On 6th November 2016, the idea for Endpjparalysis was born in a tweet

A seed of “caring” was planted. A flower of “compassion” grew. A field of “nurturing” blossomed.

What is Endpjparalysis?

Endpjparalysis is a national campaign with the most simplest yet ingenious purpose: encouraging patients in hospitals to get dressed in their own clothes, help them get up out of bed and moving. There is so much literature and evidence to show how harmful prolonged bed rest can be.

So how did it become into such a successful social movement that continues to grow?

Ingredient 1: Persistence and passion: Everything starts small

Look at the first tweet above again, it didn’t have masses of people following or supporting it. It all started small with just a few people coming together with a shared purpose. Everything starts small and it takes time, passion and commitment to make it grow. So the first ingredient was persistence and passion to take it forward – even when there wasn’t a great awareness of the campaign in the early days. If you really care enough about something, through persistence and passion, you can make it grow. Just be patient.

Ingredient 2: You won over my heart  ❤️

Endpjparalysis is such a simple concept, became a successful social movement because it won over people’s hearts first. It is based on good will, wanting to good, making patients smile and helping others. what a fantastic sense of achievement it must be to see someone who has been slumped in bed for days, get up, dressed and moving. But that’s not the only way it won over hearts. This social movement scrapped all the boundaries and everyone was and still is welcome. Leave your job titles behind, leave your authority in the office, put your credentials aside, they’re not needed here. Everyone who joined started to feel like a family, they spurred each other on and cheered for achievements happening in their neighbouring hospitals. There was no pulling rank, no hierarchy and no one felt inferior. How refreshing.

Ingredient 3: The change is unleashed not planned

I know, no plan? How radical.

I’ve had insight into some of the workings behind the growth of the campaign and one thing is for certain, KPIs do not drive the change. I’ve never seen an action plan used, scrap that stakeholder mapping, push aside the planned agendas. But how has it worked without these? It is really simple, if you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it because you want to, no action log is needed here. KPIs are not needed to measure the care, love and nurturing given to patients, because we can see it. Our evidence is in front of our eyes. The change is unleashed freely everywhere with the freedom and creativity for anyone and everyone to make it work. Unleashing the change gave each and every person the power to mould the change however they wanted. A year and half later, there’s just 2 simple KPIs emerging to help track the challenge of achieving an ambitious aim of getting 1 million patient days dressed in own clothes up and moving.

Ingredient 4: Stories: Words are forgotten, but feelings last

Our whole life is a story. Memories are stories. Experiences are stories. How we feel are stories. Part of winning over hearts is to connect with them. Stories are memorable, you can relate to them and they are empowering. They connect with our emotions, our values and purpose. The Endpjparalysis campaign is built on stories not authority. The foundations of it aim to connect with feelings not tracking progress. Some wonderful patient stories have emerged from the campagin showing how such a simple thing can make a big difference. Staff have shared their stories of how the campaign has helped not only patients but also staff come together with a common purpose.

Ingredient 5: Sprinkling of joy and celebration 🎉

We all want to feel a sense of joy and it can be sometimes hard to find joy when you feel stressed, busy or struggling to keep up with the day to day requirements. Endpjparalysis brings joy and celebration by keeping things simple, easy and adaptable. It brings fun through the creative ways staff promote the campaign – whether it’s a song, poem, dance video, flash mob, poster, pledges or even wearing pyjamas to work. There’s lots of creative fun things being done – each and every one of theses ideas came from a range of people, none of them were directed by the campaign creators. There is a sense of empowerment and encouragement to do whatever you want and how liberating that must feel from traditional methods of working. Let’s go join the party, they’re having fun!

Ingredient 6: Be brave

Social movements are things that haven’t been done before, they’re different and break traditional boundaries. Part of that means having the courage to say “why not?” to things that seem impossible. I think back to the first tweet where Endpjparalysis was born, would they ever have imagined a year and a half later it would be as successful and far reaching as it is? You’ve got to dream BIG. Social movements mean being really ambitious. It means thinking of all the possibilities, opportunities and aiming high. Be brave and daring to go beyond the norms.

Ingredient 7: A spoonful of friendship and role modelling

There’s so many types of leadership styles, models, approaches and frameworks. In social movements, there is leadership everywhere, everyone is a leader. There is no single leadership power, everyone has it. With social movements, it’s a sense of friendship that steers it because everyone feels equal, there’s no one leader. However, there is someone who is the main role-model figure who’s behaviour, language and messages help shape the movement. In Endpjparalysis, the behaviours, language and messages have all been inclusive, universal, friendly, empowering, lifting each other up and having fun. The role model for this has been Professor Brian Dolan. In any social situation, you will find traits and parts of behaviours are influenced by our role models. Social movements grow when we feel welcomed, motivated and part of the gang. Endpjparalysis does this. It has positive role modelling that is built on trust, good will and kindness that brings a sense of commitment.

Time to cook 👨‍🍳

I said at the start of this blog, it all takes time. When you’re thinking of starting your own social movement don’t be disheartened when it’s slow at the start, it takes time to cook it. Equally, if you find it’s just not going anywhere at all, stop, think and do something different – its likely you don’t have all the ingredients you need.

Endpjparalysis continues to spread, it needs its own bakery!

You can help the cause by following the guidance below. I’ve also included in some of the pictorials I’ve drawn to support it over the past year. So, come on in, how can you support it? We’re waiting for you.