Playing with colour

I am helping a friend bring an important photographic archive back to life.

Before Restoration 

After Restoration

Some "talking heads" from recent shoots, can you guess which one of them  created Guitar Heroes?

I love water, just being in it, on it or under it, and yes that is a big Turbot, perhaps the members who are anglers should "hook up" in 2020 and wet a line?

Buffy  RIP  December 2019

The most chilled out dog I have ever known

My Twitter handle is @chicustard  

or email me jon.bryant@btconnect.com  or go old school and call 07831 832 439

   
Jon's first blog of 2020 


Unlike most members I’m actually not trying to grow a big business… gasp! I don’t want a website and will probably stick to a single social media channel, Twitter by way of a voice. The members of the Chambers are already very well-connected and blogging occasionally and tweeting suits my communication style and starts the conversation. 

I have spent a lifetime in corporate comms, corporate video production & photography and up till quite recently flat out getting leading edge 3D tech start up ready for investment. We moved down here last year to be closer to grandchildren, (although to be honest my partner delivering one of them on the upstairs landing last year did redefine what closer meant). 

Over the years clients have included British Gas, VW, Ray-Ban, United Distillers, Bacardi, Halifax, NHBC, Northern Food Group, Shandwick PR, Bose, Costain, Skills for Care, Deutsche Bank etc. and for a decade I produced most of Thames Waters media for internal & external comms on everything from portraits of the main board for the annual report to video’s and 3D animations of the massive engineering tasks around the Tideway Tunnel and groundbreaking Beckton Desalination Plant. I know a lot about voles, newts and chalk streams too and that's why I love my job.

I've picked up a few hats on the way too, as director, lighting cameraman, sounds recordist, editor, interviewer photography and more.  Rather scarily when I looked at the Chambers website I realised I had direct experience in virtually every sector mentioned Eeeek😊!

The last decade has also seen a shift in my focus over to areas that matter to me, areas where I could genuinely make a difference by bringing my production skills and values to Social Care, Social Housing, Suicide Prevention and Learning Disability projects for the UK’s largest supported housing provider. I am dyslexic and therefore I do have a learning disability and don’t do anything by the book because I haven’t read it, but I do like writing so thank god for spoll chuckers!

After 4 decades of daft deadlines I need to spend a bit more time being called “Jonpa” by a 2 year old who has just learned that saying “bum” gets a laugh and his young brother who can only aspire to such comedic showmanship. However “work life balance” does include work and as I have always loved what I do I’ve recently updated all my shooting and production facilities to be #futureproof

So…the challenge I have set myself is to start 2020 with a blank canvas and build a new portfolio and showreel based exclusively on work for members. To get the ball rolling I have offered my time for free on a video-based project for the East Sussex Credit Union.

I have lit, shot and directed thousands of interviews over the years; these images are from a video I shot for Deutsche Bank last year. Having understood the Deutsche Bank’s brand identity I could then build in to the look of the footage; every brand and organisation has its own style so every shoot looks different.

My thinking is that over my career I have acquired a lot of useful experience and skills that members, particularly the smaller companies and not for profit organisations might like to tap in to as I can bring the big company production values to pretty much any visual media.

Having had a good surf, one area I know I can make a difference in is corporate portraiture or in 'Jon speak' pictures of people. I’m not a fan of the “conventional” studio stuff, my natural style is more about capturing the moment usually in a work related space and in a style that is right for you. So if you want to spruce up the shots of you and your team for 2020 I’d be delighted to help.

Fancy a Coffee?

I’d also be delighted to drop by and share a coffee break with you, we could have a quick review of your media together and you are welcome to pick my brains to see if any of the skills and experience I have acquired over my career might be of value in your plans for 2020.

For the next few months there will be some very generous deals on the table as I build my network. I have always relied solely on word of mouth, recommendations and my work to promote what I do.

If you need a single shot in a hurry for social media/web site or print or maybe a quick photoshop job, no problem I’m always happy to help. Offering this kind of reactive service has always been a great way to get to know people, start building lasting relationships and have some fun in the process, chemistry is especially important for us creative types.

Thanks for reading and to find out why my Twitter handle is @chicustard you will just have to follow me… or email me jon.bryant@btconnect.com ...or go old school and call 07831 832 439

Cheers

Jon

A personal reflection on Module 2

This blog was written after last years module two and reading it brings it all back...never thought I would be asked to speak the following year. 

