NETWORK PROJECTS

Connecting Community in the Upper Hume Pilot (CCUHP) Social Prescribing Project was funded by the Department of Health through the Bushfire Response Package, and ran from October 2022-June 2023. The project applies the Living Our Best Life model developed by the CHAOS (Community Houses Association of the Outer-eastern Suburbs) Neighbourhood House Network.

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There were five participating neighbourhood Houses: Open Door Neighbourhood House (Wangaratta), Chiltern Neighbourhood House, Yarrawonga Mulwala Community & Learning Centre, Mt Beauty Neighbourhood Centre and Corryong Neighbourhood Centre.

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The CCUHP project aimed to achieve the following outcomes:

• Reducing social isolation and loneliness amongst members of Upper Hume communities, especially for those who are currently not connected or engaged with other people

• Activating and linking social and community activity that is already happening in local communities

• Establishing and strengthening relationships between Upper Murray neighbourhood houses and the health sector, and positioning our houses as a vital part of the social prescribing and social inclusion environments

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The Living our Best Life Model has three key components

• Community Connecting (which includes social prescribing)

• Talking Café, and 

• Signposting

 

Talking Cafes – these were sessions that take place in a café in the general community at regular times (usually weekly) and hosted by a volunteer. The host is guaranteed to be at the cafe each week at the same time to welcome newcomers, help facilitate conversation and provide information. Others in the community (signposters) can confidently recommend to people that if they drop by on that regular day and time they will be able to connect with the project.

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Signposting – this is providing information (and potentially some training) about the project to people who are in touch with members of the community who may be quite disconnected or isolated, for example library staff, hairdressers, and people providing home care services.

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Community connecting – this includes social prescribing, other sources of engagement and the process of community connecting.

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Because of the very tight timelines, most of our project concentrated on recruiting volunteers and setting up the Talking Cafes. Cafes across the 5 houses differed. Some changed their name (for example Chin Wag Café in Chiltern), Two were in a Bakery, others in a local café.

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Over the eight months of the cafes being set up, 89 people attended, 44 of whom were completely new to the neighbourhood houses, and several of whom had not been participating in anything at all and had become isolated.

 

Comments from participants about their experience with the Talking Cafe include:

• "It is a reason to get out of bed.”

• “I can find out about things happening around town.

• "It saved my life"

• “It gave me a feeling of belonging"  

• “We have fun!”

• “I was welcomed at the café on arrival as they knew I was coming. I felt connected before I got there”

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Comments from participating neighbourhood house managers:

• “The Café has enabled us to reach the community in a different way”

• “People have taken ownership of the café. They’ve swapped phone numbers, made times to meet up outside the cafe with a shared interest and even organised to phone some of our more forgetful members to remind them or assist them in getting to the Café”

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There were many learnings from this project, including:

• Relationships were made with a range of health services – this was most successful when the NH staff who met with the services had a high level of understanding and confidence in the LOBL model, and could show the potential benefits for the health services to their clients.

 

• Connecting was done in a range of ways

  • Self referral - for example the person saw a poster or heard about it on the radio

  • Signposting – for example someone told them about the café or an existing participant encouraged them to come along

  • Referral – verbal as well as formal – from health professionals

 

Participants then connected into other activities – for example joining café as volunteers, attending activities or groups in the community for example, joining a Carer Support Group. Most managers noted people coming in who were not only new to the neighbourhood house but often not connected with local services, and all reported that they already assist members of the community to connect but that the project enabled them to put sustainable processes in place.

 

• Creating a welcoming and friendly environment was vital to ensuring people felt ‘at home’ and not pressured to converse or participate. Having the ‘Talking Café’ set up in commercial space was beneficial, often with easier access, opportunities for participants to build social skills and confidence and increase public visibility for the neighbourhood house.

 

• A lot was achieved in a very short timeframe, but highlighted that a long term approach is required to build relationships – especially with GPs and health services - make connections and promote the benefits of connecting to the broader community. eedback from the houses about this included:

  • Mt Beauty Neighbourhood Centre – “The hardest thing about getting the project up and running was being able to grasp the idea and then explaining the project and its purpose both to partners and community. The community are only just starting to comprehend what the project is all about and now supporting the ideas.”

  • Open Door Neighbourhood House – “The amount of preparation needed to develop relationships that impact all areas of the project – having existing relationships is vital with such a short timeline”

 

• Although no specific age group was targeted by any of the participating neighbourhood houses, the majority of participants were older. We need to do further analysis to understand this better

 

• We learnt that it was important to ensure all staff and volunteers working at the neighbourhood house are aware of the project, and that they looked for opportunities for intentional connecting. Staff and volunteers at the neighbourhood houses became important signposters, especially into the cafes 

 

• We certainly understand the importance of data collection and we collected some great anecdotal data. However, with the sort time frame, being able to see the true impact through data collection such as the UCLA Questionnaire, was not able to be achieved

 

• The developing of a Project Reference Group and the CHAOS Community of Practice provided valuable opportunities to share information.  Learning from each other had massive benefits, as well as sharing successes and challenges. Engaging Leanne Fitzgerald as our project consultant was also a great way for us to learn more about social prescribing and how to implement the model in different environments

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