is complex and this is partly because so many different organisations are charged with providing support; from local government to children’s social care, the criminal justice system to health, and…

the deep connections between the tikanga (customs) and practice of social innovation and Te Ao Māori (the Māori world). Social innovation is the process of designing, developing and growing ideas,…

the Spring Consortium (with Deloitte and Mutual Ventures) delivering the Department for Education Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme, will continue. Since its launch in 2014 the programme has stimulated, funded,…

problems. As part of the Spring Consortium and with the Department for Education we are working with commissioners and providers as part of the Innovation Programme in Children’s Social Care…

…well, and for re-defining and innovating our models of care. Current vs future models of care Now Future Paternalistic model of care Asset-based Care by the building and minute Care…

2: Medical needs vs social needs Our mental health is greatly affected by our social circumstances and social relationships. Tom cares for his wife Patricia who has alzheimers. They own…

…for patient involvement in health innovation include: Paying close attention to patient experience to identify opportunities for innovation Inviting direct feedback to learn how to make an innovation successful Using…

…the sector. Around 75% of children in care are in foster care and, across the country, fostering providers and carers are creatively and bravely rethinking traditional approaches to care, support…

and adopt No Wrong Door. If you would like to know more about the support available for adapting No Wrong Door to your context, please contact Cath Dillon – cath.dillon@innovationunit.org….

working as part of the Spring Consortium on the Children’s Social Care Innovation Fund. 53 projects are identifying enablers and barriers to innovation which raise questions for the sector about…

Faced with an increasing number of children requiring out-of-home care in Western Australia, and driven by a desire to transform the experiences of children in care and their families, Parkerville…

relief, a clear reason for our collective exhaustion. Of course, this context has been so much harder for our partners leading and managing health systems, local authorities, children’s social care…

…them pursue their long-term goals. I’m delighted that recent evaluation and learning materials from the programme developed by Innovation Unit and the Social Care Institute for Excellence show that over…

that rent is often insufficient to cover the cost of maintenance. In compiling seven years of exceptional work in the innovation and housing sector, The Australian Centre for Social Innovation…

and disenfranchisement. These mindsets for social innovation form the practice framework for our work in Aotearoa New Zealand – they describe our way of being in our innovation work. Curiosity…

2019), it aims to break down boundaries between mental and physical health, between primary and secondary health care, between health and social care, and between the statutory sector and voluntary…

access to support, advice and funds to create independent organisations that are dedicated to the scale and spread of their innovation. PROACTIVE INNOVATION ADOPTION Scaling innovation, and creating better, more…

to update these over the coming months, as the programme progresses, so watch this space! To find out more about the programme or Innovation Unit’s work, please contact Lizzie: lizzie.cain@innovationunit.org…

adults with learning disabilities — relationships that enable them to thrive. What is a named social worker? A named social worker means my social worker; a professional with whom an…

Last week I spent a day with social innovators at SIX’s Wayfinder event. Social innovators from around the globe came together to explore how social innovation can have even greater…

to adopt and adapt their innovation. In March 2020, IU, alongside Mutual Ventures and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), joined the partnership delivering the programme. Drawing on our…

in care, carers, survivors of the Stolen Generation and other stakeholders, the Family Link Worker role emerged as a means of addressing this gap. Facilitating relationships in a complex care…

to be this way. Innovation Unit has just launched Better Endings, a year-long disciplined innovation programme, funded by Guy’s and St Thomas Charity’, that aims to create new solutions for…

to support spread. First, while the current system primarily rewards innovation, there needs to be greater recognition and support for adopters of innovation too. It is tempting to think that…

We heard from: Elaine James and Rob Mitchell from Bradford County Council about their experience of delivering person-centred care through the Named Social Worker programme Igor Tojcic from Lomakatsi ,…

want to challenge the system to get better outcomes for young people who fall into the cycle of reoffending. To work with Innovation Unit on the pilot , contact jessie.ben-ami@innovationunit.org…

…innovation programmes that identify, nurture and help to spread innovation, to adopt and adapt innovations that have already been shown to be successful and enable place-based transformation that really sticks….

and reorganise mental health care. The UK’s shift away from institutional care towards care in the community is generally seen as a success story — and rightly so — but…

…Innovation Programme, which we support: Leeds’ Family Valued programme is using Family Group Conferences across children’s social care so that families can make decisions, mend relationships and drive change for…

hosting us in their lovely Brown Street studio, and thank you again to our excellent panellists. If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach out at matt.berry@innovationunitanz.org.  …

scaling and diffusion here . For more information about the work Innovation Unit is engaged in across the education system in Australia, contact our Education Lead Martin James — martin.james@innovationunit.org…