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Really enjoyed today's session, the trepidation I felt when taking the leap for module one has all but vanished, it’s making me hungry for more. Having filmed Helen for NewHCvoices last year a lot of module one was in a way familiar by virtue of having covered some of the ground before hand.

As I tweeted, "joining SHCR was right out of my comfort zone…come on in the waters lovely" ... being in the midst of academics and qualified medical people is quite intimidating if you are me. From my perspective what academics do is so alien I am convinced you must all be wizards:)

So as I had fed back to the SHCR team for me having a look at Mod 2 before the WebEx was then going to give me a bit more time to focus on the chat line and Twitter and still absorb the content.

I certainly read slower than most and also have to diligently proof read anything I tweet, I still struggle with 5 letter words, and use tricks like "The Infra Red" as an aid memoir in order to spell "Their" with the i and e the right way round:) Once I discovered spell checkers I also discovered I love writing, especially the discipline of Twitter.

One of the most gratifying experiences on a personal note was having 2 of my tweets read out by the team, the sense of genuinely being part of the conversation via Tweets that distilled things for people was a real buzz and very empowering.

One tweet was "chaos theory says it just takes the beat of a butterflies wing to initiate a storm" the other " #SHCR is the big consultancy of the future".  I'ts genuinely so compelling to be around that much positive energy.

I am just a bloke who works from home, so there is no team it's just me, I've put in a huge amount of personal time developing my visual language for people with learning disabilities over the last 4 years, then writing blogs about it and trying, from my front room near Saffron Walden, to slowly gain traction in the wider world via twitter.

It has been a long process from a standing start, but slowly in the last 6 months I started finding the odd person that got me and more importantly liked what I had been doing.

One thing led to another and thanks to Rachael Garvey I was introduced to new healthcare voices last Sept, I went to an event of theirs in Birmingham where Helen was speaking, filmed it as a gift, met Jodi and we clicked in an instant. Then she sent me stuff about #SHFR and I thought "why not let’s have a go" and push a few personal boundaries. 

My main motivation for joining was very simple, my mission is to get my suicide prevention tools into the NHS tool kit. I also have a series of other related and joined up projects so thought this would be a brilliant way of being heard from the inside as the NHS behemoth had seemed so impenetrable.

This is the thing that has really rocked my boat, I was wondering how I would get on with module 2 as it was unfamiliar ground so I read the course notes as soon as Helen put them out last night.

As I went through what I expected to be alien concepts they were in fact detailing with some precision the very strategies and thinking that has got me here writing this as a student. I have it seems been living module 2, and following the book without having read it. It’s been life affirming to know I can trust my instincts’ and things I believe in others do too.

It's also fascinating to me that someone has deconstructed the intuitive into the material in Mod 2, as that really does stop it feeling so lonely, you all get me.. and I believe I have something of value to people to offer. Can always tell when I am happy I hum and there has been a lot of that going recently.

I am about to launch 3D software company (we all need a new career at 60! which has many applications for the NHS, its been 6 years in development but I have a lot more alliances to build first:)

Will you fit in at the School for Radicals?

Worried you will be an outsider at the School for Radials?

So you have no medical or care sector background or training but you want to engage with SHCR because you want to make difference and join in the conversation and learn about bringing about change….

I fit in to this category, I am a video director and software developer and describe myself as a “creative problem solver with a warm heart” but being dyslexic I have no formal qualifications as I learn experientially and am just not wired for the academic approach to learning.

My biggest fear was that I was not going to fit in, that my lack of experience, training and qualifications in the field of health and care would make me “the odd one out” and that my voice wouldn’t have value amongst so many “experts” and yes that I might make a fool of myself.

For me going back to school after 45 years was in itself a personal challenge so when I started to engage with the SHCR team it came with a lot of preconceptions and a strong sense that I would be and outsider as a “citizen radical/rebel” so yes I was actually quite shy, nervous and daunted about enrolling.

How wrong I was! From the very first contact with SHCR I was welcomed by all, I very soon felt part of something important and valuable. A lovely surprise was to discover we were all there for the same reason “we care” and wanted challenge the conventional wisdom in positive and innovative ways to improve health and care at all levels.

