Well, – 2025 was quite a year!
When thinking what to write in the blog to summarise the year, – the first thing that came to mind was comfort zones and I feel we as a charity and me personally have been pushing beyond the edges of our comfort zones throughout 2025, and the discomfort certainly brought its rewards?!
I realised early on, that for many years we have mixed with those we know and like, attended events with familiar faces and enjoyed at times being a well-known and respected organisation in the room. We have spent the year focussing on nurturing these important relationships, but getting involved in lots of groups, organisations, events, government departments, and with people that we don’t know and that don’t know us.
This has all been in service to growth and trying to impact more lives. I have been really pleased, for the most part, with how this has been received and our engagement and offer to help and support, – to be a partner or collaborator. We are really keen to get out there and do this wherever we can.
This has taken some navigating, but we can’t escape the growing needs across the country in our field, and our job is to be part of the solution, so we have been meeting, supporting, giving, hearing and engaging. As a charity, we’re here to help!
I have attended five conferences this year: –
- NASS
- CHA
- TCTC
- CYP
- NCASC
A bit of acronym bingo for you, – I’m sure you can work out what is what.
They have all been very different, – all fundamentally about delivering even better services for the same children / families / people and yet all speaking different languages, to different audiences. I wonder what impact this has on the ability of these groups to work together. I’m sure it is a barrier to effective collaboration and perhaps we have a role to play in navigating this and helping others do the same?
A highlight of the conference season for me was presenting with one of our ex-pupils, – a heartfelt account of her and my adventure of learning and living as part of the Mulberry Bush therapeutic community! – Thanks Taygen!!
I know this is not all about me and as a wider charity team, we’ve had a much bigger footprint this year across the sectors, with staff attending or presenting at:
- FEVACA
- Commissioners Conference
- ARC Conference
- National Association for Virtual School Heads Conference
- Therapeutic Childcare Conference
- ARC Timpson Awards
- Oxford Brookes University Inclusion Conference
This list reminds me of the breadth of the work we do and what is great for me is that I have such faith in the wider team. They are amazing!
Part of what I have been passionate about is us being ambitious for the Mulberry Bush as a charity and I think time and time again the teams across all services demonstrate this. It also has been wonderful that ex-pupils have joined us, presenting at external conferences and also helping deliver induction and training for staff within the charity.
We know from feedback that having their authentic voice, brings a different quality to the learning. It really helps people feel in touch with the importance of the work and the life changing impact that it can have. It reminds us why we do what we do.
To support the national profile of our work with this ‘stretching’ of the range and reach of the charity, we decided to apply for more national awards this year. This is something we have done very little in the past. We have always been good at focussing on what we do less well, – where we have got it wrong, – analysing our faults, – but the process of award applications demands that you focus on strengths, outcomes, achievements, and data! Celebrating!
This has been an amazing experience. You discover who is more able to think about the positives, who gets stuck in the negatives, – it has brought out competition in people and departments, – jealousies and envy, – all healthy stuff to have out in the open and work through, – but at times it has been quite painful.
Writing the awards has been helpful, – focussing on what we do well, – really having to think with people about the amazing work they do, how it is helping those they are working with, and the positive impact it is having. This has been across the services, – the school and our services who improve the knowledge and skills in the wider workforce.
I think being shortlisted has for me been the best bit, – that recognition of the value of what is being offered and acknowledgement that others understand the skills and qualities of the staff team;
In the National Children’s Homes Awards:
- The Emotional and Social Curriculum nominated for the Supporting Achievement in Education award – and won
- Mulberry Bush Research nominated for the Contribution to Research & Evidence award – and won
The Alex Timpson Award:
- The Special / PRU / Alternative Provision award – and won
The Children and Young People Now award;
- Charity of the Year – shortlisted.
We have tried to ensure those who did the work attended the ceremonies, so they get the credit, although we all know these things are almost always a team effort.
For the charity it has been an important step, and I also think that it models something important for those who we work with. It is so easy, as many of them do, just to focus on where things go wrong or could do things better, but recognising successes and celebrating these is also a valuable skill that it is important to model.
Although the process of attending a wider range of conferences, engaging with other sectors groups and having wider conversations has been at times challenging, – it has also been hugely rewarding.
It is helping us shape what we do and how we do it.
What had been striking and consistent across all events, sector leaders and managers was a promotion of the importance of relationship and relational practice. I’m less clear whether there is a shared understanding of what this means. At the more senior levels, I have felt that people are looking for a tool or intervention that can assess relational need or deliver something that is a short cut to helping those who struggle with relating to others for very understandable reasons.
I don’t think there is a shortcut. Relational practice is about relationships, and these take time, commitment and the willingness to find a way in to develop and make a bond with people who have for so many reasons put up walls, – created a protective mask. ‘Those who care, repair’.
One of our aims as a charity has been to be better understanding needs and being nimbler at adapting our offer to meet need. Of course, all in the style of the Mulberry Bush. We are learning the language and ways of the diverse groups across the sector and learning how to talk to them and link them together. We hope this makes us better placed to help and to collaborate, – one of our three core principles.
This year has been quite a journey, and yet in so many ways it feels like just the beginning.
I’d like to thank everyone who has joined us on the journey over 2025 – staff, ex-pupils, colleagues, supporters, donors, mentors. There is so much to look forward to in 2026, and we hope you’ll be with us for the next leg of the adventure.
THANK YOU!
