August 6, 2024 • 34 mins
In this episode Rich Hurst speaks with Lucy Bird and Lucy Chick about their experiences in working with communities, highlighting the importance of both listening to, and empowering communities to set up needs-based community projects, based on the assets available to them and ‘going where the energy is’.
Lucy Bird is a Community Builder at Droitwich CVS and has worked within community development for over 12 years. With knowledge of local services and opportunities, Lucy manages and supports residents to develop their offers. Lucy recognises the role of individuals within communities and the need for them to feel connected.
Lucy Chick is a Senior Public Health Practitioner in Worcestershire County Council Public Health team. With 11 years of experience in tackling a range of public health challenges & broader health determinants and is now working on reducing social isolation and loneliness, and working with an asset-based approach. This approach fosters sustainable community-led development by supporting local community assets and encouraging collaboration among individuals, associations, and institutions to enhance and utilise their collective strengths. Public Health has actively funded the integration of this asset-based approach within Worcestershire's communities, in collaboration with District Councils and the voluntary and community sector. Disclaimer: Projects are subject to funding which may be liable to change after the release date of August 2024.
Links related to this episode: https://www.activehw.co.uk/
https://www.activehw.co.uk/our-community-can
https://www.droitwichcvs.org.uk/
https://insights.worcestershire.gov.uk/
https://www.nurturedevelopment.org/asset-based-community-development/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hello and thanks for joining theactive best practice network
presented by activeHerefordshire and Worcestershire
and hosted by me Rich Hurst fromgifted gab productions.
In this series, we've identifiedregional partners to share
common challenges and bestpractices intended for
(00:26):
professionals, communities andindividuals involved in tackling
and sustaining change in thehealth voluntary and community
sectors, with a particularemphasis on how physical
activity and movement cancontribute to prevention and
recovery.
(00:46):
With these podcasts, we'reaiming to support you, if you're
dealing with similar challenges,and draw upon the knowledge of
expertise we've got fromstrategic projects right through
to grassroots projects allacross the two counties of
periphonshire andWorcestershire, our podcasts
will cover everything fromcommunity engagement, social
prescribing, positive aging,flood defenses, physical
(01:08):
activity, clinical champions,funding, integrated care systems
and vcse partnership, workingplus girls engagement in sport.
We release a new episode everymonth, so make sure you
subscribe to be notified whenyour new one's out. And if you
could take time to review thepodcast, we'd really appreciate
it. So let's get on with today'sepisode.
(01:32):
In this episode, we're talkingabout empowering communities and
helping them to thrive. Ourguests are Lucy bird and Lucy
chick. Lucy bird is a communitybuilder at Droitwich community
voluntary service or CVS, whereshe finds places and communities
where activities can make adifference, helping them to get
(01:52):
set up and eventually run bythemselves. Lucy chick is a
Senior Public HealthPractitioner at Worcestershire
county council. She's worked inpublic health for over 10 years,
and they're starting to workmore with communities and asset
based development, helping andempowering those communities.
Now, it's worth noting that theguys do talk about funding quite
(02:13):
often, and that can alwayschange depending on where you're
working, so it's worth lookingup more on that for advice and
tips. On our website, the activeHerefordshire and Worcestershire
website, which is activehw.co.uk,
now with two Lucy's chatting tous, it could get a bit confusing
who's who, so I'll trythroughout the chat to make it
clear which Lucy we're chattingwith. So we kicked off the
(02:35):
interview with Lucy bird talkingabout the value of community in
health and wellbeing.
You people need people, that'sthe top and bottom of it. You
can't you can't survive on yourown. Loneliness is so
debilitating that without otherpeople around you, even if it's
(02:59):
one other person that you knowyou can go to if you need help,
support. That's what builds wellbeing increases, you know,
community, supporting oneanother. And you can see it in
everything that any projectsthat I've been involved with,
just knowing that somebody isthere that you can go and talk
(03:20):
to and I think one of theimportant things that comes out
of a lot of what I do is we justwant to laugh together, and
laughter and support. And notbeing on your own is just vital
for well, being
Lucy chick, you see, you seethat role being played out all
the time in community. So, sohow much should it be valued as
(03:40):
a role in people's health.
Oh, community is is one of thecentral pillars of our health
and our everyday we often thinkabout healthcare, and people
think GP surgeries and NHS andpractice, but so much of a
proportion of your health comesfrom your everyday life, where
you live, where you work, howconnected you feel to your
(04:02):
community. Obviously, Lucy spokethere about loneliness, if
you're on your own, if you'reperhaps feeling isolated. So
much of that is what we what weoften term, are wider
determinants of health. So thoseother things that aren't just
healthcare, and that's really acentral part of everything that
we do. And as Lucy was saying,that the benefits that you get
(04:22):
from having a really strong,connected community are
fantastic at helping youreveryday well being and having
somebody to say hello to andspeaking to the postman, or
having a club at the end of yourroad where you can go and
connect with other people andhave a chat and perhaps connect
with people you know, perhapspeople you don't know, maybe
(04:43):
over a common interest. All ofthose things help you feel
better. And when you feelbetter, you can look for those
opportunities to go. And I'mgoing to do this that might
change my life, and I'm going todo this that might help me go
and sort of improve my everyday
and how much of your rolesspecifically is about finding
what those benefits are,learning what they are and
(05:04):
trying to improve or increasethem.
Yeah, it's absolutely embeddedin what I do. So my area of
work, I look after mental healthand well being. So we have a
health wellbeing board for thecounty that looks at the health
and wellbeing of Worcestershireand its residents, and one of
their big projects is a healthand well being strategy, and
(05:25):
that strategy is on mentalhealth and well being. It's the
key priority for Worcestershireover the next 10 years, and
that's the main part of sort ofhow I deliver it. But one of
those three ambitions withinthat is about where we live and
is about what we do, and howcommunity is such a strong part
of what we do and and affectingthat every day, as we've sort of
(05:45):
said, but when you feelconnected, when you feel less
lonely, when you feel lessisolated, really positive things
can can happen. So we've got tohelp communities understand what
their needs are, and perhapswhether, if something isn't
working, how can we make thatbetter? But communities really
are at the heart of doing thosethose village halls are filled
(06:06):
with people from communitiestrying to utilize those assets
and those strengths. So it's allfocusing on what are the
strengths of that place, ratherthan what do they need, what
don't they have? And that iskind of, perhaps the traditional
way that might have been done.So this project really was about
trying to turn that traditionalapproach and think about
(06:27):
actually, what happens when weput the community at the heart
of that we might know thatthere's an issue from data that
tells us something or fromfeedback from somewhere else,
but the resolution comes fromwithin the community.
And how much better Lucy birddoes it make that when it's
coming from within thecommunity, rather than, say,
prescribed from on high?
(06:48):
Well, that's everything aboutthe asset based approach.
