Upper Murray Regional
Neighbourhood
House Network
8 Aug 2024
New Social Prescribing project emphasises the importance of community connecting.
The Network was one of three organisations successful with their application to the Ovens Murray Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Alliance (OMMHADA) Community Wellbeing and Resilience Grants.
“We’re very grateful for the opportunity to build on the great work started through the Connecting Community in Upper Hume Pilot - Social Prescribing Project,” said Network Coordinator Trish Curtis.
Connecting Community in Upper Hume Phase 2 Social Prescribing Project (CCUHP2) utilises the Living Our Best Life model (LOBL) developed by the CHAOS (Community Houses Association of the Outer-eastern Suburbs) Neighbourhood House Network. The project aims to achieve the following outcomes:
• Reduce social isolation and loneliness in participating communities, focusing particularly on those who are currently not connected or engaged
• Activate and link social and community activity that is already happening in local communities
• Establish and strengthen relationships between Upper Murray neighbourhood houses and the health sector, and position our NHs as a vital part of the social prescribing and community resilience environments
“We put out an Expression of Interest to our Network members to participate in a new social prescribing project and had a positive response from neighbourhood houses in four new communities, as well as the five that participated in the Pilot,” said Trish. “We’ll have over half our Network as social prescribing experts as a result of this project.”
“We’re fortunate to be working again with Leanne Fitzgerald as our project expert. Leanne has been a leader in the social prescribing/community connecting space for several years and was instrumental in developing the LOBL model.
“We’ve delivered several Network-wide projects now and found that engaging a ‘project expert’ work with the participating neighbourhood houses has been key to building their knowledge, understanding and capacity in areas such as emergency response and recovery, and social prescribing.
The Pilot project had some key successes, including:
• Setting up Talking Cafes
• Recruiting and training volunteer Community Connectors
• Connecting with health services and GPs
Most importantly, it’s highlighted that neighbourhood houses have an important role in social prescribing and health prevention work, and are central to community connecting.