Too often we hear about brilliant initiatives, services, or innovation teams who do great work in pockets of organisations — but the core business or offer of that organisation stays…

a sprint, or a whole design project. But like a lot of people, the more time I spend working on complex social issues through design and innovation, the more I…

…are summarised in our model for scale , and have come from our experience of taking fantastic innovations to scale elsewhere (for example in children’s social care ), and our…

to influence public debates with our learning about the future of children’s social care and adult mental health systems. We will continue our work on innovation programmes that identify, nurture…

…with these experiences. Opportunity #4 — Allow loved ones to care Make it much easier for informal carers, families and wider support networks to provide the right care and support…

management and sharing of risk across partners, from children’s social care to health and police. For colleagues who’ve worked in children’s homes before, No Wrong Door’s immediate access to professional…

…over the past four years, we have a strong culture of innovation at CPAHS and a commitment to future-focused learning. Staff regularly using disciplined innovation methods such as prototyping to…

feel better equipped to instigate and lead their own initiatives. To learn more about Innovation Unit’s approach to building stronger communities in New Zealand, please contact Rachel Knight at rachel.knight@innovationunit.org…

…are to create positive social change in our communities. We also know that generally, what is good for Māori is good for everyone. Four pou/values At Innovation Unit Australia New…

understanding of the children’s social care sector, to our work with three authorities, Salford, Stockport and Trafford. We have been learning how to practically apply the national ambition and guidance…

By Keren Caple (CEO, Innovation Unit Australia) and Sarah Gillinson (CEO, Innovation Unit) Today’s launch is the culmination of many years of working with some of Australia’s most ambitious leaders…

social goals we really care about, and our non-negotiable ecological limits. Why is it important? So what’s it got to do with design and innovation work? This picture really calls…

…services meet the challenges that families are facing in today’s changing climate. On 30 September 2021, Innovation Unit ANZ hosted the second event of our three-part Social Innovation Learning Series,…

build appetite and capacity for solving the systemic problems that we face. Organisations such as the Stanford d.school and their sister School Retoolprogramme, 4.0 Schools and Innovation Unit’s recently launched…

…promising change efforts globally. While they might not include every element of Transition Design, the mission-led innovation approach championed by economist Mariana Mazzucato and elaborated on by Sweden’s innovation agency…

…not, but perhaps it’s worth a try. Innovation Unit is here to help. I look forward to your response. Yours faithfully, Nick Webb Director of Mental Health Innovation, Innovation Unit…

…they visited. They were able to refer people for support from the council social care, social security office, or voluntary groups. Kindness, solidarity and the long standing traditions of mining…

…and young people are amongst the hardest hit by social isolation and reduced income. Lockdown stories At Innovation Unit, we spent a month listening to the lockdown stories of seven…

Social prescribing is a way of linking primary care patients to sources of appropriate, non-clinical support in the community (Kinsella, 2015). This webinar explores how three different models of social…

the links between them have been designed and organised. Services (and commissioning) are fragmented, complex and confusing for service users. The historic separation of health and social care is an…

or side hustle. The addition of ‘what the world needs’ as a key consideration for careers thinking feels like a big deal for social innovation. Whenever I’m asked for advice…

…and our community. I was first introduced to Innovation Unit when Valerie Hannon (Board Director) and Keren Caple (CEO of Innovation Unit Australia but then General Manager of AITSL) visited…

it must recognise that, in its absence, caregivers will rely upon each other, their extended family and community networks of support. Our own work, especially the Thriving Communities programme with…

…country’s eduLab–schools that are tasked with developing ICT innovations so that they can be adopted by schools across the system–has adopted better and more advanced data technology to help in…

positive relationships across and within projects. Buddy scheme Buddy schemes are a proven way to boost social connections in organisations and foster skill-sharing especially across health leader roles and partnered…

…to someone else. As part of Innovation Unit’s work to develop an asset-based approach to children’s social care in Wigan, we ran a series of workshops to share professionals’ knowledge…

…concept will enrich how you think about social innovation and the way we need to be, to do that work. How is it being used? Indigenous peoples around the world…

…know that something significant in the organisational norms is different. And it is changes to organisational architecture — the culture, the structure, and the organisation of time across the whole…

justice systems, what I have learned helping many friends navigate the complexities of the health and care system and now my lived experience of palliative care, as a carer. Combined,…

…deliberate shift in leverage points, and one of my first introductions to social innovation, happened around homelessness in WA around 6 years ago. A range of groups, including the WA…

…can be found at https://www.wa.gov.au/government/document-collections/two-new-family-and-domestic-violence-womens-refuges-co-design-findings Caution Some people may find parts of this content confronting or distressing. Recommended support services include: 1800 Respect – 1800 737 732 Lifeline – 13…

Introduction Innovation Unit is the Learning and Support Partner on The National Lottery Community Fund’s Health Equalities grants programme . The 12 grantees ( meet them here ) are all…

Every year we get new schools. In Australia and the UK, where Innovation Unit mainly works, governments are commissioning new school builds in response to population growth. In the US,…

you – and please reach out if you’d ever like to chat about all thing social innovation. Follow Matt Norman on LinkedIn for more insights and ideas about social innovation….

