Case Study
1Point North West Ltd
Read about how we helped counselling service 1Point celebrate the impact they make for the people of Bolton
About our work at 1Point
Built in 1790, Silverwell House has been used to serve the people of Bolton in many ways over the years – it’s been a doctor’s surgery, a girls school and even a leisure centre.
The current occupants, 1Point North West Ltd, use the building to provide psychological support services to over 5,000 people a year for the NHS. They also provide a range of other specialist talking therapies and services (such as bereavement counselling) that allow 1Point to go above and beyond in the help they provide.
Wanting to capture and communicate that extra impact, 1Point got in touch with us after observing how we’d worked successfully with similar organisations looking to do the same.
As an NHS provider, 1Point already have really rigorous monitoring systems in place to capture quantitative data, such as the number of clients and appointments, and self-reported mental health outcomes (usually recorded using a questionnaire format).
But CEO Elisabeth Long knew there was information going unnoticed – information that was crucial to the long-term success of their services and funding.
“We knew we were making a significant social impact on our clientele and communities. But we didn’t know where to start, what processes to use, or how to present the information to our various audiences.
“There’s an increasing tendency in our industry to make requirements and funding decisions around contracts using evidence of social value.”
The lack of any reporting systems for their social impact meant that feedback from their clients and partners wasn’t being effectively recorded either, making it harder to respond and improve their services according to what people needed from them.About We designed a coaching and training package to give 1Point what it needed, working with CEO Elisabeth, their Business Support Manager Tessa and their Service Co-ordinator Emma. The process was structured around three workshops – Exploring the Value, Identifying the Value, and Evidencing the Value.
"“The process of building up our social value report and getting our organisation to a stage where it can report and share its social impact has been very rewarding. “Our team have enjoyed seeing how their hard work impacts the organisation and our stakeholders across multiple areas. “It will benefit us in terms of gaining and keeping contracts, and showing others all the good work we do, and how this is wide reaching.”"
Elisabeth Long, CEO 1Point
The Social Accounting Journey
Exploring the Value
In the Exploring the Value workshop, we took the time to redefine and reconnect with the vision, mission and values of the organisation. After more than a decade of operating and evolving to stay viable and secure funding, this intensive reflection was really valuable for 1Point – helping them understand how far they’d come, and how their day-to-day activities could be aligned even more closely with their overall purpose.
We also used stakeholder analysis to map out everyone affected by 1Point – unearthing additional social impact as we did so, in the form of partner organisations from across Bolton and Greater Manchester who were using Silverwell House’s welcoming spaces for meetings and training.
Identifying the Value
In the second workshop, we asked – and answered – the question, ‘how do we know we are making a difference?’
Each of 1Point’s key objectives was mapped to their outputs, outcomes and impact, to help us understand where and how 1Point was creating social value.
It quickly became apparent that some of the additional features of 1Point’s services which were going unaccounted for were creating a significant impact on the wellbeing of their clients.
For example, their ‘living room’ space, where counselling clients could relax before and after their appointments, provided a gentler transition between the deep focused space of the counselling room and the noisier world outside. For many of 1Point’s clients, access to a living room space isn’t always something they can enjoy in their own homes.
Evidencing the Value
In the third workshop, we kickstarted the process of building a measurement framework. We identified relevant indicators, planned the collection of qualitative and quantitative data, and looked for any knowledge gaps.
Obviously, not all of this work could be completed in the workshop, so we continued to guide 1Point, supporting them over several months as they assembled their framework. Reflecting on the challenges of this stage of the process, Elisabeth said:
“Some of the new approaches required time and thought. Karen kept us to a timeline and was patient and supportive, when we hadn’t managed to get as far with our targets as we’d hoped.”
We also provided a training session with the wider team, harnessing their perspectives and expertise to provide the biggest picture possible of 1Point and their social impact.
Proving the difference 1Point makes
Using their new social accounting systems and approaches, 1Point are now in the process of creating their first impact report, with the help of Turn Up The Value.
1Point have created a template for the growth and development of their organisation that their partners, clients and team can get behind.
