Drawings for London Genetics Network Conference

Had a head-scratching day last week, figuring out what to draw for a bunch of very clever people - at a conference of geneticists. Wow, this really is another world! 

In the future all our genomes will be mapped at birth, potential future illnesses predicted, and hopefully disaster averted. Ah, if only life were that simple :)

Great to finally meet (in-person!) Angelica Ronald and Karoline Kuchenbaecker who co-hosted the LGN, as the last 2 years have been virtual events.

Patients as Partners

A recent piece of work highlighting the benefits of patients and clinicians working in partnership for better outcomes for recipients of their services. 

This one was for Crohn's and Colitis UK, and started in Sheffield, but similar projects are running around the country, and this particular project is also looking to expand and grow. People with lived experience can contribute to better future services. Inspiring work!
 

National Policing Event - Towards a Trauma Informed Police Force

I was called up on Monday to do a job up in Birmingham on Tuesday and Wednesday! Here's an output from day 1. All about making the police force a force for good - more compassionate, understanding and kind. 

This is because a huge proportion of people who get involved in crime and are involved in violence are themselves victims of trauma. 

The aim is to become a trauma-informed force, in order to stop the endless cycle of reoffending and generational trauma.

This was day 2. In order to be better informed and not to work with biased information - you've got to follow the data. Data is king! In data we trust.

Delphix - Customer event

I was recently working in the city, for a tech company called Delphix. They serve banks and other companies including Channel 4, behind the scenes of their websites, the wonderful world of DevOps.

As they had a photographer to capture their day they took a few of me too. Thanks to Aoife at Delphix and the friendly team, it was an afternoon of cake and laughter as well as a chance for people to get together, which is long overdue.

 

Cafcass Practice Week - phew it's over!

 

Cafcass Practice Week - Day 1

I've been working for Cafcass England this week. 

My favourite workshop was presented by the School of Kindness - really amazing charity and such wonderful work Jaime and Greig are doing, brought everyone out of their shell and left us all with a warm fuzzy feeling!

 

Live work - in action

Please press play twice for the film to play! 

This work was for a local council in southwest London. The brief was to capture the first meeting of the council after a hiatus of 2 years, and to help communicate their new aims and objectives. Thanks to Toby Ross for passing on this speeded up short film of a few hours' worth of me live scribing.

Living Safely with Covid-19

Some ongoing work done for a London local authority. We're all enjoying our holidays and the blazing summer we're having here in the UK but Covid is still with us. Stay safe y'all!

 

Open University Research Project

 This was an intense day at the Open University in Milton Keynes. 10 different sociologists all reading and then discussing their research papers on the different aspects of food delivery riders. A whole new world to discover!

Merton Meetings

Yesterday I was working for Merton council in southwest London. There was a buzz in the air, with the first staff conference since pre-covid times, hooray! Great to hear about their ambitious plans for the borough.

Thought I'd also post some previous work within the borough, these were all for the public health team before the pandemic.

Citizens Climate Change Assembly - Land Use

This subject was very emotive. Perhaps because the symbolism of Hereford beef cattle is a strong one in Herefordshire (not surprising really!), and being asked to eat differently, eg a more plant-based diet, is a very personal incursion into people's lives.

I think it's going to be a tough one to shift. The other two subjects of Transport and Buildings are equally tough to change because of the huge costs and massive infrastructure changes - and this all should have been attended to years ago (as they've been doing in Sweden and Germany). It's a mammoth task.

I found 'Regen Ben's' https://www.regenben.com/ talk the most inspiring, because he was watching his farm flourish and he saw it happening in years not decades. My hat is off to him and all farmers who are adapting and trying to make nature flourish while keeping us all fed!

What Family Means to Us

I was asked to draw up this image after a recent workshop.

The dandelion imagery came from one of the participants: dandelions grow tightly together like a family unit, and then disperse as individual seeds, in order to establish their own new 'family'. 

What does family mean to you?