Bevan Fellow
Beth began her professional life in education before moving to work in the social housing sector where she managed frontline teams and a portfolio of service improvement. During these 13 years, Beth worked with communities across south Wales who experienced both socio-economic disadvantage and inequity. Her experience of working within housing organisations affected her belief that a multitude of complex factors left people with a lack of control and agency in their lives and this was often compounded by the way services were designed and delivered.
In 2020 Beth moved to the NHS Wales Improvement Service where she aimed to transfer her learning to affect person-centred change. What become clear from this experience was a need to work with complexity – that is the ever moving, inter-connected web of people’s lives inter-woven with the external environment which determines our actions and decisions. As a result, she began post-graduate study in Systems Thinking.
In 2022, Beth was introduced to the work of the Healthy Housing Alliance in Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB, who recognised not only the importance of housing as a key determinant of health but represented a cross sector partnership between housing organisations and the NHS where there was a shared purpose to build healthier communities, focussing on those with the greatest disadvantage. In 2023 she had the privilege of taking up the role to manage the innovative Health & Housing Programme in CTM.
Beth has continued to learn and practice systems thinking alongside colleagues who share her passion for systems approaches and learning with people to affect change.
Beth’s Bevan Fellowship is titled ‘3 Communities: Transformation through learning systems – people, organisation and place.’ Beth will focus on building relationships – across organisations, communities and people which enables the development of a system of learning. This is underpinned by equity, where voices are listened to and appreciated across system scales and where change is co-produced.
By working in 3 small communities, there will be an in-built appreciation of difference and adaptation according to communities’ ambitions, supported by small but realistic funding that enables each community to determine its own needs.
The 3 communities work will bring together a multitude of people and partners working to a common ambition to strengthen social networks and association, develop community assets and drive person-centred, relational services that work with people’s extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, not against them.