Really, it's thatsustainability, that long term,
you know, that projects orgroups or anything that's set up
in a community, just keep going,because they've they're invested
in it, I suppose. I mean, I wasa social prescriber before I had
this role, and one of the, thereason I came back out of it, to
(07:12):
get on, you know, get my shoeson, get back out onto the
streets and support, was becausepeople don't know what's in
their own community. That was amassive red flag for me. It was
there was already loads goingon, like you say, assets, things
that people are doing, strengthsthat people weren't able to
access because they didn't knowit was there. So that's a big
part of my role as well, is tomake sure people know that these
(07:35):
things exist. But then by mebeing embedded within that
community. I can get out, I canspeak to people, listen to
people, and I would say that,you know, an example is when I
went out and I just keptspeaking to people that were
bereaved. Was a massive justloads and loads of people just
(07:59):
kept saying to me, Oh, well, Ilost my husband, I lost my mom,
I lost and again, through socialprescribing, I was picking that
up, and I couldn't say to thecommunity, this is what you
need. But then somebody from thecommunity had seen it as well,
and she said, let's get thisgoing. And so by being in my
role, I could help them get thatgoing and get some bereavement
(08:20):
support set up in Droitwich. Andit's just that listening to
people seeing where the gapsare, that they can come up with
that they've seen that they needand would like to be part of,
and empowering them to get, getup and do it and set it up and
and, yeah, it's it's beenamazing just listening to people
and seeing where their passionsare and where they want to see,
(08:44):
see groups and projects set up.So that's the beauty of my job.
I'm out there doing it.
Lucy bird, could you tell usabout our community can, and how
that started?
I certainly can. Our communitycan is a project run by active
Hereford and Worcestershire, andit's about filling village halls
(09:07):
in rural communities, peoplebeing able to access not just
physical activity, which youwould naturally associate with
active Hereford andWorcestershire, but any activity
that brings people together,really, and connects them. So
the difference between jazz,she's got, who is the one of the
coordinators for our communitycan she's got the whole of
(09:30):
Worcestershire, which is where,you know, you come out, where do
you start? This big place? Sobecause I'm in the heart of the
community, I meet people. I canhave those conversations. People
approach me now because theyknow what my role is and who I
am. So one of the parishcouncilors, for example, in a
(09:51):
small rural community justoutside Droitwich, approached me
and said, you know, we want toget some things going in our
village hall. It's sitting emptymost of the time. There's not a
lot going on for people. How canwe do that? She'd already
actually held an afternoon teaand done a very small
(10:11):
questionnaire, so she'd alreadykind of started some of that
groundwork for us. And one ofthe things that came up was
bingo. They all wanted to dobingo. So So Jas and I sort of
had a conversation about thearea. Let's do a taste today,
which is one of the wonderfulthings about working with our
community can project. They havethe money and to get those days
(10:36):
going so that we can actuallyask the community, what is it
you want? What would you like tosee in your community, and how
can you be involved? So that'swhere our rules roles complement
each other really nicely. And sowe did a questionnaire out into
the village asking people whatthey wanted on that taste today
there was a mixture of yoga,bingo, obviously, pilates,
(10:59):
seated exercise, crochet, a realmix of things. So between
Jasmine and I, we coordinatedwith different instructors to
bring them along to for peopleto try those activities out. But
we also said we'll do bingo, andthen start having a
conversations with the communitywhen we're in the room with
(11:19):
them. Is, yes, we can do bingo,but we don't want to do this for
you. What would what can you doabout that? How can you be
involved in doing bingo? Ifthat's what you'd like to see in
this hall? So we had just such awonderful day. It was really
good fun. And the community wasso up for it. Loads of them came
in, considering it's such asmall community, and we did a
(11:42):
follow up day around Christmastime, but they did crochet. They
did another game of bingo, butthis time they led the bingo,
just starting those small stepsto put in their minds that we're
not there to run things forthem. We're there to help them
get this set up, and off you go.And the same with local
instructors. You know, that'sthat's the advantage of working
(12:02):
with Jess. She knows she's got areally good network of local
instructors to lead sessions.
So following on from that, wegot a local instructor in seated
exercise came out tops of one ofthe physical activities they'd
like to do. And so we've set upseated exercise classes, classes
which were subsidized for thefirst 12 weeks. It was all over
(12:24):
the we helped with thepublicity. Helped the instructor
to get that set up, and she'snow, I think, 16 weeks in, and
the first 12 subsidized weeksare over. The class now belongs
to her. She books the hall.She's got 60, between 13 and 16
regular attendees, which, in asuch a small community, is
(12:45):
fantastic. All doing seatedexercise and playing, is it
Boccia? Trying to think, I thinkit's
Boccia. And so, yeah, they'reloving it, really loving it. But
on top of that, we sort ofthought, well, what can be
community led, what can be runby them for themselves? So I
went, had a lovely cup of teawith one of the group of the
(13:08):
ladies, and their main prioritywas, I think I mentioned it
earlier, laughter. They justwanted to, that was the word
they kept saying, laughter. Wejust want to fill that hall
with, you know, fun. What can wedo? And we talked about bingo,
because that was the thing thatkept coming up again and again.
But they actually sort ofthought, Well, that might only
(13:29):
appeal to a certain sort ofgroup in the village. Let's
broaden it. And so they came upwith the name game for a laugh.
And it was just brilliant. Theycame up with that themselves.
They do refreshments they, youknow, want to put so they've got
tabletop games that we've helpedthem get. So I got a small pot
of funding through the countycouncil just to get these things
(13:50):
going. So they've bought somegames, tabletop games, and
they're going to be holding thismonthly we help them with a bit
of publicity. And I said tothem, do you all want specific
roles? No, we're a team. We'lllook in, and it's just joyous.
So, yeah, that's just startingin the community, and that's the
joy of working with Jasmine. Isa bit of community action, bit
(14:12):
of support, and get people setup.
But that ability to facilitatewhatever you find out is
possible, yeah, and giving itthe chance to have those early
steps, those early those earlytaster sessions, which then you
either see grow or not, but youcan work around it either way.
Often just takes you to say youcan do this. I mean, another
rural community, a lady I metwith her cutna, just really
(14:36):
small village again, justoutside Droitwich, and I went to
meet her, because I'd been told,if you're going to meet anyone
in cutna Green, meet Donna. So Imet Donna, and I sort of
thought, well, we'll perhaps dosome kind of open day. We'll ask
some questions. But no, that wasnot Donna's plan. She knew what
she wanted to do. She lovedwriting letters. She wanted to
(14:59):
start something which got peopleout of the house. So she started
a letter writing group and and Ihad to do very little to help
her set that up. We set it up ina local cafe, so there was no
outgoings in terms of villagehall hire. And, you know, the we
talked to the cafe owner, hesaid, Well, I'll just, you know,
we'll do three pounds, andthey've got bottomless coffee
(15:21):
biscuits, and it's now just,it's been going over a year now,
and it's just rolling alongnicely. And it's really simple,
just a small group of peoplegetting together, writing
letters for people in care homesand writing letters. We even
wrote some to some young kids inmental health facilities that
she's found links with overTwitter, and it's just been
(15:43):
really wonderful. And all ittook was me to say, Donna, you
can do this, and she's done it.Just brilliant.
How often is the size of acommunity a challenge?
I'd I'd say probably quite alot. I think Lucy, you'll have
way more experience of this thanthan I would. But I think within
within the sort of theory behindthe program, your community
(16:06):
needs to be quite small, needsto be quite defined, because
that's the way you're going toget the most out of it. If you
spread yourself too thin, you'renot going to necessarily see
that output. You're not going tobe able to reach into those
individuals like Donna's andlike the other people of the
world that go, I want to dothis. If you do an event and 500
people come, that's there stillbe people in there that have had
(16:29):
no effect, that they haven'treally engaged, or they haven't
they really know what it is,don't really fully understand
it. Don't want to put the handup in front of lots of people.