I got a huge amount of personal support and encouragement from the SHCR team to join in and then throughout the term and I soon found myself chatting people I would never normally have contact with, doctors’, surgeons, nurses and people from all sorts of specialties and backgrounds. In short I felt part of the family, part of something that has no hierarchy, where everyone is equal, where views are both respected and validated and as you will find the sense of “energy” is quite tangible and lasting.

There is no such thing as an outsider at SHCR, so no matter what your background be it patient carer, advocate, third sector or you just want to be part of bringing health and care into the 21^st century …come on in the waters lovely. 

The school needs people like us because we don’t know what we can’t do and so our perspective on things can really add to the conversation and challenge entrenched thinking. If anyone had said to me over the last 45 years I was going to be on the faculty advisory group for a school, I would probably have asked you how much you had had to drink?

As I have found the skills you acquire and the new friends you meet carry on and develop and can be used in all sorts of ways to understand and bring about change.

Feel free to chat to me @chicustard it’s a unique experience and you will come away inspired and motivated at being part of such and amazing and truly global conversation with people who care in the same way you do. It’s a fantastic tool to have in your tool kit.

A Sticking Plaster Solution that is not a sticking plaster solution.

Lets start with a story, (thanks SHCR:) A few weeks ago one Sunday I was carrying a bit of timber and somehow something on the floor managed to trap my feet, the harder I tried to move the tighter the grip on my feet. It was 11 am, so no I wasn't carrying a gin and tonic!

Cut to slow motion sequence, the feet have stopped moving, the rest of me hasn’t so with hands full I was right on target to take a bite out of the concrete floor. I decided that a flat face wasn’t a look I aspired to so used my forearm against a timber post as a brake block. I will spare you the close up shots and rather bleepy soundtrack.

So now I have a deep graze, but on the upside at least I don’t have a flat face. I washed the wound with boiled salt water and applied antiseptic every 12 hours and kept it lightly covered most of the time. I am 61 and have a rather denuded immune system so despite my best efforts infection was setting in rapidly and the weekend was approaching.

It was now Friday and the skin round the wound was reddening and hurt as much as the wound so I went to the pharmacist for advice. I should mention that I had a nasty throat abscess in July and ended up in A&E twice so I know how rapidly things can go pear shaped.

The pharmacist recommended Hydrocolloid dressings, I’d never heard of them and yet apparently that have been in use in hospitals for years as it speeds recovery and reduces scarring. So I used one on my forearm, they are a little weird and floppy, no jokes please:)   

Within 24 hours the wound was calming down, by 48 hours all reddening had gone and because they are breathable and water proof you can take a bath no prob. In terms of cost they are great value as you only need to change them every 3 days and they don’t fall off meantime.

I bet if you looked at the total cost of treating infected grazes in the over 50’s that have then needed a Dr, Practice/District Nurse or A&E to intervene its a significant annual cost to the NHS.

So why not run an awareness campaign and consider handing out a pack of these Hydrocolliod dressings with every flu jab... because compared to anything else you can buy over the counter these dressings will stop a lot of minor injuries turning into things that need medical intervention and that cost the NHS a lot to treat every day?  

Just saving the cost to the NHS of 10 patients being treated for infected grazes would buy an awful lot of sticking plasters...

Radical or old school common sense? 

What went in to creating the toolkit?

Grassroots Suicide Prevention Toolkit for people with Learning Disabilities 

Some years ago I was asked to draw on my 30 years experience as video director to transform a 40 page legal tenancy agreement into a “see and hear” version for supported living tenants for Origin and Dimensions. So I worked with the tenants every step of the way to benchmark and test my “visual language”. 

As a troubled young man I have personal experience of what it is to have suicidal feelings, I shared my story on the Samaritans website stressing the importance of there being someone to talk to at a time of need. The 3 suicides that have touched my life were sadly all people with learning disabilities. 

Being a tad dyslexic means I have a learning disability too so perhaps it was destiny that the inspiring Chris Brown, formerly a director of Grassroots Suicide Prevention saw my housing association work and got in touch.  

Over a period of about a year we slowly gathered research as there is nothing out there, some was done quite formally via sessions run by Brighton and Hove based advocacy Speak Out with their clients. You can read some of their stories but you will need a box of tissues.

I also spent that time talking to parents and carers from around the world who so kindly shared the intimate and tragic details of their experiences with a stranger. It was the hardest research project I have ever taken on, but it gave me a much better feel for the breadth of the LD spectrum and how best to communicate this most difficult of topics to them. 

