Mutual Musings

Expert in a Corner 

Had a lovely time at Make to Mine yesterday. I painted a bag with the Ey Up logo. I’ll use it when I’m visiting shops and services in the community with copies. It was a lovely chilled morning as I sat quietly painting, listening to conversations and joining in with some.

I couldn’t help overhearing a conversation that two women were having, really being alongside each other. No fixing, just really good listening. I was chuffed to hear one of the women describe the way the space was supporting her, describing how it helps. Something like, ‘it’s always here. There’s no pressure to come, and you don’t need to do anything when you’re here. It just helps.’ And the conversation ended there. That was enough. Imagine if we could see this value? Just accept it. It really doesn’t cost much to unlock community buildings and convene spaces like this.  

Unfortunately outside professionals sometimes can’t help meddling with them- they aren’t there long enough to see the magic and so tend to try and add ingredients that they think might be missing, when there’s little understanding of the skills, capacities and wisdom in the room. 

When you decide to install say a ‘link worker’ into a space like this, what happens is community members start to bypass each other in search of the ‘expert’. It’s an act of harm really, especially in neighbourhoods that have been overly labelled and oppressed. It’s a job in itself helping people ‘see’ their talents after years of labels. 

There is a need to wrap signposting and expert advice around community stuff and co produce some better stuff. However, installing a link worker in community space might tick a service box, but it really can weaken a community system. 

Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and in the institutions office they installed an ‘expert’ sitting in the corner. It wouldn’t take long for the team to stop using each other as a resource. They’d soon stop looking to and trusting in each other.