Don't sort of necessarily wantto engage. But if you do those
small things like Lucy's talkingabout, and have a small have a
chat, have a cup of tea with afew people. You can spark so
much off. So it does become achallenge in doing sort of
(16:49):
strength based approaches, isthat you do need to start quite
small. You need to have noagenda. You just it's it's not I
want to go in and do this. Howdo I do it? Because that's what
all those examples you've justspoken about. Lucy, yes, we
didn't go in with this is whatwe want to do. We went in with
what do you want to do? And wemight be able to find a way that
(17:09):
we can worry about later thatfix that ties things together
and make sure it kind of loopsup. But really it's got to be
people saying, well, this is howit would resolve. This is how I
might feel better, or this ishow I can do it, but we still
need those. It will always be achallenge to work with those who
are least likely to comeforward, who are least likely to
(17:30):
engage that are sort of hiddenin a way because they're not
engaging with services. Andpeople
you do know need those drivingpeople as well. So to reach
those very isolated people whodon't necessarily come out. I
mean, I mentioned earlier aboutthe bereavement cafe and the
bereavement journey that we'rerunning in Droitwich now, and
(17:51):
that came from meeting lots ofpeople that were struggling with
it, but it took one determinedperson to just say, We can do
this. And me saying to her,yeah, you can do this. And then
we put the message out, andwe've got a fantastic team of
volunteers who never knew theywanted to do bereavement support
until you offer it. And said, Doyou want to be involved? Is this
(18:14):
something you are passionateabout? And some really
passionate, amazing people havecome forward to volunteer, and
they are now again, becomingthis self sustaining team of
even the lady that kind ofstarted it all off, she's
starting to be able to stepback, because she has many other
hats that she does in thecommunity. As you know, there
(18:35):
are people out there, but evenshe's being able to step back
and leave those volunteers thatcame forward to get on with it.
It's just a joy to watch. Andpeople who said, No, I'll just
wash up in the kitchen startingto come out of their shell and
actually go and chat to a coupleof people that have been
bereaved, and then they go awayfeeling better for it as well.
(18:58):
So not only are you supportingthose people that are bereaved,
or whatever the example isyou're supporting confidence
within those volunteers as well.That's what's amazing about
watching community developmenthappen, is watching the people
that are doing it. It's justbrilliant.
And we have some amazing peopleout like volunteers and people
(19:20):
that give so much of their time.And you see it in sports clubs
up and down the country and butyou also see it in community
halls and village spaces. Andalso we talk about those spaces
that we use those assets. Imean, it can be a bench, it can
be everyone meets around thebench because that's on the
village green, and people sitand have a chat. Or it can be a
hall or it can be a cafe. Imean, we've seen examples of
(19:43):
pubs being used to stay in playgroups, because that's the
facility that's available. It'sfree. So group of mums said, we
just want a space to come andtalk to each other, because
we're struggling a bit, and lifecan be difficult. So it started
in a pub, and that probablywouldn't have happened if you'd
hadn't really kind of gone let'sthink a little bit outside the
(20:04):
box.
How much you having to changethe definition of an asset as it
were, for what you for what youneed?
Yeah, and assets can be so manythings, and it depends on who,
who sees it as that asset. Andwe have some amazing things in
accounting. We've got libraries,we've got museums, we've got
green space. I mean, we've gotample rural county around us,
(20:26):
but not many people actuallyinteract with it, and not many
people necessarily can get outto it. So all the things, like
walking groups that we've got inthe county help people access
those spaces that might not beof what might not feel
accessible to them. It just sortof unlocks it. It unlocks that
thing
(20:46):
Libraries unlocked, actually,because that's been amazing for
certainly, all the stuff I wasdoing with Ukrainians last year,
libraries unlocked has been anamazing facility for us to have,
because it was accessible. It'sin the center of the community.
Everybody knew where it was. Youknow, it's that point of, right?
Let's meet there. I mean, thatwas an amazing thing that
(21:09):
happened with the Ukrainians inDroitwich. It was the host, a
host approached me and said, Oh,don't know what I'm doing. Where
are all the other hosts? Whereare all the other Ukrainians? I
just put a message on Facebookand said, Are there any out
there? And 50 people camethrough the tour at the library,
which was we could use for freeand out of hours as part of the
library's unlocked. So that wasbrilliant. It's about using
(21:34):
those things that are there,using those buildings it's
sitting there. I mean, it'salways going to be a challenge
Village halls, community spaces.They have running costs, and
they need to be used, otherwisethey will fall into disrepair.
They need to be used becausethey, again, are in the heart of
the community, but they are areal barrier because they cost
(21:54):
money. So to set up a communitygroup within one you can't
expect to have it for free. Sothat's always going to be a
challenge. So there's alwaysgoing to have to be some kind of
way of bringing money in,whether it's through funding.
But then funding pots aregetting harder and harder to
access, so you've got to kind ofput a little bit of a charge on
it, a realistic charge, to makeit accessible for everyone. So
(22:19):
it's a real balance, because I'dhate to say, you know, yeah,
let's use this, because thepark's free. Village halls still
need to be used. They're stillamazing facilities, and they
need to be accessible forpeople. So it is that's a
definite challenge of this role.
Is that the biggest challengethat you face? Then I'm just,
I'm just thinking, now thatyou've, we've found this, this
(22:40):
really good approach, whereyou're talking with communities,
you're really getting to theheart of what they can do, and
you're using so many more assetsthan you were before. Is
funding? Is that the keychallenge, or are there others?
Well, it very much depends onwhat the project is. You know,
if you are looking at a smallthat even the letter writing
group needs a small amount offunding because or a small pot
(23:02):
of money in some way, becauseyou need paper, you need, you
know, it's small, but it'sstill, there is still a cost to
everything that you do within acommunity. So it is always going
to be a challenge. And as muchas volunteers are wonderful,
there are certain projects thatneed a little bit more sort of
youth work that's always goingto be a challenge run by
(23:25):
volunteers.So money is always,it's always going to be a factor
in community development, andwe, we try and make everything
as affordable and sustainable aspossible. But again, back to the
bereavement group. I mean, thatwas absolutely part of the deal.
Was that she wanted it to befree for everyone, accessible
for everyone. And we have gotsome amazing funders. We've got
(23:49):
some, you know, small pots fromhere and there. You know,
platform housing and places likethat have been great and putting
money in and the local towncouncil, and because it's very
visible, what's that's doing forpeople, it's very clear that the
outcome is to support those thathave been bereaved. But when
it's a smaller group thatperhaps doesn't have those
(24:12):
obvious outcomes, like game fora laugh, for example, it's and
it's very difficult when youdon't have measurable outcomes.
You know, because we've saidbefore, you can feel very lonely
in a group of 50 people, six ofyou in a room, but then six of
you have got to pay for a hallover your head. Or, you know,
it's really difficult, but it's,it's not impossible, but it,
(24:36):
it's, it's something that alwayshas to be considered as is,
where are we going to fund thisfrom, and how are we going to
make it sustainable?
