Andy Gilbert

I am writing this from the other side of something, for the first time in a long time.

After more than forty years in Social Care – supported living, person centred planning, self-directed support, running a charity, sitting on boards, training staff, fighting funding battles –

I’m now retired from formal employment. But I don’t see that as the end of the story. I’m beginning a different chapter — one in which I’m able to reflect on what I’ve learned, explore ideas I’ve been carrying for years, and perhaps ask some questions that are easier to ask from outside a formal leadership role.

My starting point has always been fairly simple:

People are citizens first.

Before someone is a service user, a care recipient, a Direct Payment recipient or a person with assessed needs, they are a person with a life. They have relationships, hopes, interests, talents, ambitions, responsibilities and contributions to make.

I built my working life around people, not services. It has taken me through many different parts of social care and community development. I’ve worked in special education and community integrated care, supported living, person-centred planning, independent brokerage, self-directed support, Direct Payments, social enterprise, community development and senior operational and strategic leadership. Since 1992, person-centred planning has been an important part of my thinking and practice.

Over the years I’ve had the privilege of working alongside people who draw on support, families, self-advocates, practitioners, providers and commissioners. I’ve seen some remarkable examples of what becomes possible when people are trusted and given genuine choice and control. I’ve also seen what happens when systems, processes and professional assumptions get in the way. Those experiences have shaped what I believe today.

A recurring question throughout my working life \\ has been: Who gets to decide how someone lives their life? That’s why I’ve been drawn to self-directed support, Direct Payments, independent brokerage, supported living and person-centred approaches. For me, these aren’t simply different ways of organising services.
They are attempts to change the relationship between people, power and support.
The challenge is to move from: “What service can we provide?” towards:
“What would help this person live the life they want?” And then to ask the harder question:
“Who gets to decide?”

I’m now experiencing social care from a different perspective. As a family carer for my Mum. That changes the view from the inside. It makes some things clearer. And it raises new questions.

I’ve accumulated more than four decades of experiences, conversations, ideas, mistakes, successes and questions.Some of them are worth sharing.
Not because I have all the answers – I don’t. But because I think the conversation about social care needs more people prepared to ask difficult questions about power, citizenship, relationships, community and what makes a good life.

This blog is my place to do that.
I’ll write about social care.
I’ll write about citizenship.
I’ll write about community.
I’ll write about Direct Payments and self-directed support.
I’ll write about good help.

And sometimes I’ll simply write about something I’ve encountered that made me stop and think.

After more than 40 years, I’m still curious.
I’m still optimistic.
And I still believe we can design something better.