Better Together
Join us for two social group events in Swansea.
Our new groups in Swansea will focus on bringing people together to socialise and form new friendships over coffee, cake and conversation.
Activities will be based around the likes and interests of group members. We find out what people want from their local community and do our best to make it happen.
Sessions take place:
TUESDAYS 2.00pm – 4.00pm
Side Room, Upper Killay Recreational Hall, Gower Rd, Upper Killay, Swansea SA2 7HQ
THURSDAYS 10.30am – 12.30pm
Activities Room, West Cross Community Centre, Linden Ave, West Cross, Swansea SA3 5LE
Engaging with the Local Community
Engaging with the community is one of the key ways to solve local problems. Action For Elders new project takes a fresh new approach to social welfare and health issues.
The strongest indicators of good health are people’s living conditions – such as their housing, friendships and access to green spaces. However, action to improve public health often doesn’t consider or seek to address these issues. This is a particular concern as health inequalities in the UK are widening and the rise in life expectancy is stagnating after decades of improvement.
Better Together is an innovative new project that sets out to build a clearer picture of the conditions which influence health, as part of a programme of work commissioned by the Health Foundation. It aims to understand how to improve the health of older people by tackling one of the key social determinants of poor health: social connections within communities.
The strength of the Better Together project lies in its ability to put larger public bodies such as Public Health Wales together with locally based organisations such as the Action For Elders charity, who have a proven track record of helping older people and an in-depth knowledge of the needs of local communities. Better Together also brings in the expertise of GP surgeries of the Bay Health Cluster Group and SCVS (Swansea Council For Voluntary Service).
Engaging with the Local Community
Engaging with the community is one of the key ways to solve local problems. Action For Elders new project takes a fresh new approach to social welfare and health issues.
The strongest indicators of good health are people’s living conditions – such as their housing, friendships and access to green spaces. However, action to improve public health often doesn’t consider or seek to address these issues. This is a particular concern as health inequalities in the UK are widening and the rise in life expectancy is stagnating after decades of improvement.
Better Together is an innovative new project that sets out to build a clearer picture of the conditions which influence health, as part of a programme of work commissioned by the Health Foundation. It aims to understand how to improve the health of older people by tackling one of the key social determinants of poor health: social connections within communities.
The strength of the Better Together project lies in its ability to put larger public bodies such as Public Health Wales together with locally-based organisations such as the Action For Elders charity, who have a proven track record of helping older people and an in-depth knowledge of the needs of local communities. Better Together also brings in the expertise of GP surgeries of the Bay Health Cluster Group and SCVS (Swansea Council for Voluntary Service).
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How it works
Action For Elders will work with older people within two communities served by Bay Health Cluster Network.
Co-ordinated by a Community Ambassador, Action for Elders will also recruit a Social Host to facilitate two weekly groups focused on building friendship, tackling isolation and loneliness.
Better Together
Better Together: The five key phases:
- DISCOVERY: At the beginning, we will hold co-design workshops with lonely, isolated older people living within communities to understand their specific needs and interests. This will enable us to design an approach which meets these needs.
- ENGAGE: We will brief GPs and other primary health practitioners about the project and through the Community Ambassador we will introduce a referral system to identify older people most in need of our support. The Community Ambassador will also raise awareness of the project with other local networks and encourage self-referral among older people. Better Together volunteer Champions – again recruited from local communities – will be critical in engaging older people and encouraging them to join the programme.
- SUPPORT: We will run weekly Better Together groups in two locations, each facilitated by a Social Host – and supported by our Better Together Champions – who will deliver activities based on older people’s needs identified during the co-design. Based on experience, we expect these activities to include group discussions, social eating, group activities such as music and crafts, health information and health literacy, or digital inclusion for health (e.g. using health websites).
- EVALUATE: We will design and deliver a mixed-method evaluation; to assess the impact on individual health and importantly, community wellbeing, which we feel will be integral to the success of the project for older people.
- SHARE: We will build on our existing networks – particularly the reach and scale of Public Health Wales – and work in close collaboration with the Health Foundation to share our findings widely. We will also encourage older people involved in the project to share their journeys of change through case studies and digital storytelling.
To find out more, please get in touch.
If you’re an older person in Swansea who would like to participate in the new groups, or you know someone who could benefit from support, we’d love to hear from you. We’re also seeking volunteers to help in a range of ways.
You can call us on 030 330 30132 or email: info@actionforelders.org.uk
Action For Elders is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales under number 7698491 and registered as a Charity number 1145996
Action For Elders CIC Company No. 7604286 ©Copyright 2019 Action for Elders
Registered office: Elfed House, Oak Tree Court, Mulberry Drive, Cardiff Gate, Cardiff CF23 8RS
