Closing 2022. Some end of year freelance musings.
This January will mark the start of my fifth year as a full time freelancer. As 2022 comes to a close, I’m reflecting on all the things that have happened this year, and sharing some learnings and experiments from along the way.
Projects I worked on in 2022
Me and Julia on a break from some workshop design. We made a conscious effort this year to do as much deisgn work face to face as possible, and it made such a difference.
I continued to work on the Youth Funding Learning Network with my main gal Julia. We have run this peer network for grantees of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation since 2020 and it is a constant source of joy and hope. The people working in the youth sector fuel me with passion and excitement and possibility and it feels like a real privilege and responsibility to create spaces of learning, reflection and connection for them.
I co-designed and facilitated Huddlecraft’s flagship training in the craft of peer to peer work, first for a closed group for the NHS in March, and then for the public in November. I really loved introducing tools and techniques that gave people permission to create microclimates of culture change in their various work and community contexts, and I always learn loads from the team about design and play. Huddlecraft 101 is next running in May.
I ran a series of peer support sessions for the design team at UK Youth, supporting some overall design work led by Shift. These sessions aimed to embed reflective practice, support the team to have more honest and open conversations with one another, and to create protected time for learning and connection. This was one of the most committed, reflective teams I’ve ever worked with, it was an absolute dream!
Alongside my lovely friend and colleague Gwenno, I worked with Law Centres Network to deliver a series of workshops to design and develop a new type of family law service. This project brought together facilitation, group coaching, service design and consultation in a sector that was new to me: it was challenging and interesting!
In May, I was lucky enough to facilitate a summit and retreat in Barcelona for campaigning organisations from all over the world. Through this I met a new collaborator who I learnt lots from, discovered the joy of doing an ‘after action review’ (in person, with a picnic) and experienced a multitude of emotions doing my first piece of in person work since before the pandemic.
As well as the above, I also facilitated on the Relationship Project’s Side By Side programme, had some really special 1:1 coaching clients, including sessions accompanied by walking in person around Exeter, worked on the Money Movers programme helping women move their money to positively impact climate change, delivered some Action Learning Sets for Power 2 Change, and conducted research on leadership development in the Migration and Refugee Sector for Migration Exchange! The golden thread between all of these projects has been relational work; reflective practice, learning spaces and cultivating communities of connection and personal and professional growth.
Fun (and brave) experiments I did
Doodles and notes from my connections conversations
I held 20+ Connections Conversations with people working in all sorts of sectors and contexts, exploring the learning question: How might human connection help us to collectively thrive at this unique point in history? Each of these conversations was interesting and inspiring and one of the best things about it was that there was no agenda beyond exploring the topic together. They were wandering, emergent conversations not linked to an outcome or output. And, instead of making notes, I doodled. Which was fun!
I launched Reflect:Recenter, a group coaching programme for people looking to create more meaning and purpose in their lives. It ended up being entirely people who identify as women, and there were two special groups of six. This was a pilot, and I learnt loads from the process. A highlight was putting together beautiful packs of resources to send to each participant in the post. A lowlight was trying to deliver a session from the Lake District, there being a power cut, and having to drive 20 mins to find signal to send an email to cancel the session! A big learning here was a note to self: stop trying to work and have holidays simultaneously. Do one or the other! Reflect:Recenter will run again in 2023, sign up here for details.
After training with Sister Stories, I ran two women’s circles; one un-themed and one themed around fertility and childlessness (a big part of my personal 2022 has been going through IVF). These were gorgeous spaces — I felt nervous to hold space for something so precious but the tried and tested structure I had been taught by Sister Stories carried me through. I am running more of these in 2023 both online and in person around the firepit in my garden, see details here.
Lower Avenue in Exeter having our first ever street party in June this year.
I organised Lower Avenue’s first ever street party with fellow neighbours in Exeter, where I now live, building on my experience of organising street parties for four years in Oval between 2014–2018. I think we had as much bunting as we did people — which was epic!