And is that? Is that going to bethe biggest challenge going
forward? Lucy,
well, you can't kind of get awayfrom it being a challenge,
really, because, as you say,there's always something
somewhere, whether it's payingfor a cup of tea or whether it's
(24:58):
paying for a village hall. And.And that's why, kind of,
alongside the project, we'vebeen trying to release smaller
grants and pots of money. Solike, as Lucy's already said, we
paid for some games to supportsome people to do some tabletop
games and create that sort ofconnectivity and cohesion and
things. And it's more likely tobe more sustainable if the
(25:19):
community had been involved init, and people don't mind
putting a pound towardssomething if it goes towards
that, and if they can see theoutcome of it. And that
inevitably does, but we've gotto be able to have the resource
to help it start in the firstplace, and it will always be a
challenge, but that's how we canthink about how do we use
resources differently? How canwe devolve to the community
(25:41):
where, where it's it's clear andmakes sense to that, that that's
the right kind of the next stepand the next stage. And
certainly, what we've been doingmore is, is, how do we put these
resources and opportunitieswithin those spaces? So our new
healthy Worcestershire programthat sort of fits alongside the
our community can and and someof the other projects that we're
(26:02):
doing is about, how do we takethis to the community and still
understand what their wants ourneeds are? So we have a resource
here, but we want to take it ina strength based way. How do we
say, What have you got? And howdo we make that better? Rather
than going with this is aproblem, we need to fix it,
because ultimately, we don'treally know, unless we speak to
(26:23):
people, unless we ask, unless weunderstand people's stories. And
as we were saying, stories,individual stories, are so
powerful. But actually,sometimes there's a collective
and there's a group of peoplethat have all struggled with
that same experience. So how dowe put them together? So we talk
a bit about this, really ingeography. But doesn't just have
(26:44):
to be geography. It can also behow you connect with somebody
else in a similar situation toyourself. So our communities can
represent whatever we think isbest representative. It's
slightly harder sometimes whenyou've got a cross geography was
just as a big County, veryrural. Obviously, we do have
issues with isolation and peoplebeing able to access things and
(27:04):
what's there. But your communitydoesn't have to be a
geographical space. It can justbe other people, like minded
people, people with similarexperiences, anything like that.
So let's wrap it up, if we can,for people who want to take away
some some tips and thoughtsabout successful community
engagement. Lucy bird go on.
(27:26):
For anyone taking on roles likemine, it's listen. Just listen
to people. Listen to what theyare, what their passions are,
what they're enthusiastic about,what they are struggling with.
It can be positives andnegatives. Listen to what they
you know they want to takeforward and how they can be
involved in that, how they ownit. I suppose it's listen it's
(27:49):
listen to them and then enablethem to own it. It's theirs.
It's not you saying. Do you knowwhat you need? Do you know what
you should do? Do you know whatyou should this is how you
should do it. It's adaptinglistening and helping them to
take it forward themselves.
Lucy chick, what's your what'syour big takeaway?
(28:10):
I think Lucy just said it sobrilliantly then, but it is.
It's doing true, respectful andaccessible, proper engagement
with people to really hear whatthey're saying, but it's also,
how do we how do I marry whatI'm trying to do with what you
need? And sometimes I know thatthere's might be an issue, but
how do I flip the conversationand think about it in a slightly
(28:32):
different way, thinking a littlebit outside the box, or taking a
slightly different perspectiveon it, and how do I step out of
that and perhaps sometimesrelease a little bit of resource
to the community, or releasesome, release that and trust
that that's the right thing forthose and sometimes it it won't
work. I think we've had thingsas well that hasn't been
(28:55):
amazingly successful. Haven'talways worked, but it's trial.
It's, give it a go. It's, it's,it's, put something there,
reflect on it. Is it whatcommunity wanted? Does it work?
Has it worked out the way thatwe thought? And if it's not,
then we chop it up and we learnfrom it, and we move on. And we
think about the next think abouthow to bring the next idea in,
(29:17):
or the next sort of solution in.But it is doing that, that
listening. And how do I takethat listening and put that into
something? Because we can listena lot, and communities tell us a
lot and and sometimes we can'talways make that into something.
And this is one of those, thoseprojects that really forces us
to think differently. It's notalways easy. And some areas, you
(29:40):
know, we've we use the term sortof go where the energy is, which
is bit cheesy, but it's true.You know, quite unusual in this
role. A lot of communitybuilders have a very focused
community, whereas I had droitwitch, and I think there's about
15 villages surrounding it thatwe work in. And, you know, I
approached all of them, when Ifirst got there, just sent a
(30:02):
message out to the parishcouncils and trying to find that
sort of go to person to startwith. And the ones that reach
back, that's where I went. Soit's just going where there's
they can see something thatcould happen, and helping them
to make it happen.
And you can't underestimate thetime and energy it takes to do
those things. Because, as yousay, sometimes you try
(30:24):
something, it doesn't reallyquite work. That's still taken
time and capacity and sortofresource to kind of make that
happen. But you've got to thinklong term on this, this, this,
this does bring about the changesustainably, if you can do it
right? Or, I say right, there'sno right way of doing it, but if
you can get people engaged andget people connected, then
(30:45):
you're going to get the longerterm health and well being
benefits of it, because that'sreally why we got involved, is
because, actually this improvespeople's health and well being,
this improves people's mentalhealth and how they feel, and
ultimately, hopefully it willalso aim to tackle inequalities
as well that people are livingwith. But it does take, it does
(31:06):
take that time, and you can't gowith too much of a preset. And I
think we've spoken a bit abouthow difficult it is to say,
well, that worked. Well, how doyou know it's worked? Well,
because I've said it worked.
We've got the stories, you know,we've talked about, it's that
what it does to change oneperson's Well, being their life,
just in it. We're not talkingabout rocket science. We're just
(31:29):
talking about small changes forone person. That's what. That's
what. Why I do this job is justseeingone person say to me, I
feel better. And you know, whatmore can you ask for than that?
It's, that's, that's why I dowhat I do, and it's just about
those small steps. And oneperson turns to two people. They
have a conversation. It turns tothree people. It's not, you
(31:51):
know, we're talking about longterm support here. We're not
talking about something that'shere for six months and it's
gone. The aim of my role is toset something up that's going to
be here for the long call. Andwe've been trying to marry that
with, okay, what techniques andtools can we use to evidence it?
Because we ultimately, that'swhat we need. And we also want
(32:12):
to show other areas how they cando it. We've learned from other
areas. So we want to tell otherspaces, this is what we did,
this is how we did it. But youmight be able to think of a
different way, and it might workbetter, or perhaps we can try
that. So we learn a lot fromother counties, other districts,
other communities that sort ofdo this, but we've tried to use
(32:34):
some of the tools that are beingdeveloped. One of those is a
thing called ripple effectmapping, which is essentially
what Lucy was just talkingabout. That one conversation
that leads to another one, thatleads to another one, that leads
to another one. A smallconversation about, I want to be
more active, leads to a regularsort of physical activity
(32:54):
session. Innovative Hall, fromthat one space and so many
amazing things can come out asas a result of doing it. So
we've got to try and do a littlebit of, how do we know that?
