To address health inequalities and deliver services more effectively, health and social work services in many countries are being configured around natural communities and geographic localities. This commonly involves bringing professionals and practitioners from different disciplines into teams with common access points and shared processes for better care co-ordination. Such teams hope to facilitate greater collaboration with voluntary and community sector partners to build on local assets and informal networks. Engagement with people with lived experience and communities support co-design of services appropriate to the local context. Such approaches build on theories and fields of practice including salutogenesis, strengths-based social work and asset-based community development. Whilst there is support for the principles behind such community-based working, adapting existing professional practice and embedding this way of working within established systems can be challenging. There is also the potential for health and care services to develop their approaches in isolation leading to fragmented offers which duplicate rather than complement local assets. This virtual event is a collaboration between two U21 Communities of Practices – Health Research Exchange (HREx) and Social Work (SW CoP). Its purpose is to explore community and neighbourhood models of health and social care to share learning between different countries, disciplines and professions and facilitate networks around research, practice and change.
The event will be held across Wednesday 15th October 2025 and Wednesday 22nd October 2025. It will include three webinars which will focus on the themes below through a series of 15 minutes presentations and interactive discussions.
To attend, please register on the webinar (s) which are of interest to you – these will be recorded and made accessible following the sessions.
Session 1: Inclusive Communities & Development
Date & Time: 8am- 9.30 am UK; 3am- 4:30am EST on Wednesday 15th October 2025
Transforming the Towards Inclusion Framework: From Concept to Practice in Building Inclusive Communities Lead Speaker: Lyndal Hickey, University of Melbourne.
Empowering Communities for Health: An International Health Partnership in Community Development Lead Speaker: Debbie Lynch, University of Queensland.
Community-driven change of health inequalities: Embedding mutual learning and change in social prescribing Lead Speaker: Koen Bartels, University of Birmingham.
To register for this webinar, please follow this link.
Session 2: Organising Health & Care around Communities
Date & Time: 4pm-5:30 UK; 11am-12:30pm EST on Wednesday 15th October
Restructuring the City of Hamilton’s Board of Health Lead Speaker: Kojo Damptey, McMaster University.
Community hubs: integrating health and social care in the community Lead Speakers: Caroline Jackson & Chloe Waterman, University of Birmingham / Kings College London.
Developing Community Assets through the Daily Life Support System Development Project for Older People in Japan: Life-Support Coordinator Models Lead Speaker: Yumika Shirase, Hitotsubashi University
To register for this webinar, please follow this link.
Session 3: Community Based Interventions
Date & Time: 8am- 9:30am UK; 3am- 4:30am EST on Wednesday 22nd October
Social and therapeutic horticulture for mental health Lead Speaker: Autumn Roesch-Marsh, University of Edinburgh.
A Healthy and Safe Start: interprofessional collaboration for health equity Lead Speaker: Karen Healy, University of Queensland.
Assessment of the “Ke Moja” Prevention Programme as an Intervention Strategy against Drug Misuse Amongst the Youth of Gauteng Province. Lead Speaker: Dr Christabella Nthabiseng Latakgomo, University of Johannesburg.
To register for this webinar, please follow this link.
For more information on the event, please contact Professor Robin Miller. University of Birmingham; r.s.miller@bham.ac.uk and Dr. Negin Fouladi. University of Maryland; fouladi@umd.edu