Perhaps my bravest experiment of all has been the weekly email (I’m not sure it really counts as a newsletter) I’ve sent on a Friday. This goes to just 8 people and is a collection of musings on work, life, therapy and my fertility journey. It has been a writing experiment that came out of a coaching session back in February. I wanted to challenge myself to be seen in process rather than a curated finish. I hoped that if I could consistently flex the muscle of not needing to be seen a certain way, or rather allowing myself to be seen in many ways, it would help me learn to accept myself without judgement, to be with what is. This also felt important in the context of the fertility journey, which is a constant learning process of allowing what is. Sometimes that’s felt really hard and I’ve had mega vulnerability hangovers after sending the email. Mostly it’s been fun and silly and connecting. I feel very grateful to the enthusiasm and encouragement of those who receive it, because the validation really helps!
Some things I learnt through it all
Scoping and rescoping. One of the biggest recurrences through different projects this year was the way the scope of the work changed multiple times, even once it had begun. A bit of this is natural, but sometimes it meant I ended up doing quite different work to what I’d committed to, or projects going on for much longer than originally planned. I’m learning to ask better questions up front about what a client envisages; not just in terms of outcomes and outputs but also how they see the journey to get there. What obstacles might crop up? Where might timelines change? How will we know if we need to re-scope?
I want to work in a team as often as I can. I have had so much joy collaborating with others this year — and now I rarely choose to work on stuff solo unless I really have to. Of course this is about optimising skills, strengths and teamwork, but honestly? It’s just more fun doing stuff in company!
Creating what I need has been an authentic way to create. I’ve always struggled with putting work out into the world and talking about what I do(future blog post?) but this year I ended up creating what I personally needed. Reflect:Recenter, my group coaching programme, was born out of feeling deeply un-purposeful in my work. The street party (and my shameless be-my-friend-lets-hang-out what’s app group for folk new to Exeter) was a way to connect with people locally, and interrupt the monotony of working from home. The weekly writing experiment was a way to process some big things happening in my life. The motivation on all these was personal — but I think that has resulted in people connecting with me and what I’m creating in the world in a way that feels more genuine and authentic.
My tolerance for uncertainty is growing. As I reflect on the year, I think the biggest and most meaningful learning has come from my fertility journey and going through IVF. I have viscerally connected with what it means to hold uncertainty, to be in a space of not-knowing, and to learn to truly lean on the support of others. I’ve surprised myself with my ability to cope, and while I wish it wasn’t happening, I think I’m flexing ‘not-knowing’ muscles that will serve me for many years to come.
The biggies next year
I’m in an unusual (for me) position in 2023 that I am working on far fewer projects. I’m excited for this. I have done a lot of context-switching over the last 4 years of being freelance, sometimes working on 7 or 8 different things in one day. I kind of love it, but I also get overwhelmed. Next year, there are just 4 areas of focus so far (I will have some capacity saved for some extra projects so I’m not totally closed off to new work):
As part of Huddlecraft’s Host Fellowship, I am running my very own Huddle! Kicking off in April, I’m running Exeter Connection — a peer to peer learning journey for curious people in Exeter looking for connection and community and a space to learn and grow. Details here — share it with who you know in Devon!
Continuing the Paul Hamlyn grantee work (The Youth Funding Learning Network). We’re going to be delivering in person regional events (wahoo!), learning experiences around specific topics, and coaching leaders in youth organisations nationwide.
I’m working as a team of 5 on a programme of work with The Health Foundation; again all about learning. This piece of work will be designing and delivering experiential visits to organisations in all sorts of sectors who are doing things differently, in a hope to inspire and shape new ways of practising in health.
Aaaaand I am going back to school! I am going to be studying psychotherapy part time, starting the long road to become a qualified therapist. This has been a decade in the making, so I am excited but also a bit scared! As I write I’ve got a stack of books next to me (obvs I’ve not yet opened any of them) which feels like a real throw back to University (where I also didn’t open many of the books around me). I’m seeing this as a long term goal — it might take me 8 years to complete this 4 year course, but I am really excited for the journey it will take me on, and who I might become through the process.
One of the nicest things about writing this was going back through my calendar and being reminded of so many lovely things this year I’d forgotten I did! If like me, you love looking back in order to look forward, join me for a free Year Compass workshop on Jan 3rd. Register here.
Have a peaceful and restful festive break and see you in 2023!
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Wanna chat about any of this? I love chats! drop me a line at katelweiler@gmail.com
