Helping to make things happen

Each quarter, we take time to reflect on the progress we’re making and share it with you. Here are our reflections on the work we’ve been doing in summer 2025, highlighting what we’re learning, and recognising with gratitude the contributions of everyone involved.

Facilitating workshops is something we love to do, and it’s an area where our particular combination of skills and experience really shines. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to use our facilitation skills over the past few months, both for organisations we know well and for others that we’re working with for the first time.

At a recent workshop, we found a definition of facilitation that we feel expresses well what we aim to do with Just Ideas:

“A facilitator is someone who helps to make something happen, or makes it easier.”
Cambridge Dictionary

New Just Ideas website launch

We’re also thrilled to share the launch of the new Just Ideas website! The new site is packed with refreshed case studies that showcase the depth and diversity of our work — from participatory research to climate engagement, inclusive facilitation and community empowerment.

You’ll also find easy access to our growing library of resources, tools, and publications, all grounded in our values of collaboration, inclusion, and equity. A big thank you to everyone who helped shape this update, and to our partners and clients whose stories and projects are at the heart of what we do.

Power to Change

We’re excited to be working with Power to Change, an organisation that supports community business from the ground up. Its High Street Innovators project is bringing together innovators in Stockport, Bristol, Dewsbury and Birkenhead to look at different ways that community-led businesses are regenerating high streets, providing a model for communities everywhere.

Helen was invited to support the Power to Change team in designing and facilitating a series of study visits. Meeting with the team, Helen led the co-design of the first one-day study visit, acting as an independent facilitator on the day, while encouraging team members to take on elements of the facilitator role.

Alongside this, Just Ideas has been asked to deliver some more general facilitation training to the organisation. We’re looking forward to working with the wider Power to Change team later this year.

Local Trust

We were happy to deliver a fun, engaging and inspiring facilitation training workshop for 22 of Local Trust’s delivery staff on their away day.

Our focus was on the role of a facilitator and tools and tips for effective facilitation. We wanted to model good facilitation throughout the workshop, incorporating opportunities for reflection and feedback. There was a lot of shared learning, as participants brought their experience of supporting Big Local areas.

We made sure to include the things we do best: getting people to think for themselves; encouraging people to try things out; taking a collaborative approach; and creating visual images to communicate our ideas.

Drawing on our knowledge of the issues that come up when facilitating in community settings, we developed scenarios for small group work and presented approaches that were specific and practical. We looked at dealing with conflict, what happens when a group can’t reach a decision, and what to do when it’s not clear what happens next.

In the afternoon, participants worked in groups to deliver different parts of a facilitated session, with great results. It was very satisfying seeing participants using the tools that we’d introduced, and hearing them say they were planning to use what they’d learned when facilitating future sessions.

“Thank you so much for such an engaging and inspiring session. Everyone kept telling me how useful it was, and the managers incorporated some tips and tricks into their own sessions yesterday.”

Pamela Tompsett, Local Trust

Big Local

We were delighted to run two sessions with North Brixton Big Local focusing on telling the story of change in their community.

Together, we did some storyboarding to help the group articulate the difference made by the projects they have funded, including engaging with young people at risk of gang violence and lack of access to employment. During the sessions, our associate Lisa produced an impactful graphic of North Brixton Big Local’s values and achievements.  

IVAR Voice, Access and Inclusion training

A Just Ideas team of Aideen, Ali, Eddy, Helen and Ollie recently had the opportunity to deliver Inclusive Practice Training for the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR). The research team at IVAR were keen to ensure that their working practices were as inclusive as possible. They asked us to design some training with a particular focus on involving disabled people in research at all stages, from design and funding through to evaluating impact.

We explored the term ‘disability’, the medical and social models of disability, and how to make reasonable adjustments. We also explored intersectionality, and went on to lead participants in a Forum Theatre session where we practiced what we’d learned by acting out scenarios. By the end, all of the participants were able to identify where they could make their practices more inclusive and accessible at different levels and stages in the process. You can read Aideen’s blog about the training here.

“I especially appreciated the interactive approach, which encouraged me to think critically about applying the training in everyday practice. The team created a safe and supportive space for learning and open discussion which made it easy for our team to ask questions and explore sensitive topics with confidence.”

Jo Brown, Deputy Director of Research, IVAR

We’re happy to offer a bespoke version of this powerful and practical one-day training session to other organisations. If you would like to discuss some tailored training around inclusive practices, please get in touch.