As ideas and concepts were developed we were so lucky to have a team of people with learning disabilities who were prepared to get involved and give us their vital feedback,which now forms part of our evidence base.  It’s a tragic fact that they all knew people who had attempted and sometimes succeeded in hurting themselves or ending their lives, so special thanks to them for their courage and commitment.

I spent 18 months creating testing and refining the suicide prevention tool kit, getting the language and tone of voice right was a complex challenge. We put considerable effort into making the character  "gender neutral", the skin tone was approached with the same inclusive thinking. When we finally had a finished product we then ran a pilot for 6 months.  

The degree of approval and positive feedback has exceeded anything we ever dared expect, all the respected names in this area have endorsed it, LD nurses let us run a tweet chat about it. I have 
presented it to an audience of LD clinicians at Kings College and again the feedback was positive.

Having got clinical sign off from Brighton and Hove LD team and with 500 copies out there in the community the vision is simple, it should be a free tool available to individuals,charities, supported living providers and carers nationally.  

The overriding message from the toolkit is how important "talking to someone" is, and we touch on and acknowledge the reasons why this is so hard and more importantly we guide them in ways to start the conversation to get the support they need. We also provide strategies for identifying triggers and simple tools for coping when they feel overwhelmed.

From my experience of working with poeple who have an intellectual/learning disability just because you may have a learning or Intellectual disability doesn't mean you experience loss, sadness, isolation or any other emotion differently from anyone else. 

What is so much harder for people with LD/ID is to communicate how they feel and understand what they are feeling and then to reach out to get help and that's where you may come in.

The toolkit was produced in partnership with Grassroots an amazing Brighton based suicide prevention charity.  http://www.prevent-suicide.org.uk

In order for the toolkit to become a free to use nationwide resource we are now updating the "get help" section and we are looking to any organisations around the UK that do provide support for people with learning difficulties to add to our list. Can you help? if you can please contact grassroots or me, I am @chicustard on Twitter.  

Here is a link to the toolkit video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNaWcmlEM9c&t=1s

Thanks for reading 

Jon 

Copyright Jon Bryant 2018 

     

Recruiting for change

Bringing about organic cultural change.

I think it’s widely understood that for change to happen successfully and to be self sustaining there needs to be a cultural shift for any 5 year plan for the NHS to work.

Clearly one way is via SHCR reaching out to NHS staff to create change agents. This has a finite limit, only those who want to learn about being change makers will engage.

What has been abundantly clear observing this term of students is that there is one defining quality common to all no matter of status, role or location. That is their underlying caring nature, what is in their hearts and what underpins their personal satisfaction and rewards is helping people.

I don’t think these qualities are or should be the exclusive domain of those directly involved in delivering care. No matter what your role in the NHS, you, patients and the NHS will benefit directly from your passion to help, you will do a better job because it matters to you.

For that reason as part of every recruitment process, be it for book keepers, IT people, lab technicians, senior management or maintenance staff, identifying those who genuinely care and have a compassionate nature will be the ones who will stay in post because of the job rewards.

I would encourage management to ensure all those “behind the scenes” people get to spend some time closer to the patient experience so they can engage in that feeling of reward and making a difference. This would do much for the sense of cultural cohesion around a trust and would break down barriers and hierachies.  

The staff churn rate in care and in some areas in health runs as high as 19%. The cost in terms of recruitment and training that is lost to the NHS is hundreds of millions per year. People who have found their vocation and get the job rewards mean retention levels go up and the depth of experience is retained by way of organisational wisdom.  

So if at the recruitment phase measuring compassion was possible, this would improve retention, it would also be drawing the right kind of people into the NHS, so over time, perhaps 5 years the ”workforce” has been revitalised with more of the right kind of people.

A change in how the NHS recruits and the values it seeks, which might carry more weight than qualifications in some roles, is how longer term the NHS can organically change and bring about sustainable change in my view.

The recruitment tool I made for the care sector, that are already tried and tested on 1000’s of people can easily be modified to also identify those who will be open to change as well as having that special something.

As we have seen from SHCR it is the caring nature that has driven the desire to bring about change…

The cost of doing this is tiny, compared to the year on year savings via improved retention. If you can't think of a downside then you do have to ask yourself why it shouldn't be piloted:) or have I oversimplified things again?