Well, we can show you, and we'vegot the stories, and we've,
we've, we've got some videos ofsome amazing stories from that's
come out from the communities.But we've also got the the side
(33:16):
of, well, how many people arenow involved in that? How many
people are now more active as aresult of doing those things? We
can derive that we can get thatif that's what we need to be
able to get more resource in andget more more support for the project
It's obviously, it's obviousthese new ways of working are
working so well, just from thestories you've told us today. So
(33:38):
thank you for bringing those tous, and long May the good work
continue. Because you know thatit's obviously we're seeing the
power of successful communityengagement. You know, tangibly,
yeah, definitely, definitely,yeah, Lucy and Lucy, Bird and
Chick, thank you
Thank you
(33:59):
so huge. Thanks to the two Lucysfor their time. We hope you
enjoyed the chat. Found theexamples useful, and can benefit
from some of the takeaways. Tofind out more about what active
Herefordshire and Worcestershiredo. Get to their website, active
hw.co.uk,
there's a new episode of thispodcast out every month, so make
sure you subscribe and keep aneye on active Herefordshire and
(34:21):
Worcestershire's social channelsfor details, thanks again for
listening, and we look forwardto welcoming you back into the
active best practice networkagain very soon.
Hello and thanks for joining theactive best practice network
presented by activeHerefordshire and Worcestershire
and hosted by me Rich Hurst fromgifted gab productions.
In this series, we've identifiedregional partners to share
common challenges and bestpractices intended for
(00:26):
professionals, communities andindividuals involved in tackling
and sustaining change in thehealth voluntary and community
sectors, with a particularemphasis on how physical
activity and movement cancontribute to prevention and
recovery.
(00:46):
With these podcasts, we'reaiming to support you, if you're
dealing with similar challenges,and draw upon the knowledge of
expertise we've got fromstrategic projects right through
to grassroots projects allacross the two counties of
periphonshire andWorcestershire, our podcasts
will cover everything fromcommunity engagement, social
prescribing, positive aging,flood defenses, physical
(01:08):
activity, clinical champions,funding, integrated care systems
and vcse partnership, workingplus girls engagement in sport.
We release a new episode everymonth, so make sure you
subscribe to be notified whenyour new one's out. And if you
could take time to review thepodcast, we'd really appreciate
it. So let's get on with today'sepisode.
(01:32):
In this episode, we're talkingabout empowering communities and
helping them to thrive. Ourguests are Lucy bird and Lucy
chick. Lucy bird is a communitybuilder at Droitwich community
voluntary service or CVS, whereshe finds places and communities
where activities can make adifference, helping them to get
(01:52):
set up and eventually run bythemselves. Lucy chick is a
Senior Public HealthPractitioner at Worcestershire
county council. She's worked inpublic health for over 10 years,
and they're starting to workmore with communities and asset
based development, helping andempowering those communities.
Now, it's worth noting that theguys do talk about funding quite
(02:13):
often, and that can alwayschange depending on where you're
working, so it's worth lookingup more on that for advice and
tips. On our website, the activeHerefordshire and Worcestershire
website, which is activehw.co.uk,
now with two Lucy's chatting tous, it could get a bit confusing
who's who, so I'll trythroughout the chat to make it
clear which Lucy we're chattingwith. So we kicked off the
(02:35):
interview with Lucy bird talkingabout the value of community in
health and wellbeing.
You people need people, that'sthe top and bottom of it. You
can't you can't survive on yourown. Loneliness is so
debilitating that without otherpeople around you, even if it's
(02:59):
one other person that you knowyou can go to if you need help,
support. That's what builds wellbeing increases, you know,
community, supporting oneanother. And you can see it in
everything that any projectsthat I've been involved with,
just knowing that somebody isthere that you can go and talk
(03:20):
to and I think one of theimportant things that comes out
of a lot of what I do is we justwant to laugh together, and
laughter and support. And notbeing on your own is just vital
for well, being
Lucy chick, you see, you seethat role being played out all
the time in community. So, sohow much should it be valued as
(03:40):
a role in people's health.
Oh, community is is one of thecentral pillars of our health
and our everyday we often thinkabout healthcare, and people
think GP surgeries and NHS andpractice, but so much of a
proportion of your health comesfrom your everyday life, where
you live, where you work, howconnected you feel to your
(04:02):
community. Obviously, Lucy spokethere about loneliness, if
you're on your own, if you'reperhaps feeling isolated. So
much of that is what we what weoften term, are wider
determinants of health. So thoseother things that aren't just
healthcare, and that's really acentral part of everything that
we do. And as Lucy was saying,that the benefits that you get
(04:22):
from having a really strong,connected community are
fantastic at helping youreveryday well being and having
somebody to say hello to andspeaking to the postman, or
having a club at the end of yourroad where you can go and
connect with other people andhave a chat and perhaps connect
with people you know, perhapspeople you don't know, maybe
(04:43):
over a common interest. All ofthose things help you feel
better. And when you feelbetter, you can look for those
opportunities to go. And I'mgoing to do this that might
change my life, and I'm going todo this that might help me go
and sort of improve my everyday
and how much of your rolesspecifically is about finding
what those benefits are,learning what they are and
(05:04):
trying to improve or increasethem.
Yeah, it's absolutely embeddedin what I do. So my area of
work, I look after mental healthand well being. So we have a
health wellbeing board for thecounty that looks at the health
and wellbeing of Worcestershireand its residents, and one of
their big projects is a healthand well being strategy, and
(05:25):
that strategy is on mentalhealth and well being. It's the
key priority for Worcestershireover the next 10 years, and
that's the main part of sort ofhow I deliver it. But one of
those three ambitions withinthat is about where we live and
is about what we do, and howcommunity is such a strong part
of what we do and and affectingthat every day, as we've sort of
(05:45):
said, but when you feelconnected, when you feel less
lonely, when you feel lessisolated, really positive things
can can happen. So we've got tohelp communities understand what
their needs are, and perhapswhether, if something isn't
working, how can we make thatbetter? But communities really
are at the heart of doing thosethose village halls are filled
(06:06):
with people from communitiestrying to utilize those assets
and those strengths. So it's allfocusing on what are the
strengths of that place, ratherthan what do they need, what
don't they have? And that iskind of, perhaps the traditional
way that might have been done.So this project really was about
trying to turn that traditionalapproach and think about
(06:27):
actually, what happens when weput the community at the heart
of that we might know thatthere's an issue from data that
tells us something or fromfeedback from somewhere else,
but the resolution comes fromwithin the community.
And how much better Lucy birddoes it make that when it's
coming from within thecommunity, rather than, say,
prescribed from on high?
(06:48):
Well, that's everything aboutthe asset based approach.
Really, it's thatsustainability, that long term,
you know, that projects orgroups or anything that's set up
in a community, just keep going,because they've they're invested
in it, I suppose. I mean, I wasa social prescriber before I had
this role, and one of the, thereason I came back out of it, to
(07:12):
get on, you know, get my shoeson, get back out onto the
streets and support, was becausepeople don't know what's in
their own community. That was amassive red flag for me. It was
there was already loads goingon, like you say, assets, things
that people are doing, strengthsthat people weren't able to
access because they didn't knowit was there. So that's a big
part of my role as well, is tomake sure people know that these
(07:35):
things exist. But then by mebeing embedded within that
community. I can get out, I canspeak to people, listen to
people, and I would say that,you know, an example is when I
went out and I just keptspeaking to people that were
bereaved. Was a massive justloads and loads of people just
(07:59):
kept saying to me, Oh, well, Ilost my husband, I lost my mom,
I lost and again, through socialprescribing, I was picking that
up, and I couldn't say to thecommunity, this is what you
need. But then somebody from thecommunity had seen it as well,
and she said, let's get thisgoing. And so by being in my
role, I could help them get thatgoing and get some bereavement
(08:20):
support set up in Droitwich. Andit's just that listening to
people seeing where the gapsare, that they can come up with
that they've seen that they needand would like to be part of,
and empowering them to get, getup and do it and set it up and
and, yeah, it's it's beenamazing just listening to people
and seeing where their passionsare and where they want to see,
(08:44):
see groups and projects set up.So that's the beauty of my job.
