Local Area Coordination in England and Wales

June 2019

Updates on Local Area Coordination, the work of the Network and the areas implementing Local Area Coordination.
In this month's edition we'll be covering:

Anne's story
Update on visit from Singapore colleagues
Connections in Swansea
Community Catalysts job vacancy
and more...

Resources on Local Area Coordination and/or Asset Based work

Public Value: How can it be measured, managed and grown?
This paper brings together views from Nesta on better ways of mapping and measuring public value. It builds on work that Nesta has done in many fields - from health and culture to public services. The paper seeks to find more rounded and realistic ways of capturing the many dimensions of value created by public action including value through asset-based approaches. Read the paper

A brighter future with Local Area Coordination

Anne shares her powerful story in this video from the Swansea team which shows the impact of Local Area Coordination.

Life "wasn't very nice" for Anne, she didn't get out much and was very poorly but her life changed for the better when she met her Local Area Coordinator....

Anne says her "future looks a lot brighter than it did" and adds that she is "a lot stronger" than she was.

“If I hadn't have met [the Local Area Coordinator] when I did I don't think I'd be here now" - Anne

International visitors

In March, Ralph Broad of Inclusive Neighbourhoods welcomed a group of leaders from Singapore to visit some Local Area Coordination teams in Wales and England. The visit was all about sharing the learning, outcomes and contribution to reform of Local Area Coordination, as well as hearing about the innovative work underway around the transformation of community based healthcare in Singapore.

Together with colleagues from some of the Local Area Coordination programmes involved, Ralph has put together a great blog about the visit and the connections made. Read the full blog

“A good healthcare system is one that helps people to not need the healthcare system" - Colleagues from Singapore

Community connections in Swansea

In one of the communities that Pete Russell, Swansea Local Area Coordinator, works in there is community drop in centre which has been going for a number of years. The drop in centre is self-funding, provides food share to the community and runs a charity shop, selling clothes and toys locally.

At the back of the centre was a large overgrown garden area that hadn’t been used for a number of years. The volunteers at the centre wanted to clear it and start again, growing their own produce to give away to the community. They had the ideas but not the resources to accomplish what they wanted to do.

Through Pete’s involvement and coordination, the centre agreed to host a new men’s group (under the banner of Men’s Sheds Cymru). Pete asked a few of the people he had been introduced to whether they would like to get involved. In a short space of time the group was formed and quickly decided between them that they would take on the back garden as their first project.

The other volunteers at the centre had links with local Marks and Spencer stores and their volunteer team who carry out work in the area. The M&S team loved the idea of getting involved with the Men’s Group and agreed to provide a team of volunteers and some funding for materials. Pete was also able to liaise with the council’s ‘Neat’ team who work with adults who have a learning disability to help clear gardens and public areas across Swansea. They agreed to send over a team to remove the garden rubble and brambles etc.

On the day, around 20 people, professionals and community members got to work clearing and restoring the garden area.

For one person in particular this had a significant impact on his life, as only 4 weeks earlier he had been contemplating suicide as he didn’t feel he had anything to live for. However, he was introduced to Pete and through conversation they were able to identify his skills and experience and how much being involved in the men’s group and the drop in centre would benefit not only him but also the community. Since his involvement he spends most days at the centre, putting his skills and experience to good use. He has made good friends with another person in the group that has also experienced trauma recently and together they have bonded and are supporting each another emotionally as well as enjoying daily banter. The team at the drop in centre have been blown away by the amount of work the group is doing for them and just how much they’ve grown in confidence since the first time they met them. The Men’s group continues to grow agreeing among themselves what it will look like and what their next community project will be.

Community Catalysts job vacancy

Community Enterprise Catalyst (North Yorkshire)

£32,000 (37.5 hours pw)
2 year fixed term contract
The Catalyst will lead the new North Yorkshire Community Enterprise Project which will support local entrepreneurial people and community organisations to offer new and creative care and support options for people who need help at home. Read more and apply
Closing date 10th July 2019 at 12pm

Citizen Network webinars

The Citizen Network have nearly completed their webinar series on the 'Keys to Citizenship'. Watch the webinars here.

Individual webinar themes covered so far include:

Part 1 - An overview
Part 2 - Meaning
Part 3 - Freedom
Part 4 - Money
Part 5 - Help
Part 6 - Home
Part 7: Life

There's just one more webinar left to air which we'll share in July.

New training provider

Innovative support provider Space Inclusive are launching a new training service. They intend to offer both mandatory and non-mandatory training to cover all aspects of care and support including specific training around:

Behaviour related support
Autism
Learning difficulties

Courses will be available from September 2019, for further details including courses, availability and cost contact jen@spaceinclusive.co.uk.

Useful blogs including Network members or allies

How do we take proven person-centred models of care and support and bring them to more people? by Ewan King
https://richmondgroupofcharities.org.uk/news/how-do-we-take-proven-person-centred-models-care-and-support-and-bring-them-more-people

There may be a 'crisis in care' but communities are showing how to tackle it by Rhys Davies
https://socialcarefuture.blog/2019/05/31/there-may-be-a-crisis-in-care-but-communities-are-showing-how-to-tackle-it/

Joining the dots: we can do this, we're doing it now by David Robinson
https://shiftdesign.org/joining-dots-can-now/

The prevention Green Paper: The right time to put it in its place by David Buck
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2019/05/prevention-green-paper

Panorama was supposed to be about money but really it was about relationships by Prof Catherine Needham
http://circle.group.shef.ac.uk/2019/06/07/panorama-was-supposed-to-be-about-money-but-really-it-was-about-relationships/

How to get in touch

Email or phone Cat for general enquiries or to supply content for future editions of the Update:
cat@lacnetwork.org
07535381638

Email or phone Nick about work with members and about new work to embed Local Area Coordination in your area:
nick@lacnetwork.org
07407789130

Website: http://lacnetwork.org/
Facebook: @LACNetwork
Twitter: @LACNetworkUK

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The Local Area Coordination Network is hosted by Community Catalysts CIC who make sure that people, wherever they live, have real choice of great local social care, health services and other community resources.