As we head towards the end of 2025, we’ve been taking a moment to look back at the work we’ve had the privilege to be part of this year.
It’s been a year of meeting new people, digging into complex challenges and being in spaces where people showed up with real openness. We’ve seen ideas take shape, we’ve watched confidence grow and we’ve felt that steady, joyful lift that comes when people trust each other enough to try things together. 🌞
We asked a few of the people we’ve been working alongside to share their joyful moments from the year. Not necessarily their major achievements – just some of the positive bits from the year that stayed with them. Reading their stories has reminded us how much good rises out of simple conversations, shared tables, lively workshops and teams who look out for each other. This post won’t hand you statistics or neat case studies, but we think that the moments collected here show the heart of the work in a way that figures just don’t.
We’re grateful for every person who welcomed us into their world this year, whether for a single chat or months of shared graft. We can’t wait to continue this work into 2026 and beyond!
“What moment from your work brought you real joy this year?”
“A big focus of my role this year has been working on Family Hubs and bringing the Calderdale Infant Feeding Strategy into action, through the Action Learning Sets with those that are affected by it the most – our Calderdale families.
A joyful moment for me has been the opportunity to step away from my laptop screen and to sit around a table with a group of mums and their adorable, babbling babies and have a brew together and listen to what matters to them.”
– Rachel Smith
“One of my happiest moments in this programme was watching a room full of partners – providers, commissioners, frontline colleagues – and people with lived and living experience lean in together to shape our future service model. The energy was unmistakable: “This is just amazing, everyone coming together to make things better,” someone said, and the whole room nodded.
With the support of Helen Sharp and the Ideas Alliance, the sessions were deliberately inclusive and hands‑on, bringing commissioners, operational staff, providers, and people with lived experience into equal partnership over a series of creative workshops. The facilitation style – rooted in appreciative inquiry – helped us move from problems to possibilities, unlocking shared ownership and practical next steps.
What made it truly uplifting was seeing our values show up in the room: kindness, connection, and the simple principle “include us when it’s for us.” Those voices didn’t just contribute; they led. And as ideas turned into commitments, it felt less like a meeting and more like a milestone – evidence that co‑production isn’t an add‑on in Western Bay; it’s the foundation of the model we’re building together.”
– Angharad Metcalfe
“Working as a Community Researcher was a very enriching, unique, and special experience.
Gathering experiences from many women from different backgrounds was very interesting. Connecting with many women through a particular topic – breastfeeding – was also very rewarding.”
– Christela
“I felt happy when what started as a quick chat unexpectedly grew into a deep discussion and became a meaningful moment, where the parent shared their hopes and worries. It reminded me that simple conversations can open doors, build trust and lead to real change. Moments like this show me why this work truly matters. Being a part of a project that helped parents to have their voices and opinions heard brought me joy and happiness.”
– Ilham
My joyful moment was when I needed to take some time off over the summer due to ill health and my wonderful colleagues simply said: “Go and get better; we’ve got this!”. I’m beyond grateful for their support and brilliant-ness! A good team is everything.
– Kate Hawkins
“Something that has brought me joy this year is thinking with Parent-Infant Foundation colleagues and partners at Ideas Alliance about how the voice of babies, parents and parent-infant relationships can shape our work.
Terms like ‘lived’ and ‘learned’ experiences are familiar to us, but how do we consider the perspective of the baby specifically? Terms like imagined, embodied, observed and/or unspoken experiences come to mind.
Understanding the perspective of babies is central to the clinical practice of specialised parent-infant relationship teams and infant mental health practitioners across the UK. We have been thinking with Ideas Alliance about how the clinical and co-production worlds can intersect, and how babies and parent-infant relationships facing the greatest difficulties can shape the development of the National Parent-Infant Relationship (PAIR) Framework programme.”
– Dr Ben Yeo
“A moment of joy for me came during a commissioning for complexity training session with Westminster. We were running a workshop on influencing up, which is vital for commissioners who have to navigate and connect people across the system. Much of what commissioners are trying to do is new, hopeful and a bit alternative, so they need ways to bring others with them. I tried a new roleplay exercise where people stepped into the shoes of the person they were hoping to influence. I’d been nervous about it, but it worked brilliantly. People gained a feel for the pressures their leaders face, and they also picked up fresh ideas by watching each other try different approaches. A simple exercise turned into something genuinely insightful, and the feedback was a real lift.”
– Helen Sharp
“My joyful moment was joining the Ideas Alliance team as their Comms and Content Consultant! It’s been amazing to join a team of people who really care about the work they do, and find joy in it too. I also loved being trusted immediately to utilise my expertise and get on with things in my own way. That kind of easy confidence in people runs through IA’s approach to coproduction, and feeling it first-hand has been such a breath of fresh air.”
– Sophie Turner
Thank you so much for reading and for being part of our year! These moments have reminded us how much warmth sits inside the work, sometimes in the smallest places.
If you’d like to add your own bright spot from 2025, we’d love to hear it – please add it to our LinkedIn post to spread the positivity!
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