I'm out there doing it.
Lucy bird, could you tell usabout our community can, and how
that started?
I certainly can. Our communitycan is a project run by active
Hereford and Worcestershire, andit's about filling village halls
(09:07):
in rural communities, peoplebeing able to access not just
physical activity, which youwould naturally associate with
active Hereford andWorcestershire, but any activity
that brings people together,really, and connects them. So
the difference between jazz,she's got, who is the one of the
coordinators for our communitycan she's got the whole of
(09:30):
Worcestershire, which is where,you know, you come out, where do
you start? This big place? Sobecause I'm in the heart of the
community, I meet people. I canhave those conversations. People
approach me now because theyknow what my role is and who I
am. So one of the parishcouncilors, for example, in a
(09:51):
small rural community justoutside Droitwich, approached me
and said, you know, we want toget some things going in our
village hall. It's sitting emptymost of the time. There's not a
lot going on for people. How canwe do that? She'd already
actually held an afternoon teaand done a very small
(10:11):
questionnaire, so she'd alreadykind of started some of that
groundwork for us. And one ofthe things that came up was
bingo. They all wanted to dobingo. So So Jas and I sort of
had a conversation about thearea. Let's do a taste today,
which is one of the wonderfulthings about working with our
community can project. They havethe money and to get those days
(10:36):
going so that we can actuallyask the community, what is it
you want? What would you like tosee in your community, and how
can you be involved? So that'swhere our rules roles complement
each other really nicely. And sowe did a questionnaire out into
the village asking people whatthey wanted on that taste today
there was a mixture of yoga,bingo, obviously, pilates,
(10:59):
seated exercise, crochet, a realmix of things. So between
Jasmine and I, we coordinatedwith different instructors to
bring them along to for peopleto try those activities out. But
we also said we'll do bingo, andthen start having a
conversations with the communitywhen we're in the room with
(11:19):
them. Is, yes, we can do bingo,but we don't want to do this for
you. What would what can you doabout that? How can you be
involved in doing bingo? Ifthat's what you'd like to see in
this hall? So we had just such awonderful day. It was really
good fun. And the community wasso up for it. Loads of them came
in, considering it's such asmall community, and we did a
(11:42):
follow up day around Christmastime, but they did crochet. They
did another game of bingo, butthis time they led the bingo,
just starting those small stepsto put in their minds that we're
not there to run things forthem. We're there to help them
get this set up, and off you go.And the same with local
instructors. You know, that'sthat's the advantage of working
(12:02):
with Jess. She knows she's got areally good network of local
instructors to lead sessions.
So following on from that, wegot a local instructor in seated
exercise came out tops of one ofthe physical activities they'd
like to do. And so we've set upseated exercise classes, classes
which were subsidized for thefirst 12 weeks. It was all over
(12:24):
the we helped with thepublicity. Helped the instructor
to get that set up, and she'snow, I think, 16 weeks in, and
the first 12 subsidized weeksare over. The class now belongs
to her. She books the hall.She's got 60, between 13 and 16
regular attendees, which, in asuch a small community, is
(12:45):
fantastic. All doing seatedexercise and playing, is it
Boccia? Trying to think, I thinkit's
Boccia. And so, yeah, they'reloving it, really loving it. But
on top of that, we sort ofthought, well, what can be
community led, what can be runby them for themselves? So I
went, had a lovely cup of teawith one of the group of the
(13:08):
ladies, and their main prioritywas, I think I mentioned it
earlier, laughter. They justwanted to, that was the word
they kept saying, laughter. Wejust want to fill that hall
with, you know, fun. What can wedo? And we talked about bingo,
because that was the thing thatkept coming up again and again.
But they actually sort ofthought, Well, that might only
(13:29):
appeal to a certain sort ofgroup in the village. Let's
broaden it. And so they came upwith the name game for a laugh.
And it was just brilliant. Theycame up with that themselves.
They do refreshments they, youknow, want to put so they've got
tabletop games that we've helpedthem get. So I got a small pot
of funding through the countycouncil just to get these things
(13:50):
going. So they've bought somegames, tabletop games, and
they're going to be holding thismonthly we help them with a bit
of publicity. And I said tothem, do you all want specific
roles? No, we're a team. We'lllook in, and it's just joyous.
So, yeah, that's just startingin the community, and that's the
joy of working with Jasmine. Isa bit of community action, bit
(14:12):
of support, and get people setup.
But that ability to facilitatewhatever you find out is
possible, yeah, and giving itthe chance to have those early
steps, those early those earlytaster sessions, which then you
either see grow or not, but youcan work around it either way.
Often just takes you to say youcan do this. I mean, another
rural community, a lady I metwith her cutna, just really
(14:36):
small village again, justoutside Droitwich, and I went to
meet her, because I'd been told,if you're going to meet anyone
in cutna Green, meet Donna. So Imet Donna, and I sort of
thought, well, we'll perhaps dosome kind of open day. We'll ask
some questions. But no, that wasnot Donna's plan. She knew what
she wanted to do. She lovedwriting letters. She wanted to
(14:59):
start something which got peopleout of the house. So she started
a letter writing group and and Ihad to do very little to help
her set that up. We set it up ina local cafe, so there was no
outgoings in terms of villagehall hire. And, you know, the we
talked to the cafe owner, hesaid, Well, I'll just, you know,
we'll do three pounds, andthey've got bottomless coffee
(15:21):
biscuits, and it's now just,it's been going over a year now,
and it's just rolling alongnicely. And it's really simple,
just a small group of peoplegetting together, writing
letters for people in care homesand writing letters. We even
wrote some to some young kids inmental health facilities that
she's found links with overTwitter, and it's just been
(15:43):
really wonderful. And all ittook was me to say, Donna, you
can do this, and she's done it.Just brilliant.
How often is the size of acommunity a challenge?
I'd I'd say probably quite alot. I think Lucy, you'll have
way more experience of this thanthan I would. But I think within
within the sort of theory behindthe program, your community
(16:06):
needs to be quite small, needsto be quite defined, because
that's the way you're going toget the most out of it. If you
spread yourself too thin, you'renot going to necessarily see
that output. You're not going tobe able to reach into those
individuals like Donna's andlike the other people of the
world that go, I want to dothis. If you do an event and 500
people come, that's there stillbe people in there that have had
(16:29):
no effect, that they haven'treally engaged, or they haven't
they really know what it is,don't really fully understand
it. Don't want to put the handup in front of lots of people.