Engaged Futures

Following on from our training with IVAR, we’ve been invited to work with the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) and the University of the West of England (UWE) on the Engaged Futures project.

This is a new initiative to imagine futures for higher education in the UK where knowledge is built openly and inclusively. Just Ideas will be hosting a conversation about accessibility in higher education, bringing our expertise and focus on disability.

Connecting Health Communities

In Helen’s role as a senior research associate with IVAR, she continues to work on Connecting Health Communities, supporting cross-sector partnerships to tackle health inequalities. She recently facilitated a workshop bringing together professionals and people with lived and living experience of homelessness, to talk about changing ways of working to reduce health inequalities for homeless people in Leicester and Leicestershire.

It was a vibrant session that produced some concrete ideas to be explored over the coming year. These ideas were particularly around oral health for people experiencing homelessness, and around learning from a hub model developed in the city that could be rolled out in other places. Helen will also be facilitating a workshop in Somerset around pathways out of hospital for people with dementia, as part of the same programme.

“Helen brings a unique blend of creative facilitation, fun and innovative methodology in the design and delivery of these workshops, which helps these cross-sector conversations to take place in ways that feel authentic, honest and safe. I really enjoy seeing her facilitate – there is always something new to learn!”
Sonakshi Anand, Senior Researcher, IVAR

Covid-19 Inquiry – Every Story Matters

We’re nearing the end of our work on Module 10 of the UK Covid-19 inquiry listening exercise – Every Story Matters – working with Ipsos, in partnership with WSA Community.

Module 10 is looking at the impact of Covid-19 on society, and we’ve been talking specifically with people who were bereaved during the pandemic, about their experience and the lasting impact. The focus has been on learning lessons for the future. People have been very generous with their time and stories, talking about very painful experiences, with the aim of making a difference.

One of our strands of work has been targeted research, involving one-to-one interviews to hear the experience of people who, through bereavement, suffered particular financial hardship; people from non-Christian religious-based communities in the UK; Black and minority ethnic communities; and people who lost carers during the pandemic. We’ve been successful in hearing a very diverse range of voices, and in making contact with people who had not been represented so far.

In parallel, we’ve facilitated a series of listening events, following our consultative workshops involving bereaved people across the UK. Working closely with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry team, we set up a well-supported, trauma-informed process for these events. The visual element that we developed became a really important communication tool. At the end of the sessions, the feedback was that people felt they’d been heard, and for some, it was the first time they’d felt able to talk about their experiences. People said they were grateful for the opportunity to share the story of their loved ones, so this does not happen again.  

We will be running a second round of consultative workshops in July, where we will feed back the themes that we’ve heard through these listening events and interviews, and give people a chance to discuss and reflect on them. The corresponding Every Story Matters record is due to be published in early 2026. We feel very privileged to have been part of hearing people’s experiences, and sharing learning for a better future. 

The Magpie Project

Helen ran the London Marathon this April, and with your support, she smashed her fundraising target for The Magpie Project!

“Delighted to have completed the London Marathon! It was a rough but awe-inspiring day. The second half was particularly hard. It was the amazing support from all of you who sponsored me, the inspiration of those amazing Magpie Project Mums, and thinking of mums loved and missed everywhere, that kept me going. Proud of my 4-hour time, thankful to be all in one piece, and overjoyed that through our collective efforts we have raised more than £2700 for The Magpie Project!”
Helen Garforth, Director, Just Ideas

You can still support Helen’s fundraising for The Magpie Project here.

Just Ideas Collaborative

We continue to work with our associates on making sure inclusion, diversity and environmental sustainability are considered throughout everything we do. We’ve developed an inclusion checklist as part of our ongoing work and conversation around this. We’re working on designing our policies, practices and projects in ways that make the most of every opportunity for regenerative action and positive impact, both locally and globally. Watch this space for more developments…

We had a great Just Ideas Collaborative gathering last month, sharing activities, ideas and reflections on our work so far this year. You can find out more about the Just Ideas Collaborative here.

Keep in contact

Join our mailing list to hear our news and get links to helpful information and resources.

Work with us

We’ve built our capacity considerably through Just Ideas’ work on Every Story Matters – the listening exercise to inform the Covid Inquiry – and we’re now interested in exploring new partnerships in 2026 and beyond. If you’d like to discuss working together, or partnering with us, you can contact us here. We’d love to hear from you.

We look forward to updating you on our progress again, later in the year.

Richard, Helen, Mary, Mike and the Just Ideas Collaborative.