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2021 was another eventful year for us at Outside the Box, with lots of highs and a few challenges too. We met as a team in December to reflect on the year and what we’d learned.

Reflections

The changing restrictions offered some more freedom but also a lot of uncertainty- it was great to get back to meeting some of our groups in person again, but there was still anxiety around COVID and trying to make sure we were being as safe as possible. One thing we’ve learned as a team is how to adapt and react quickly to changing circumstances- having a back up plan is always useful! As part of this, our digital skills continued to develop and we made new partnerships and connections as part of an online community.

We learned that we’re not quite back to normal yet, and it’s important for us to take our time while we work things out. Maintaining a good work life balance remains important for us as a team, so making sure we take breaks and have time to regroup and focus is something we’ve been making part of our working practice.

We also were thrilled to see Support Choices spread its wings and become an independent advice charity, empowering people in Perth and Kinross with information around Self Directed Support.

We also saw the end of our Local People Linking project, after four years delivering training sessions with community members to raise awareness of human rights and how to access them. However we’ll be taking forward our learning from the project as we move into a newly funded project centred around equalities and human rights.

We’re also celebrating and reflecting on the end of Rural Wisdom. It’s been five years since we first got the call telling us we were getting the funding-  at that stage it was an idea that we believed would work, but we had no idea of the journey we’d end up on!  It’s now five years on and we’re amazed at the scope of the work we have carried out, creating spaces for older people and others in rural communities to have a say and championing issues that mattered to older people living in rural communities. While the project has ended, we’ll continue to work on new ideas with our partnership between Scotland and Wales, and share our learning from the past five years. 

What we’re excited about

We spoke to our team about what they’re looking forward to in 2022- here’s what they had to say!

“I’m looking forward to the new challenge of Central Wellbeing SCIO standing on its own two feet and running our Make and Mend project funded by the Together for Our Planet grant.”

“Exciting plans for supporting community groups to use media in their work addressing inequalities and building connections.”
“Getting more people involved in shaping our communications strategy – there are so many ways to use digital comms for positive social change, where its rooted and led by communities.”
“Meeting in person as a team again”
“Using a combination of paper mind-maps and post-it notes, and digital solutions, when we meet again in person. Every format has access barriers and benefits, but since Covid we have a bigger toolbox of options for creating accessible spaces, remotely and in person.”
“Moving into our new office at the Kinning Park Complex and getting involved with all the brilliant community initiatives they have going on!”
We’re looking forward 2022 and all the new opportunities and challenges it will bring, as well as continuing to work with the brilliant communities and partners we know.