Don't sort of necessarily wantto engage. But if you do those
small things like Lucy's talkingabout, and have a small have a
chat, have a cup of tea with afew people. You can spark so
much off. So it does become achallenge in doing sort of
(16:49):
strength based approaches, isthat you do need to start quite
small. You need to have noagenda. You just it's it's not I
want to go in and do this. Howdo I do it? Because that's what
all those examples you've justspoken about. Lucy, yes, we
didn't go in with this is whatwe want to do. We went in with
what do you want to do? And wemight be able to find a way that
(17:09):
we can worry about later thatfix that ties things together
and make sure it kind of loopsup. But really it's got to be
people saying, well, this is howit would resolve. This is how I
might feel better, or this ishow I can do it, but we still
need those. It will always be achallenge to work with those who
are least likely to comeforward, who are least likely to
(17:30):
engage that are sort of hiddenin a way because they're not
engaging with services. Andpeople
you do know need those drivingpeople as well. So to reach
those very isolated people whodon't necessarily come out. I
mean, I mentioned earlier aboutthe bereavement cafe and the
bereavement journey that we'rerunning in Droitwich now, and
(17:51):
that came from meeting lots ofpeople that were struggling with
it, but it took one determinedperson to just say, We can do
this. And me saying to her,yeah, you can do this. And then
we put the message out, andwe've got a fantastic team of
volunteers who never knew theywanted to do bereavement support
until you offer it. And said, Doyou want to be involved? Is this
(18:14):
something you are passionateabout? And some really
passionate, amazing people havecome forward to volunteer, and
they are now again, becomingthis self sustaining team of
even the lady that kind ofstarted it all off, she's
starting to be able to stepback, because she has many other
hats that she does in thecommunity. As you know, there
(18:35):
are people out there, but evenshe's being able to step back
and leave those volunteers thatcame forward to get on with it.
It's just a joy to watch. Andpeople who said, No, I'll just
wash up in the kitchen startingto come out of their shell and
actually go and chat to a coupleof people that have been
bereaved, and then they go awayfeeling better for it as well.
(18:58):
So not only are you supportingthose people that are bereaved,
or whatever the example isyou're supporting confidence
within those volunteers as well.That's what's amazing about
watching community developmenthappen, is watching the people
that are doing it. It's justbrilliant.
And we have some amazing peopleout like volunteers and people
(19:20):
that give so much of their time.And you see it in sports clubs
up and down the country and butyou also see it in community
halls and village spaces. Andalso we talk about those spaces
that we use those assets. Imean, it can be a bench, it can
be everyone meets around thebench because that's on the
village green, and people sitand have a chat. Or it can be a
hall or it can be a cafe. Imean, we've seen examples of
(19:43):
pubs being used to stay in playgroups, because that's the
facility that's available. It'sfree. So group of mums said, we
just want a space to come andtalk to each other, because
we're struggling a bit, and lifecan be difficult. So it started
in a pub, and that probablywouldn't have happened if you'd
hadn't really kind of gone let'sthink a little bit outside the
(20:04):
box.
How much you having to changethe definition of an asset as it
were, for what you for what youneed?
Yeah, and assets can be so manythings, and it depends on who,
who sees it as that asset. Andwe have some amazing things in
accounting. We've got libraries,we've got museums, we've got
green space. I mean, we've gotample rural county around us,
(20:26):
but not many people actuallyinteract with it, and not many
people necessarily can get outto it. So all the things, like
walking groups that we've got inthe county help people access
those spaces that might not beof what might not feel
accessible to them. It just sortof unlocks it. It unlocks that
thing
(20:46):
Libraries unlocked, actually,because that's been amazing for
certainly, all the stuff I wasdoing with Ukrainians last year,
libraries unlocked has been anamazing facility for us to have,
because it was accessible. It'sin the center of the community.
Everybody knew where it was. Youknow, it's that point of, right?
Let's meet there. I mean, thatwas an amazing thing that
(21:09):
happened with the Ukrainians inDroitwich. It was the host, a
host approached me and said, Oh,don't know what I'm doing. Where
are all the other hosts? Whereare all the other Ukrainians? I
just put a message on Facebookand said, Are there any out
there? And 50 people camethrough the tour at the library,
which was we could use for freeand out of hours as part of the
library's unlocked. So that wasbrilliant. It's about using
(21:34):
those things that are there,using those buildings it's
sitting there. I mean, it'salways going to be a challenge
Village halls, community spaces.They have running costs, and
they need to be used, otherwisethey will fall into disrepair.
They need to be used becausethey, again, are in the heart of
the community, but they are areal barrier because they cost
(21:54):
money. So to set up a communitygroup within one you can't
expect to have it for free. Sothat's always going to be a
challenge. So there's alwaysgoing to have to be some kind of
way of bringing money in,whether it's through funding.
But then funding pots aregetting harder and harder to
access, so you've got to kind ofput a little bit of a charge on
it, a realistic charge, to makeit accessible for everyone. So
(22:19):
it's a real balance, because I'dhate to say, you know, yeah,
let's use this, because thepark's free. Village halls still
need to be used. They're stillamazing facilities, and they
need to be accessible forpeople. So it is that's a
definite challenge of this role.
Is that the biggest challengethat you face? Then I'm just,
I'm just thinking, now thatyou've, we've found this, this
(22:40):
really good approach, whereyou're talking with communities,
you're really getting to theheart of what they can do, and
you're using so many more assetsthan you were before. Is
funding? Is that the keychallenge, or are there others?
Well, it very much depends onwhat the project is. You know,
if you are looking at a smallthat even the letter writing
group needs a small amount offunding because or a small pot
(23:02):
of money in some way, becauseyou need paper, you need, you
know, it's small, but it'sstill, there is still a cost to
everything that you do within acommunity. So it is always going
to be a challenge. And as muchas volunteers are wonderful,
there are certain projects thatneed a little bit more sort of
youth work that's always goingto be a challenge run by
(23:25):
volunteers.So money is always,it's always going to be a factor
in community development, andwe, we try and make everything
as affordable and sustainable aspossible. But again, back to the
bereavement group. I mean, thatwas absolutely part of the deal.
Was that she wanted it to befree for everyone, accessible
for everyone. And we have gotsome amazing funders. We've got
(23:49):
some, you know, small pots fromhere and there. You know,
platform housing and places likethat have been great and putting
money in and the local towncouncil, and because it's very
visible, what's that's doing forpeople, it's very clear that the
outcome is to support those thathave been bereaved. But when
it's a smaller group thatperhaps doesn't have those
(24:12):
obvious outcomes, like game fora laugh, for example, it's and
it's very difficult when youdon't have measurable outcomes.
You know, because we've saidbefore, you can feel very lonely
in a group of 50 people, six ofyou in a room, but then six of
you have got to pay for a hallover your head. Or, you know,
it's really difficult, but it's,it's not impossible, but it,
(24:36):
it's, it's something that alwayshas to be considered as is,
where are we going to fund thisfrom, and how are we going to
make it sustainable?
