CO-PRODUCTION


as cdhN had the relevant expertise and knowledge through their work in communities over the past twenty years.


the council, through a steering group with Public health agency, health trust and health Board, decided to pilot a new approach to working to improve health and well being.


the first step was to roll out cdhN’s community health champion training programme to 25 local people, most of whom had little or no previous involvement in community work. this training looked at health in a holistic sense and challenged perspectives that group’s members may have had around health.


through this, the group began to establish itself and become confident in its ability to make a difference in the local community. the training also helped to move the group from passive service users to active participants, who understood that their knowledge/skills and lived experiences were important, and that these should be considered by professionals who were designing or running services that would be provided for them.


'a number of council staff and a local pharmacist undertook this training with the members of the local community,' said alison Briggs, antrim and Newtownabbey Borough council’s health and wellbeing Officer.


'this has been a fundamental strength of the project as it created a shared knowledge and understanding of people and issues that traditional ways of working often disregard. the importance of the building and maintaining of relationships cannot be underestimated in this process.


'through the expert facilitation provided by cdhN, the community health champions established themselves as the ‘duneane collective’. the formation of a collective rather than a committee was an important step as it is important to the process that there is no hierarchy – that everyone involved is of equal value.'


the pharmacist, who took part in the training, was terrie duffin from toome Pharmacy.


'Our pharmacy owner, anita gribbin, has been heavily involved in cdhN initiatives over the years,' says terrie.


'I had just started out on my pharmacy career when this co- production training first started and anita thought it was a great opportunity for me to become involved in a community initiative in which pharmacy could play a key role.


‘also, I'm from the local area and so I could immediately see at the training sessions how beneficial this type of collaborative work could be for the community - not only in terms of


services already available in the area. the collective also identified the health and wellbeing issues that mattered to them and decided to concentrate on mental health as an issue that they felt needed to be addressed in the local area.


the approach for the group now is that they are engaging with local service providers to establish what is available in the area, what the uptake in the area for these services is, and how they can improve services or uptake to services.


Using their local knowledge and linking with statutory, community and


‘cO-PROdUctION takES a hOlIStIc VIEw Of hEalth,


whIch IS VERy RElEVaNt tO tOday’S cIRcUmStaNcES. It INVOlVES PEOPlE whO haVE NEVER BEEN INVOlVEd IN


cOmmUNIty wORk BEfORE. IN fact, Of thE 40 PEOPlE whO aRE NOw INVOlVEd IN thIS PROjEct, ONly twO haVE


PREVIOUSly BEEN INVOlVEd IN thIS tyPE Of wORk’


healthcare, but in other equally important aspects.'


the collective began by developing an asset map of their area: a step which helped them to identify and appreciate the existing skills, expertise, services and natural environment.


they also developed a health and wellbeing catalogue, which documented the related issues they identified as being prevalent in the area using their local knowledge.


One of the key things to come from these steps for the group members was an increased understanding of the level of community and statutory


voluntary organisations they want to consider what more they can do to address issues such as depression and anxiety, loneliness and social isolation and a perceived dependence on prescription medication, alcohol or illegal drugs.


the duneane collective operates from the offices of tIdal, a long- established and respected community group based in toomebridge.


tIdal acts as ‘host’ to the collective, providing a meeting place and much-valued administrative support to the collective.


‘the whole point of the initiative,' says Una johnston, manager at


tidal, 'is that everybody is being very open and honest and that has allowed us to look at the assets in the area, rather than look at what we don’t have.


‘to my mind, co-production is all about a change of mindset, so we’re currently training up community champions who can all get involved in the initiative. Rather than being a ‘top down’ formula, we work on the basis that the decisions are made in the community and filter upwards.


‘the timebanking working group, for example, is currently looking at changing the vision of health. Say, for example, an elderly lady in the community runs out of bread during the winter.


‘Is she going to go down the street if the footpaths are slippery etc? No. She’s not going to go out and will therefore have no food, no electricity and will be freezing.


‘co-production takes a holistic view of health, which is very relevant to today’s circumstances. It involves people who have never been involved in community work before. In fact, of the 40 people who are now involved in this project, only two have previously been involved in this type of work.


‘One of the most successful things we’ve done so far is to run a community spirit meeting, which showed people what is available in the local area.


‘Sadly, we’ve had suicides in the areas over the last few years, but this meeting showed people what’s available in the community in the community in terms of support and advice. what could be more beneficial to the community?’


while the work of the duneane collective has, to date, focused on building on the capacity of the local community in toomebridge, the second phase of the work will now focus on other statutory organisations and agencies, with the learning and skills developed by council and cdhN being shared.


It's hoped that this will help to support the continuation of co- production approaches from within other organisations. •


PhaRmacy IN fOcUS - 49


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