People are part of all our Gloriously Ordinary Lives in some way, shape, or form. It's why Test Four exists. As I've said on many occasions, we're not so great in social care at remembering this - at ...

“placement noun: the act of putting something or someone somewhere.” – Cambridge dictionary [1] I’m generally a fan of the Care Act statutory guidance. I frequently quot…

Quick one this week. Ciaran worked for me last Thursday, sharing how his life works. He was a superstar as always. I asked people on the call to suggest what has helped Ciaran to have the life he has,...

A fabulous post from Open Future Learning gave me the inspiration for this week's blog, and it really got me thinking. Some things about me will never change - like needing cats in my life. But other ...

Just a quick one this week, but something that made me smile. I’m an incredibly lucky human in that, most days of the week, I get to do what I love most – hang out with different humans and explore th...

If you know me at all, then you'll know that, 'What would it take?' is my very favourite question. I'm not much interested in, 'Is it possible?' After last week's blog, I was keen to quickly work out ...

Ciaran is 31 next week. Birthdays for him are HUGELY important. There are two things here for me - being crystal clear about what is important to someone, and making sure paid support knows who is in ...

I’ve been inspired by a call last week where we got chatting about the idea of ‘ third places’, an idea first coined by Ray Oldenburg back in 1989 in his book, ‘The Great Good Place’. To be honest, ...

In episode 15, I indulge myself a little bit with some nostalgia, going back to the time when my two were at school and reflecting on what great inclusion looked and felt like to us as a family. I'll...

You all know me as Tricia Nicoll – Gloriously Ordinary Lives. You know me as Mum to Ciaran and The Girl, as daughter to Barbara. You know me as the woman who loves cats, swimming in lakes and the sea...

I ran a lovely little Glorious Ordinary Lives session this week with a group of friends and colleagues from Social Care Future , and we had a bit of a moment. We were having a conversation about how ...

Since the start of the year I've been facilitating three different Gloriously Ordinary Lives programmes and I've been lucky enough to hang out with some really thoughtful folk. I thought I'd give you...

Hello, and a very Happy New Year to you all. I really hope your end-of-year break was everything you hoped it would be. But I suspect that for many of you reading this, that's not the reality of the l...

At Social Care Future , we talk a lot about reframing social care. There's a reason our vision is about living in a place we call home with people and things we love, not about well-organised and reg...

Test three started out as quite a straightforward one in my head, I think. Take a mental image – what does it tell you? Make a judgement - would you want that on your phone or would it make you sad...

I've just come back from one of my favourite days of the year - our annual Social Care Future gathering. Support workers, social workers, families, commissioners, directors, disabled people, policy ma...

This is week two of me reflecting on unregulated versus regulated care and support, exploring what regulated organisations can learn from personal assistants and micro enterprises so that good people ...

This one’s all about what good support really looks like. There’s been a lot of noise in the press and on social media about the supposed danger of unregulated care. I share my experience of employing...

You will know that the ideas and shaping of Gloriously Ordinary Lives came from my kids. The more I reflect on what it takes to keep things gloriously ordinary, the more I’m inclined to go back to our...

This week I tell you some stories, then next week I’ll start to unpick how I think it works, with some help from Ciaran. I’m thinking again about the power and impact of all our children going to scho...

Thanks to the brilliant Maff Potts, I recently had an ah-ha moment. In Test Four, I make a big deal about the importance of supporting, enabling and nurturing real friendships and I stick by that... b...

In episode 12 of the Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast I chat with ⁠ Maff Potts ⁠ , founder of ⁠ Camerados ⁠ and author of 'Friends and Purpose'. We explore Maff's brilliant concept of  '...

Gloriously Ordinary Lives are about getting both the mundane and the heart sing. Life isn’t just made up of amazing times and it would be odd if it was.

Dear lovely supporters of Gloriously Ordinary Lives, I promised you a postcard and here it is!

I’m writing this quickly on the Friday before you read this, trying to get everything sorted before I leave for Kefalonia for 10 days - hurrah. Ciaran usually comes to me for dinner every Sunday eveni...

Ciaran Cameron turned 30 on the 19th of March, so we are in the middle of a week of various celebrations, reminiscing and wondering what's next!

So, it's the end of the I Open My Own Front Door, Do You? campaign… well, the start of it, I guess, as this was the launch week - but don’t think it’s gone away. In this blog I reflect on a couple o...

In preparation for our campaign this week, ‘I Open My Own Front Door, Do You?’ I asked friends, colleagues, and family to share what ‘front door’ as a concept means to them. The majority of this blo...

Gloriously Ordinary Language is an eight-month programme helping councils and social care organisations rehumanise language, reconnect practice with principles, and reimagine care and support.

This week, I explore what happens when dreams and aspirations, the things we want to do in our gloriously ordinary lives, are turned into outcomes by Serviceland.

This week I reflect on how we truly support people to live their own Gloriously Ordinary Lives — even when it doesn't match our idea of 'gloriously ordinary'.

Quick one this week. Consider it a public service announcement (and in no way a rant, not at all). Gloriously Ordinary Lives is in danger of becoming GOL.

I’m getting increasingly clear that the essence of Gloriously Ordinary Lives is paying attention to the mundane and the heart sing - and after a recent conversation, I’ve realised… that heart ZING pla...

In episode 8 of the Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast, I chat with the wonderful ⁠ Mary Gardner . Mary and I discuss how Direct Payments and personal assistants are a key route to Gloriously O...

This week, I’m writing from sunny Kefalonia, my first break since both of my children moved into their own homes. I’m reflecting on the incredible journey my son’s social worker, James, helped us navi...