I can’t believe we are almost 5!
What a journey it has been!

It feels like a lifetime ago that we were just about to launch our very first website. A process that was fully entwined with the launch of TLC: Talk, Listen, Change itself. We launched TLC: Talk, Listen, Change back on the 1^st April 2017 and we are now just about to celebrate our fifth birthday.

“Turning 5 felt like the right time to invest in a new website that reflects our history, who we were back in 2017, but also the journey of who we have become over the past 5 years and who we hope to become as we continue to grow and develop.”

As I’m writing this I have a tiny amount of nervousness, because to be fully honest, I’m writing this before I’ve actually seen the website itself. I have total trust in our wonderful team who have been working diligently putting it together, testing functionality, designing user journeys, writing copy and creating brand guidelines. I’m confident that we are on the same page when we talk about what our new website should achieve and why we have invested in it. The team have asked me to write a few words about why we have decided strategically to invest in a new website at this point in time and I’ve tried to capture my thoughts below:

This new website should give you a glimpse into our organisation.

It will tell you what we believe in and what our values are. My hope is that when you look at our website you will get a taste of what its like to work with or for our organisation and you’ll get the same feeling as when you walk into one of our offices. We want the website to be an external visual representation of our culture.

It will give you a glimpse of our amazing team of volunteers, staff and trustees. Through our blogs and our news sections you’ll get to hear our voices, see who we are and what matters to us. You’ll get to see how we work together and find out more about our views on both personal and professional topics. We’re an organisation full of diversity and you’ll see and hear different voices.  You’ll get direct links to our social media so you can see how we communicate and lift each other up, celebrating successes and owning mistakes.

It will showcase our fantastic range of services and projects and the different communities in which we work. It will mean it is easier to find out about our services, to understand how to refer in or access support. We’re passionate about relationships and our website will demonstrate the inter-relationships our services and projects have, so you won’t see silos but the joined up ways we work together.

We’re working hard to make our services as accessible as possible and utilising technology in whatever ways we can, you’ll see this reflected in how our website grows and adapts as we plug in more functionality over time.

We strive to be an organisation who is generous in collaboration and you’ll see some of our partnerships highlighted here. This should mean links to other organisations and stories that amplify the strength of partnerships working together.

We believe that integrated relationship support is key for relationships to be safer, healthier and happier. You’ll see our impact and hear the stories of those we work alongside amplified through the website design. You’ll see this through the printed word, through the voices of those we work alongside and through pictures. We’ll approach this sensitively ensuring that we protect the confidentiality of those we work with and only share stories with full consent.

We believe in transparency and you’ll have easy access to our financial information, annual reports and the difference we make. Over time we hope to make this reporting as close to real time as possible and I’m excited to see how this element will grow and develop.

If you’ve been with us on our journey from the beginning, you will remember that our first website was predominantly orange! We still love our TLC orange but now you’ll see a wider colour palette, that echoes how we have matured as an organisation. You’ll see colours working together, ensuring that you see not only the individuality of our services but how they all work together to achieve our mission.

A new website, to celebrate our 5 year birthday, to recognise where we have come from, the journey we’ve been on and look forward to where we are going next.

I’m absolutely sure that our team will have done the most amazing job in curating our new website and I hope you will join with me, with baited breath, in waiting to see it for the first time.

Michelle

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