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The lessons family life in a pandemic can teach us all

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The lessons family life in a pandemic can teach us all

It would be an understatement to describe 2020 as challenging. I think most people are looking forward to waving it goodbye on December 31st, but probably for very different reasons. While we’ve all been in this together, we’ve all experienced it differently and found our own ways to cope.

For me, the pandemic involved having a baby with a congenital heart defect and stepping back from the world of internal comms to have a very unusual maternity leave. As you can imagine, it’s been a stressful time, but the good news is that my little boy had corrective surgery when he was two weeks’ old and is doing really well.

However, it’s been a strange time to step out of the internal comms world. As my colleagues have been facing enormous work challenges, at times I’ve felt like I’m living in an entirely different world, completely disconnected from them.

So, when Alive with Ideas asked me to take part in #YESvember, it seemed like a great opportunity to share some of the ways I’ve navigated a surreal year with my sanity just about intact!

 

Find your tribe

During my pregnancy I joined the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) and was lucky enough to join a course (via Zoom of course) where I was able to learn a lot of valuable tips and advice about having a baby. But more importantly, I got to meet a group of women who have become my support network during this strange time.

The thing I always loved about internal comms was the community aspect and knowing that there were always people willing to help and support you. I’ve really missed that since I stepped out of that world in July and it really brought it home to me how important it is during tough times to have people around you who understand the pressures and challenges you’re facing.

My NCT group have been this for me over the past few months and they’ve helped make a very unusual maternity leave enjoyable and memorable for the right reasons.

There are so many groups online that you can join now if you’re struggling with loneliness, and while we might all have Zoom fatigue, it does provide a human connection that we all very much need right now.

 

Do something for you

One of the online groups I’ve joined during the pandemic is Sutton Writers. Creative writing has always been a passion of mine, so when my friend Lauren McMenemy mentioned that her writing group had gone online and was accepting members from anywhere in the world, I jumped at the chance to join.

I’m not managing to join every session or do a huge amount of writing (I do have a baby after all!) but it’s been really good to do something for me, that isn’t about babies or work. It’s introduced me to a whole new group of people and kept my brain cells active.

I am of course in a privileged position of having a supportive husband who takes care of our son when I join writing sessions and I don’t have other children demanding my time, but even if it’s half an hour a week or even a month, having something for yourself is a great way to stay positive and help manage your mental health.

 

Keep in touch days with work

As part of my statutory maternity leave, I’m entitled to some ‘keep in touch’ days. This had been a great way to check in with my clients and remind myself of what I am capable of. A long period away from work surrounded by nappies and the endless routine of sterilising bottles (along with all the other truly wonderful things about having a baby!) can quickly erode your professional confidence.

If any other communicators are on parental leave during this strange time, I really recommend taking advantage of these types of days to remind you of who you are away from being a parent and to make the transition back to work a bit smoother – after all it may not end up being the transition you quite expected.

 

Be kind

These words are thrown around so much at the moment, but it really is true. Having a poorly baby at a time like this has pushed my mental health to the limit. Trying to keep him safe has felt overwhelming at times but the kindness and understanding from our friends and family has been incredible.

Even when the rules were relaxed in the summer, no one minded social distancing in our garden, wearing masks around our son, sanitising their hands constantly and not being able to hold him. It probably did seem extreme to some of them, but it meant everything to us that we were able to share him with our friends and family in a way that made us comfortable.

We all feel differently about the risks and rules around Covid but taking the time to understand and respect how someone else feels about it can make a huge difference to someone’s mental health.

 

No one will ever forget this year, but the things I want to remember are the birth of my beautiful, long awaited son, the incredible doctors and nurses in the NHS who saved his life twice, and my husband, friends and family that supported me along the way.

I know I am one of the lucky ones, I’m able to find positives in what has been for some a truly terrible year. But I hope for all of you who can, you can find and focus on the glimmers of hope and positivity.

 

By Helen Deverell

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Emily Stoten — Head of Marketing, Selecta

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update the DASA brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team who provided expert guidance and injected some much needed creativity into the project; resulting in an accessible and engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.

Thank you again for all the work you have done with us!”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead - Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA)

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Alive were professional, friendly and great to work with. Most importantly they were creative, helping us to bring an extremely important safety campaign to life.”

Jack Grasby — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“This looks amazing - brought a smile to my face scrolling through it :-)”

Jack Ford, Head of Marketing — streamGO

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
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