…to expand my thinking on what counts as (effective) social innovation. A lot of work at the narrative and culture or ‘deep roots’ levels can feel less direct, less applied,…

…My name is Rachel Knight. I’m a Project Lead here at Innovation Unit Australia New Zealand, and I have whakapapa/lineage to the south island tribe of Ngāi Tahu. However, I…

…Human-scale at Scale illuminates how scale and spread is as much to do with continuous innovation and improvement as it is about best practice; as much to do with social…

study programme derives from or sparks their passions and interest, and they can see its relevance in the real-world. Schools don’t have to be organised around subjects, lessons and timetables…

…innovation in mental health at Innovation Unit and someone recently bereaved by suicide I am always hopeful that endings can offer hope of something new. In our twenty-first century, complex…

in Innovation Unit’s work too. If the major social challenges we face are shared (ageing populations, automation and the changing nature of work) – how can we bridge those divides…

as social distancing became our new normal, we increasingly reached out to each other – finding creative ways to safely meet the fundamentally human need to connect. At Innovation Unit…

Why we need to invest in the transformation of school in England Tonight, Innovation Unit and Nesta Impact Investments will host a private screening of the film Most Likely to…

This blog was originally published by Education Week. You can see the original version here. How do we innovate towards deeper learning? At Innovation Unit , we used to talk…

new solutions must be about innovation. More of the same can only mean ever more justifiable discontent, disengagement, resentment and division. Innovation Unit will work tirelessly to build alliances for…

…week trial 50% of choices from the children’s menus were from the healthier menu, and feedback from customers about the taste of the new options was positive. In Lambeth we…

…designer I want to be. Read #4 of this blog series now: The Berkana Institute’s ‘Two Loops’. Follow Matt Norman on LinkedIn for more insights and ideas about social innovation….

…research bolstered by recent ‘hard data’ from neuroscience of the impact that conflict between parents can have on children’s brains. Through the Local Family Offer pilots, Innovation Unit and One…

Earlier today the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) published a report setting out the findings of research into Project Based Learning (PBL) undertaken by Innovation Unit with Durham University. Despite some…

…schools is a once in a lifetime opportunity for innovation, both for many of those who lead schools as well as those who work in education systems supporting them. While…

…conversation about what the future of play could look like in your region, neighbourhood, and whānau. For more information about this kaupapa, please get in touch with Emily Preston: emily.preston@innovationunit.org…

…ways to create opportunities for reciprocal support relationships in the community. North London Cares , for example, connects younger people who have lots of social connections but no ‘rooted-ness’ in…

…of change, the change we all want, requires actions driven not by anger but by care, compassion, empathy, connection, commitment and collaboration. Finally, on contribution and agency — themes that,…

…an interview recently, in “hospicing the old system to midwife the new.” Where does your work fit? Follow Matt Norman on LinkedIn for more insights and ideas about social innovation….

Social Innovation in Aotearoa New Zealand requires a genuine and active commitment to reducing inequality for the people of this land – the Māori people. This identity connects us to…

Our response Today the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) have published a report setting out the findings of research into Project Based Learning undertaken by Innovation Unit with Durham University. Project…

…about transforming learning, then this conventional wisdom points to the need for implementation of edtech within the context of holistic school design/redesign. At Innovation Unit we know what it takes…

Innovation Unit has worked closely with the Department of Communities (Communities) in Western Australia since November 2019 to co-design two new family and domestic violence (FDV) refuges for women and…

…spending all of our time reporting and negligible time communicating. Leading a project for Innovation Unit ANZ in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, we saw an opportunity to enhance…

Across multiple disciplines and fields, as organisations and as individuals, we seem to be asking ourselves the same simple question — what next? From politics to place-making, economics to education,…

…groups don’t mix. They are more segregated, and only talking to themselves. The challenge for our mission at Innovation Unit, as an organisation building new solutions for a thriving society,…

…including parents and carers that are part of the family unit. There is a brilliant opportunity to create opportunities for engagement and meaningful co-production that includes the diverse experiences and…