Abstract
Purpose: Create a community development model of care that builds connection within the community to support the social and emotional wellbeing of consumers in the Brighton / Redcliffe area.
Background: In 2019, the Brighton Wellness Hub was established in response to a stakeholder forum that was held in Brighton Qld, in 2018. Local community members and organisations identified the need for a “one stop shop for healthy aging” in the Brighton 4017 catchment. One of the key aims of this initiative was to connect community and reduce social isolation, whilst providing opportunities for the community to learn, experience and access resources to age in health.
The Brighton Wellness Hub (“Hub”) was created in a Queensland Health facility as part of Community and Oral Health Services (MNHHS), and is based on the Compassionate Communities UK, Mendip model. It utilises a range of strategies to bring the community together and to link community to resources and supports that breakdown loneliness and social isolation. In turn this leads to connected and compassionate communities, where improvements in health outcomes are improved through social and emotional wellbeing.
The model comprises:
•Links with GP’s and primary health providers for social prescribing in a “medical” environment
•Links with local services and organisations for social prescribing in a “social” environment
•Activities for consumers to engage in, for connection, physical activity, health literacy and wellbeing
•Community connectors (individuals, services, organisations) who “signpost” the community to these, and a broader network, of activities and services
•Community LINK workers, who provide one to one support for people with complex needs
•Navigation for health support from trained community navigators based at the Brighton Wellness Hub.
The Brighton Wellness Hub is working to establish this model, with volunteers, community organisations and universities.
Unlike many other social prescribing /navigation services in Qld, the “Hub” model aims to be a Preventative Health Model, working in a community development framework to build the program, in a traditional acute health care setting.