And is that? Is that going to bethe biggest challenge going
forward? Lucy,
well, you can't kind of get awayfrom it being a challenge,
really, because, as you say,there's always something
somewhere, whether it's payingfor a cup of tea or whether it's
(24:58):
paying for a village hall. And.And that's why, kind of,
alongside the project, we'vebeen trying to release smaller
grants and pots of money. Solike, as Lucy's already said, we
paid for some games to supportsome people to do some tabletop
games and create that sort ofconnectivity and cohesion and
things. And it's more likely tobe more sustainable if the
(25:19):
community had been involved init, and people don't mind
putting a pound towardssomething if it goes towards
that, and if they can see theoutcome of it. And that
inevitably does, but we've gotto be able to have the resource
to help it start in the firstplace, and it will always be a
challenge, but that's how we canthink about how do we use
resources differently? How canwe devolve to the community
(25:41):
where, where it's it's clear andmakes sense to that, that that's
the right kind of the next stepand the next stage. And
certainly, what we've been doingmore is, is, how do we put these
resources and opportunitieswithin those spaces? So our new
healthy Worcestershire programthat sort of fits alongside the
our community can and and someof the other projects that we're
(26:02):
doing is about, how do we takethis to the community and still
understand what their wants ourneeds are? So we have a resource
here, but we want to take it ina strength based way. How do we
say, What have you got? And howdo we make that better? Rather
than going with this is aproblem, we need to fix it,
because ultimately, we don'treally know, unless we speak to
(26:23):
people, unless we ask, unless weunderstand people's stories. And
as we were saying, stories,individual stories, are so
powerful. But actually,sometimes there's a collective
and there's a group of peoplethat have all struggled with
that same experience. So how dowe put them together? So we talk
a bit about this, really ingeography. But doesn't just have
(26:44):
to be geography. It can also behow you connect with somebody
else in a similar situation toyourself. So our communities can
represent whatever we think isbest representative. It's
slightly harder sometimes whenyou've got a cross geography was
just as a big County, veryrural. Obviously, we do have
issues with isolation and peoplebeing able to access things and
(27:04):
what's there. But your communitydoesn't have to be a
geographical space. It can justbe other people, like minded
people, people with similarexperiences, anything like that.
So let's wrap it up, if we can,for people who want to take away
some some tips and thoughtsabout successful community
engagement. Lucy bird go on.
(27:26):
For anyone taking on roles likemine, it's listen. Just listen
to people. Listen to what theyare, what their passions are,
what they're enthusiastic about,what they are struggling with.
It can be positives andnegatives. Listen to what they
you know they want to takeforward and how they can be
involved in that, how they ownit. I suppose it's listen it's
(27:49):
listen to them and then enablethem to own it. It's theirs.
It's not you saying. Do you knowwhat you need? Do you know what
you should do? Do you know whatyou should this is how you
should do it. It's adaptinglistening and helping them to
take it forward themselves.
Lucy chick, what's your what'syour big takeaway?
(28:10):
I think Lucy just said it sobrilliantly then, but it is.
It's doing true, respectful andaccessible, proper engagement
with people to really hear whatthey're saying, but it's also,
how do we how do I marry whatI'm trying to do with what you
need? And sometimes I know thatthere's might be an issue, but
how do I flip the conversationand think about it in a slightly
(28:32):
different way, thinking a littlebit outside the box, or taking a
slightly different perspectiveon it, and how do I step out of
that and perhaps sometimesrelease a little bit of resource
to the community, or releasesome, release that and trust
that that's the right thing forthose and sometimes it it won't
work. I think we've had thingsas well that hasn't been
(28:55):
amazingly successful. Haven'talways worked, but it's trial.
It's, give it a go. It's, it's,it's, put something there,
reflect on it. Is it whatcommunity wanted? Does it work?
Has it worked out the way thatwe thought? And if it's not,
then we chop it up and we learnfrom it, and we move on. And we
think about the next think abouthow to bring the next idea in,
(29:17):
or the next sort of solution in.But it is doing that, that
listening. And how do I takethat listening and put that into
something? Because we can listena lot, and communities tell us a
lot and and sometimes we can'talways make that into something.
And this is one of those, thoseprojects that really forces us
to think differently. It's notalways easy. And some areas, you
(29:40):
know, we've we use the term sortof go where the energy is, which
is bit cheesy, but it's true.You know, quite unusual in this
role. A lot of communitybuilders have a very focused
community, whereas I had droitwitch, and I think there's about
15 villages surrounding it thatwe work in. And, you know, I
approached all of them, when Ifirst got there, just sent a
(30:02):
message out to the parishcouncils and trying to find that
sort of go to person to startwith. And the ones that reach
back, that's where I went. Soit's just going where there's
they can see something thatcould happen, and helping them
to make it happen.
And you can't underestimate thetime and energy it takes to do
those things. Because, as yousay, sometimes you try
(30:24):
something, it doesn't reallyquite work. That's still taken
time and capacity and sortofresource to kind of make that
happen. But you've got to thinklong term on this, this, this,
this does bring about the changesustainably, if you can do it
right? Or, I say right, there'sno right way of doing it, but if
you can get people engaged andget people connected, then
(30:45):
you're going to get the longerterm health and well being
benefits of it, because that'sreally why we got involved, is
because, actually this improvespeople's health and well being,
this improves people's mentalhealth and how they feel, and
ultimately, hopefully it willalso aim to tackle inequalities
as well that people are livingwith. But it does take, it does
(31:06):
take that time, and you can't gowith too much of a preset. And I
think we've spoken a bit abouthow difficult it is to say,
well, that worked. Well, how doyou know it's worked? Well,
because I've said it worked.
We've got the stories, you know,we've talked about, it's that
what it does to change oneperson's Well, being their life,
just in it. We're not talkingabout rocket science. We're just
(31:29):
talking about small changes forone person. That's what. That's
what. Why I do this job is justseeingone person say to me, I
feel better. And you know, whatmore can you ask for than that?
It's, that's, that's why I dowhat I do, and it's just about
those small steps. And oneperson turns to two people. They
have a conversation. It turns tothree people. It's not, you
(31:51):
know, we're talking about longterm support here. We're not
talking about something that'shere for six months and it's
gone. The aim of my role is toset something up that's going to
be here for the long call. Andwe've been trying to marry that
with, okay, what techniques andtools can we use to evidence it?
Because we ultimately, that'swhat we need. And we also want
(32:12):
to show other areas how they cando it. We've learned from other
areas. So we want to tell otherspaces, this is what we did,
this is how we did it. But youmight be able to think of a
different way, and it might workbetter, or perhaps we can try
that. So we learn a lot fromother counties, other districts,
other communities that sort ofdo this, but we've tried to use
(32:34):
some of the tools that are beingdeveloped. One of those is a
thing called ripple effectmapping, which is essentially
what Lucy was just talkingabout. That one conversation
that leads to another one, thatleads to another one, that leads
to another one. A smallconversation about, I want to be
more active, leads to a regularsort of physical activity
(32:54):
session. Innovative Hall, fromthat one space and so many
amazing things can come out asas a result of doing it. So
we've got to try and do a littlebit of, how do we know that?
Well, we can show you, and we'vegot the stories, and we've,
we've, we've got some videos ofsome amazing stories from that's
come out from the communities.But we've also got the the side
(33:16):
of, well, how many people arenow involved in that? How many
people are now more active as aresult of doing those things? We
can derive that we can get thatif that's what we need to be
able to get more resource in andget more more support for the project
It's obviously, it's obviousthese new ways of working are
working so well, just from thestories you've told us today. So
(33:38):
thank you for bringing those tous, and long May the good work
continue. Because you know thatit's obviously we're seeing the
power of successful communityengagement. You know, tangibly,
yeah, definitely, definitely,yeah, Lucy and Lucy, Bird and
Chick, thank you
Thank you
(33:59):
so huge. Thanks to the two Lucysfor their time. We hope you
enjoyed the chat. Found theexamples useful, and can benefit
from some of the takeaways. Tofind out more about what active
Herefordshire and Worcestershiredo. Get to their website, active
hw.co.uk,
there's a new episode of thispodcast out every month, so make
sure you subscribe and keep aneye on active Herefordshire and
(34:21):
Worcestershire's social channelsfor details, thanks again for
listening, and we look forwardto welcoming you back into the
active best practice networkagain very soon.
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