In episode 13 of the Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast I chat with Beverley Samways from Unique Connections.

I recently came across the work of Unique Connections online, when exploring how I could help and support The Girl to live a gloriously ordinary life. Beverley and I talk all about the importance and power of seeing the emotional person behind the behaviour, and how being truly present with someone can replace self-injury with connection and words.

* Trigger warning - we talk about self harm *

This one's all about identity. I’ve hesitated over this blog. It’s the last of three (for the moment) about the role of inclusive education in enabling Gloriously Ordinary Lives, but it’s taken me to a tricky place personally. This is probably version 34 as I’ve struggled to find the right words, or even to be clear about what I want to say, so apologies now for my clumsiness.

You will know that the ideas and shaping of Gloriously Ordinary Lives came from my kids. The more I reflect on what it takes to keep things gloriously ordinary, the more I’m inclined to go back to our education system and how we choose to segregate and ‘other’ children from the youngest of ages.

This week I tell you some stories, then next week I’ll start to unpick how I think it works, with some help from Ciaran. I’m thinking again about the power and impact of all our children going to school together …and how this is a great starting point for creating and supporting Gloriously Ordinary Lives.

Thanks to the brilliant Maff Potts, I recently had an ah-ha moment. In Test Four, I make a big deal about the importance of supporting, enabling and nurturing real friendships and I stick by that... but now I’d like to add something else.

In episode 12 of the Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast I chat with ⁠Maff Potts⁠, founder of ⁠Camerados⁠ and author of 'Friends and Purpose'.

We explore Maff's brilliant concept of 'front of house' versus 'back of house' - using the restaurant analogy to show how we often bring our very dehumanising policies, procedures, and language into spaces where people should feel human, comfortable and valued.

Have a listen - I'd love to hear what you think!

Dear lovely supporters of Gloriously Ordinary Lives, I promised you a postcard and here it is!

I’m writing this quickly on the Friday before you read this, trying to get everything sorted before I leave for Kefalonia for 10 days - hurrah. Ciaran usually comes to me for dinner every Sunday evening. The obvious 'Serviceland' solution? Pop in some extra paid support, maybe a temporary hours adjustment through his social worker... But why is that always the starting point?

As the third and final part of my musings on friendships and connections over the last few weeks, I wanted to share a quick story. I hope it will put a smile on your face as we get back into real life after the long weekend.

I wanted to do a bit more musing this week on friendships and connections. I reflect on the role of paid support in people’s lives in facilitating and supporting friendships connections and relationships. Are you looking for look opportunities to facilitate/nurture/grow/support connections and relationships? Is it a priority?

In this blog I reflect on friendships, connections and relationships - all the stuff that’s covered under Test Four. We need to buck our ideas up about what constitutes friendship and accept that we all do it in very different ways. When we judge someone's ability to have friends, we're talking baloney.

Ciaran Cameron turned 30 on the 19th of March, so we are in the middle of a week of various celebrations, reminiscing and wondering what's next!

So, it's the end of the I Open My Own Front Door, Do You? campaign… well, the start of it, I guess, as this was the launch week - but don’t think it’s gone away. In this blog I reflect on a couple of things that have really hit home for me since the campaign began.

In preparation for our campaign this week, ‘I Open My Own Front Door, Do You?’ I asked friends, colleagues, and family to share what ‘front door’ as a concept means to them. The majority of this blog is what people told me - beautiful, heartfelt, thoughtful quotes.

This week, I can chat with Sam Clark, Chief Executive of ⁠Learning Disability England⁠. We talk about the importance of people opening their own front doors as we share a new campaign - I Open My Own Front Door, Do You? - by Gloriously Ordinary Lives in partnership with Learning Disability England.

This week, I share a new campaign - I Open My Own Front Door, Do You? - by Gloriously Ordinary Lives in partnership with Learning Disability England.

This week I explore the idea of independence - how we use it in social care, and whether sometimes, it’s just about someone needing their shoes put on so they can get to the pub?

If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know I’m a bit obsessed with all things ‘language’. Fast forward to today - Bryony Shannon and I are thrilled to launch Gloriously Ordinary Language.

This week, I explore what happens when dreams and aspirations, the things we want to do in our gloriously ordinary lives, are turned into outcomes by Serviceland.

This week I chat with James Townsend, Co-Founder and CEO of ⁠Mobilise⁠. We reflect on the importance of shifting how local councils view families, focusing on supporting them to live gloriously ordinary lives. It's about having early conversations, rethinking relationships between people with a caring role and those they support, and opening up new ways of understanding those connections.