PKC chief hopes for legacy of kindness

Rallying call ahead of the ‘disillusionment’stage

Perth and Kinross Council’s chief executive has said she wants to build on the kindness residents have shown during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Karen Reid made the remarks on Twitter earlier this week.

It was in response to a suggestion the region may be approaching the “disillusionment stage” of the global pandemic.

The Twitter conversation was sparked after education and children’s services executive director Sheena Devlin shared a link to a graph depicting the well-identified stages of how people deal and react to shock.

The graph outlines the emotional highs and lows people go through before, during and after a disaster.

It suggests we are currently at the emotional high of the ‘honeymoon’ period which came after the ‘heroic’ stage.

But the UK could be set to delve down into the ‘disillusionment’ stage.

In the original post Alex Evans, founder of The Collective Psychology Project, warned: “There are wellidentified stages of how people feel and act after a huge shock.

“We’ve been at the ‘honeymoon’ stage, where lots of us feel a sense of agency and community cohesion but things will get tougher as we move into the ‘disillusionment’ stage. Let’s be ready.”

Cat Macaulay chief design officer at the Scottish Government wrote: “Very familiar from previous experience of working through a crisis. All [organisations] should be getting ready for disillusionment.

“We must have leaders who understand this, and teams supported through it to maintain the reconstruction momentum.”

This discussion caught the eye of PKC’s executive director of education and children’s services Sheena Devlin who shared the post which then prompted reaction from PKC’s chief executive.

Karen Reid responded: “We need to be courageous, curious, creative and, most importantly, caring as we build back an even better council. This is a real opportunity to see the Perth and Kinross offer in action, working together to support everyone in Perth and Kinross as we move on from COVID-19.”

North Inch and Muirton Community Council suggested its Give and Take Boxes were an example of this in action.

Ms Reid replied: “Exactly like this. Fabulous initiative making such a