Dear Reader,
I bumped into a past client this morning. He said he's loving life since working with me a couple of years ago. He reminded me that he sent his neighbour to see me. He's still buzzing too.
This week a mum described to me how different her son's life has been since seeing me 5 years ago. She said it's made a huge impact on his life, and in turn he is making a huge impact on other people, through his clubs and his friends at school, where he is really popular.
It’s prompted me to measure the impact of my work more carefully. And even more interestingly, I want to understand the difference my clients go on to make in the lives of the people around them.
Because the ripple is far greater than the stone.
This matters. The world needs more positive impact, and if we can understand how it spreads, we can help it happen more often, and amplify it.
With this in mind, the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce has recently set up a Health and Wellbeing working group, which I’ve joined. One of our priorities is to measure Social Value, alongside the more familiar measure of Economic Value Added.
Measuring Social Value
Studies used in UK social value frameworks suggest that a one-point increase in wellbeing on a 1–10 scale is roughly equivalent to the benefits of a £14,000 increase in income.
Sleep improvements also carry measurable value. Research from Oxford University suggests that each point of improvement on a sleep scale may be worth around £400 per year in productivity and health benefits.
My clients report an average increase in wellbeing of about 2.1 points over six sessions. Taking the lower end of a range of estimates and accounting conservatively for the fact that therapy isn’t the only influence, my outcome scores suggest I might have added roughly £11,500 of social value per client, per year.
In other words, the investment people make in their wellbeing may return something like twenty times its value in life outcomes, in the first year alone.
Perhaps more importantly, those changes rarely stop with one person, so there is a potentially massive multiplier effect. And here's where you can help.
You can help, right now:
Whether you have been a client of mine or not, it would be really interesting to know:
- How much has working with me (or anyone else) increased your overall wellbeing (on a scale of 1-10)?
- How long has it lasted?
- How many other people has it impacted? For example if you're a parent or partner, it could be 1 other person, by 2 points. Or if you're a business owner or manager, you might estimate that 20 others have benefited 0.1 points. Either one could be worth £14,000.
These are subjective guestimates, but they have a value.
Please let me know your thoughts and we can talk more about Social Value Added (and counteract the national focus on less helpful targets).
Comments and connections always welcome.
Adam
PS answers to the mystery bird next week but feel free to let me know!
