National Centre for Resilience

On 23rd June 2022, Sandy Whitelaw and Anthony Bell presented their work to an invited audience at The Usual Place. 

The evening was attended by over 50 key individuals from Dumfries and Galloway including local councillors, members of the NHS and local charity organisations. Lee Medd of Annandale Distillery, hosted the evening, introducing speeches from Heather Hall (Chief Executive Officer, The Usual Place) and Professor Carol Hill (Head of School, University of Glasgow, School of Interdisciplinary Studies). These were followed by a fireside chat with two of The Usual Place's young trainees, Sarah Cronie and James Roydes, both of whom have achieved an SVQ level qualification and are driving forward into successful careers.

^{Sarah and James chatting to Sandra McGrath}

They spoke about why they started at The Usual Place and how they have been supported to increase their confidence and resilience throughout their time there. It was wonderful to hear how far they have both come and the positive impact The Usual Place has had, even, or especially, through the COVID pandemic and two lockdowns. Sandy and Anthony then presented their research findings (a link to their presentation can be found to the left of this page), before the floor was opened up to questions.

Feedback from the event has been incredibly positive, with attendees describing it as 'inspiring' and 'uplifting'. As well as promoting the amazing work of The Usual Place, by presenting research in this way, making the work accessible and creating the opportunity for discussion and questions, the hope is that key stakeholders will better engage with the work and that it will potentially lead on to further work or developments in related areas.

Left to right: Sandy Whitelaw, Anthony Bell, Heather Hall, Lee Medd, Sarah Cronie, James Roydes and Sandra McGrath

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First published: 6 July 2022