw more. Give this a go even if – especially if – you don't know if you can keep it up forever. (More on how to do this responsibly in the essay itself, I promise.) 2. ...and an invitation to **make some actual time** to start one of the things above at the first-ever GROUP HUG hosted event in January 🫨. It's called GET INVOLVED BUTTON: COWORKING TIME TO BEGIN YOUR NEXT COMMUNITY PRACTICE, and we'll spend an hour going heads down together to fill out that volunteer form, send the email, draft the dream for our next big thing we want to do with other people. It's free, come hang and FIRE IT UP! https://lnkd.in/gSxyEWUz https://lnkd.in/gEi6TGyM

Hope you enjoy our latest Newsletter

Business Retention & Expansion Development What's the importance of business retention & expansion? Existing companies within a community generate nearly 80% of jobs and capital investment for the area. #GDP #GRP #JobGrowth #QualityofLife #TaxRevenue #socialdevelopment #businessdevelopment #businessretention #communitydevelopment

📢 New blog alert! 📢 What does it take to go from a 'Service User' to an 'Expert by Experience'? 'Many of the Experts by Experience that Grapevine work with have spent years made powerless by health and social care systems that don’t value their voice, with decisions about their health and care being made by professionals in positions of greater power than them.' Read the blog to find out how we shift power towards those with lived experience, and to explore the theme of power in co-production and community organising. https://lnkd.in/eUrbjZaa

We love our volunteers and want to equip them and care for them. We just get caught up in all the other important things, and a whole month, semester, or ministry year goes by, and we realize we never had an in-depth conversation with over 50% of the people who served alongside us. Here are a few tips to make sure that is not you at the end of this year. https://loom.ly/xxMgQnE

I was just talking with my colleague about challenge of scheduling meetings for volunteer organizations. Please weigh in and tell me whether you think it's better to have regular meetings that are always at the same time and the same day, no matter who can attend or if you should be flexible about availability. In either case, someone who may not be able to attend can now watch a recorded session but when do you cancel the meeting or move the time based on who will be available? How do you determine when the contributions of live meetings are lost because of low attendance?