A year end reflection from Peace Collective

As we move into a new year, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of what this last year has brought and why it continues to matter.

Over the past year, we have been building Peace Collective through training, facilitation and dialogue work across councils, schools and community settings, alongside more intensive one to one and peer based support work. We have worked with councils, schools, community practitioners and local residents, often in contexts shaped by harm, pressure, uncertainty and division. What we have seen consistently is how much people are being asked to carry, and how thin the support around them can feel.

This year has reinforced something simple but important. When pressure increases, connection matters more, not less. Resilience is not just about individual strength or coping better alone. It is about having people around you. Knowing your limits. Being able to step back without being judged, and to lean on others when needed.

We have also been reminded that community is not abstract. It is practical. It shows up when responsibility is shared, when people feel useful to one another, and when care moves in more than one direction.

As polarisation grows and people are encouraged to retreat into themselves, our work keeps pointing in the opposite direction. Learning, change, and repair happen through and in relationship with each other. Not all at once, and not without pause or rest, but not in isolation either. 

Looking ahead, we are proud of what has been built this year, and excited about what comes next. Over the past year we have laid foundations, built trust, and developed ways of working that feel both grounded and responsive. The year ahead will be about deepening that work, strengthening partnerships, and sharing practical resources shaped directly by what people have told us they need, taking the learning from this first year and carrying it forward with care and intention. 

As the year turns, we know we remain working within an increasingly complex, uneven, and changing context. But none of this prevents the possibility of doing things differently.

For us, that means continuing to invest in dialogue, connection, and community, and building work that treats relationship as essential.

We also want to acknowledge and thank the many people who have supported this work over the past year. Those who have offered time, advice, challenge, and guidance, often quietly and behind the scenes. Your trust, generosity, and willingness to think alongside us has shaped Peace Collective more than you might realise, and we are grateful for it.

We wish you steadiness, connection, and moments of care in whatever the next year brings.