Setting the Scene: the Need for Systemic Change
In this guest blog, Theo Field-Pellew, Researcher and Founder of TRUE Research, shares his reflections on community-led research, working on Partisan’s emergent strategy, and what it means to produce knowledge that comes from and for the community.
This blog is a 3-part series with TRUE Research and forms part of our Working in Emergence series exploring Partisan’s 4 R’s, and emerging approach to change.
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
I often get asked how my path in youth work led me to a place where I now focus on systemic change. My journey started around 15 years ago, when I was a young community organiser in East London.
At that time, I was working with both private homeowners and council residents, trying to bridge divides. The homeowners were spending £60k a year on security measures, but we wanted to redirect that money towards community-building—investing in young people, breaking down barriers, and fostering real relationships.
This was when I was 18 or 19, and it sparked something in me. It got me thinking deeply about power, privilege and building community.
From there, my career evolved, almost by accident, into youth work and research. People always say you get into youth work accidentally, and it’s kind of true.
Along the way, the issue of youth violence really stood out to me.
Working with young people means working with multiple issues—housing, mental health, and so on. But one issue always seemed to stand out: serious youth violence. That was, and still is, a tragic reality for too many young people I worked with. A lot of them ended up in jail or worse.
Looking back, I remember 2017 as a really tough year. I was working with a young person in a sensitive case.
He ended up being murdered, and that hit me hard. It wasn’t just the loss of one life, but the continuous cycle of loss that affected me and my colleagues working with these young people. Many of the young people I worked with were going down dangerous paths—gangs, drugs, violence. The toll on us professionals was heavy, too. After that, I seriously considered leaving the field.
But something changed. During a serious case review, I met someone from Birmingham who was leading a review of services and how they could improve.
We started talking about systemic change—about changing the systems that affect young people for the long-term. He talked about the analogy of giving someone a fish versus teaching them to fish. That hit home. It resonated with me on a deep level. I realised that the answer wasn’t just giving people support in the short term; it was about changing the systems that were letting people down in the first place.
After that, I went to my CEO and said, “I want to focus on policy—on systemic change. I want to create long-lasting change for young people.” That led to the creation of TRUE Research, the organisation I co-founded, which takes a completely different approach to research.
What is TRUE’s Approach to Research?
Our approach to research is rooted in community, relationships and time, not just academic credentials.
We believe in really getting to know the communities we work with. It’s not about swooping in from the outside to analyse things; it’s about being embedded in the community and understanding its unique needs and challenges.
Every time I start a new role or project, I make it a priority to understand the community first. It’s not enough to just jump in and start working. I need to know the geography, the culture, the social dynamics. That’s the foundation of everything we do.
Back in the early days, I said to myself I wouldn’t work in South London until I had more experience, because working in your own community is different. It’s tricky…you have to maintain personal and professional boundaries. But eventually, I did work in South London.
I started youth work in Lambeth, taking new staff on tours around the area to help them understand the community—where young people are coming from, how they interact with their environment, even things like how they relate to bus drivers or shopkeepers – just making them aware of the context they’re in.
A lot of services make the mistake of adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, thinking that because something worked in one area or with work group, it will work in another. When you're working with young people who have grown up from Caribbean or African backgrounds or Asian backgrounds, you can’t have the same approach to each individual and each person. That’s not how it works.
Every community is different. Every area has its own cultural and social make-up. It’s crucial to take the time to understand the local context before designing any intervention.
Challenging Traditional Research: Power & Hierarchy
One thing I’ve learned through my career is that traditional approaches to research—especially when it comes to working with Black and marginalised communities—often perpetuate power imbalances.
The people at the top—academics, for instance—hold a lot of the power, while the communities they’re studying have little say. And this creates a system where the voices of those most affected are often ignored.
When you’ve worked in the field as long as I have, you see how much the system needs to change. I’ve worked with organisations that have been using the same methods, and listening to the same voices, for years, with little regard for how the communities they serve have evolved. The truth is, it’s not just the people working in these systems that need to change; the systems themselves are stuck and need an overhaul.
At TRUE Research, we do things differently.
We’re not about top-down, academic-driven approaches. Instead, we work with communities, valuing lived experience as much as formal research. It’s not about telling people what they need; it’s about listening, understanding, and co-creating solutions with the people who are affected by the issues. We’re not coming from above, but we’re in the community itself.
When I evaluated Partisan’s strategy, I saw first-hand how their work embraced shared power and collaboration. This approach is something we value at TRUE Research too. It’s not about academic credentials or holding the power in the hands of a few; it’s about sharing power, listening to the community, and creating solutions together.
Partisan’s work is exciting because it asks questions on which voices need to be brought in more, and have a stake in designing better mental health services for Black and racialised people who have been left out of decision making. The answers are there within the community; we just need to create space for those voices to be heard.
Author: Theo Field-Pellew, TRUE Research
This is blog forms blog number 1 of 3 in the Working in Emergence guest blogs.