17th June 2015
On Friday 19 June, over 120 people will gather in Manchester to celebrate and share the success of local community projects being delivered in the North West of England by health visitors. Hosted by the Institute of Health Visiting in partnership with Health Education England North West, the celebration event brings together health visitor and local authority commissioners to celebrate health visiting impacting child, family and public health.
Social care transformation is more than just budgets or public services. Community projects in health visiting, often referred to as building community capacity (BCC) projects, are about how people help themselves and each other as individuals, in groups and communities and how they make the best use of the resources available for all citizens in their area. Building strong and resilient communities is good for children, families and communities – and can save money for councils.
Dr Cheryll Adams, director of the Institute of Health Visiting, commented: “We are delighted to be hosting this celebration event to mark the success and the impact of building community capacity projects. Health visitors play a key role in building community capacity which is the grass roots of their work promoting health for children and families. The impact of BCC projects, such as these, demonstrate a return on the Government’s investment made through its call to action for the health visiting service over the last 4 years.”
The event includes three well-known speakers from the world of building community capacity: Professor Jane South, Professor of Healthy Communities, Leeds Beckett University; Reverend Professor Pauline Pearson, Professor of Nursing, Northumbria University; and Lynn Kenyon, Sheffield Hallam University.
Six great examples of recent BCC projects undertaken in the North West region will also be showcased. The varied projects include a Community Gardening Project which set out to address issues such as untidy communal spaces and antisocial behaviour as community problems, as well as inequalities around the ‘toxic trio’. The term ‘toxic trio’ has been used to describe the issues of domestic violence, mental ill-health and substance misuse which have been identified as common features of families where harm to women and children has occurred. They are viewed as indicators of increased risk of harm to children and young people.
Other projects to be showcased at Friday’s celebration event include:
• One-stop-shop drop in for parents and children – which set out to reduce the business of the baby clinic, provide a play session for the children and where mums can socialise. With the drop in session led by a health visitor, this project improved the sociability and use of the children’s centre, with new people attending who were not engaging before.
• Stay & Play – a peer support group set up by 2 Eastern European mums to provide sociability and a play area for children – health visitors provide support periodically.
• Families in recovery – a weekly peer support group for mothers going through a difficult period, to improve life chances for children and their families.
• Walk & Talk – a community walking group for Asian families to improve social isolation issues. With a high Asian population, many Asian parents had no access to services and were isolated from the community.
Dr Adams continued: “We have been amazed at the varied projects emerging across the North West region and the impact they have had. This celebration event has provided many fantastic examples of what can be achieved within communities – helping health visitors ensure that children, families and communities have the best possible health outcomes.”
ENDS
For more information, please contact: Julie Cooper, communications and marketing manager at the Institute of Health Visiting on 07508 344716 or[email protected]
Notes to editors
About the Building Community Capacity Celebration Event
This event takes place 09:30 – 16:00 on Friday 19 June 2015 at the King’s House, Manchester to share and celebrate the success of BCC projects in the North West region.
- Promoting local BCC projects
- Poster presentations and marketplace
- Building confidence in the health visiting profession to initiate BCC projects
- Supporting health visiting to become embedded in family and public health
About the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV)
- The Institute of Health Visiting is a UK Centre of Excellence supporting the development of universally high-quality health visiting practice.
- It was launched on 28 November 2012 to promote excellence in health visiting practice to benefit all children, families and communities.
- The aim for the iHV is to raise standards in health visiting practice, so improving public health outcomes for all children, families and communities.
- For more information go to www.ihv.org.uk
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