Shetland Partnership Network Thursday 28th August 2025
The third Shetland Partnership Network meeting of 2025 took place on Thursday 28th August at Islesburgh Community Centre.
The session featured presentations and interactive activities centred on two key Improvement Projects from the Shetland Partnership’s Delivery Plan: Person-Centred Shetland and Compassionate Shetland.
The Shetland Partnership Network aims to help partners create a sense of shared ownership of community planning and to create a safe environment for open and honest conversations around the challenges and opportunities to tackle inequalities in Shetland. The Network brings together representatives of all community planning partners in Shetland and offers opportunities for information sharing, idea development, and relationship building.
About the Improvement Projects
These projects are part of the Shetland Partnership’s updated Delivery Plan, which supports the long-term Shetland Partnership Plan (2018–2028) intended to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes across Shetland. Within this framework, four major Improvement Programmes have been identified:
- EmPowered Shetland
- Climate Conscious Shetland
- Compassionate Shetland
- Person-Centred Shetland
Each programme provides a focused lens through which partners can explore solutions to complex challenges. August’s Network session highlighted Person-Centred Shetland and Compassionate Shetland, emphasising how these initiatives are central to delivering the Partnership’s vision for a fairer, more supportive Shetland.
Session Highlights
The day offered network members opportunities for shared reflection, idea-generation, and strategic discussion, while also strengthening connections between partners who work across different sectors of Shetland life.
Person-Centred Shetland
Lucy Flaws and Sarah Dempster (NHS Shetland) introduced Person-Centred Shetland, a whole-system approach designed to ensure services work together around what matters most to individuals, families, and communities. Participants explored the current service landscape—strengths, challenges, and enablers of collaboration—and took part in a creative “postcard from the future” exercise, imagining what positive change might look like. Learnings from the session will help shape the System Change Board and the development of a practitioner learning network, ensuring ideas from across the system are captured and acted upon.
Compassionate Shetland
Lewie Peterson (SIC Youth & Employability Services) provided a progress update on Compassionate Shetland, focusing on tackling stigma via interviews, focus groups, and multi-sector workshops. Attendees heard about the Mair dan Wirds campaign, the Human Library initiative for workforce development, and educational tools developed for schools and workplaces. The conversation also turned toward how to strengthen and embed a shared culture of compassion across the Partnership, and how local employers and community groups might play a bigger role in promoting kindness, understanding and inclusion.
Engagement and Next Steps
Representatives of 11 partners took part. Feedback from participants was very positive. Attendees valued the quality of the presentations and the chance for open, well-informed discussions, especially in small groups. Many highlighted how useful it was to hear from a variety of partners and to focus on collaboration.
The next Shetland Partnership Network session will take place on Thursday 30th October 2025.