Making Space has joined the Stockport Accounting for Social Good Network. This case study has been shared by Toni Pike as it follows the basic principles of social accounting and may be helpful for those starting out in their social accounting.
Our Vision is ‘For every person with care and support needs to have access to personalised, outcome-focused services that are delivered with dignity, respect and compassion and support them to enjoy an everyday life’.
Our work in Manchester includes NCS (National Citizenship Service), which is for 15-17-year-olds to gain experience, build skills and to do something to help the community. In 2018, we supported a group of 60 15-17-year-olds with the Business Challenge where young people discussed solutions for a real-world challenge.
The young people get to build skills such as leadership and communication whilst the organisation gets different innovative ideas on solving their problem. Before the session took place, people created designs to represent their plans for the community project at Bates Street and Monet Lodge Independent Hospital.
At Bates Street, The NCS Team raised £500 and then helped to clear away the weeds and added to the garden with some herbs and a barbecue. They also added some lovely fresh flowers and to a raised flower bed. Two teams from the NCS Challenge came to work on the garden at Monet Lodge Independent Hospital. They started by learning more about dementia and planning their project. Both teams decided to work on a mural on the fence in different sections of the garden. They also tidied away a lot of the overgrown weeds and planted some new plants. There is still more work to do and we are hoping more teams from Headstart and NCS will come to do some more work on the garden.
Mark (a participant in the events) said “It was the first time I had talked about my anxiety to a large group of people before, which was quite nerve-wracking. I hear people living with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression talking about their experiences but not so much about anxiety.”
The young people were engaged, interested, polite and happy to talk about their experiences. Mark shared his lived experience with openness and honesty which created a safe space for other people to share their experiences. People then asked a lot of interesting and varied questions leading to discussions on cultural differences and viewpoints between different generations which very often isn’t openly discussed. I think we were all taken aback on how mutually positive the session had been.
If you would like more information about Making Space, please visit our website at www.makingspace.co.uk or call 01925 571 680.
Social Audit Network SAN 