Last night we acknowledged, celebrated and farewelled co-founder and Director Marianne Elliot from The Workshop. In this blog Jess and the team acknowledge and thank Marianne for all that she has done for The Workshop and the team.

We welcomed Lizzie Edwards to the team this week as our new Director of Operations and Business Development.

6 narrative tips for how to talk about disability justice.

In her latest blog, Jess shares five recommendations about how to talk about preventing poverty.

We’re making some organisational changes at The Workshop, find out the details from our Board Chair Amanda Reid

2024 is just around the corner so we're excited to announce our first training dates for the new year, including in-person training in Auckland!

How we talk about issues matters. That’s why we have updated our 2020 research on framing crime and justice with a focus on gang harm and are offering a free talk covering the latest insights for journalists and people who report on and communicate about crime, criminal justice and gangs.

Working to shift narratives and mindsets is long term work that focuses on shifting the understanding of the public in order to achieve and sustain change. Read about how the Rock and Balloon metaphor can help you focus your energy in times of change

It’s been 4 years since Jess wrote ‘A Matter of Fact. Talking Truth in a Post Truth World’ – a book that came out of curiosity about why people believe false information and what works to overcome it. False information is unsettling, concerning and harmful. But the good news is that across our communities many of us are in the position to do something about it. Read Jess’s blog about new bite-sized False Information training

We know lots of you care deeply about good information and have been struggling to find effective ways to halt the spread of false information. We’re delighted to announce new training you can join in September.

It is okay to be mad about poor policy that doesn't make the lives of many people better. Like Jess, you may need to breathe, pause, don’t type just yet. Think about what the story is YOU really want to tell. and then get strategic.

Most of us care about climate change. So why don’t Kiwis understand the most impactful things they can do about climate change? Most simply it comes down to the most powerful narratives are insufficient to help people understand what to do.

Scholarship applications for our August Narratives for Change Foundations online training are now open. You can apply by filling in a simple online form.

The Workshop is excited to offer scholarships for our Narratives for Change Foundations in-person and online training! Scholarships are intended to support people working on systems change who face financial barriers to attending.

Thanks to the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) we have a new briefing paper on how to talk about preventing poverty in Aotearoa.

We’re happy to share the next round of training dates for our Narratives for Change Foundations training.

Budget day is coming up, and to be honest I find it a bit hard - and I suspect quite a few other people do too. All the talk about money and whether it is too much or too little and who the winners and losers are. It makes me feel like we have lost sight of the reason we have budgets: to help us build the kind of communities and society that are good for all people to live in. Read Jess’s blog about How to talk about budgets and tax for public good.

For many of us across different communities, living in a society that cares for people and the environment matters deeply. Right now, we know people are suffering, we know that we’re damaging the environment, and we know that it is so possible to fix. So why are our decision makers not taking sufficient action? It’s unjust. I feel so frustrated. Read Jess’s blog to find out more about why anger is okay and how values framing is important if we want to deepen people’s understanding about complex issues and build support for change.

Many of us know that we can still prevent climate induced weather events like this - we can stop them getting worse and more frequent. We also know that we can do effective work to ensure when these events do happen we withstand them better. We see just how much sense there is in allocating more resources now, to prevent worse outcomes later, and protect the people and places we love better than we have. 

Just like in our personal lives, the beginning of a new year is a great time to get really clear on the impact we want to have in the world. What are the changes you’re working towards that will make the biggest difference to people and the planet? Once you’re clear on what changes are needed you can focus on your narrative strategy. 

Changing how we talk about opening our streets for people who walk, ride bikes and take public transport can help people understand and support the changes we need to create kinder, gentler more humans ways of living and moving in our cities and towns.

We’re reaching out to let you know about some significant changes we’ve made at The Workshop.

We’re excited to share with you our new training courses that we’ve been developing over the last few months. The training page has more information to help you choose which course is right for you.

August newsletter - With local government elections coming up, we’ve been thinking about the most helpful ways to talk about government, and its work for the long-term public good.

A blog by our co-director, Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw, and the launch of our new guide: How to Talk about Air Quality and Environmental Health.

A recent paper and associated videos have gotten people talking about what happens when we use politically conservative values to frame climate change communications. Our co-director Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw, and researcher Ellen Ozarka respond with this blog reflecting on values and climate change communications.