After a summer break, the third Local Wellbeing Network meeting in the South locality took place on Thursday 15th September hosted by our wonderful members at St. Luke’s Community Centre (EC1V 8AJ). A sincere thank you for welcoming us and a warm welcome back to all attendees. As usual, here is a write-up of the meeting including the details of all attendees, a brief summary of what was discussed and an update section for members to broadcast their latest events, offers and updates in the area.
The Local Wellbeing Network Coordinator, Charlton, welcomed attendees and offered a brief contextual summary of the project for new members before inviting the group to go round and introduce themselves, their organisation and their motivation for attending the network meeting. Details of this can be found below.
| Alexandra Levitas | Camden & Islington Public Health | alexandra.levitas@islington.gov.uk |
| Alexis White | St. Luke’s Community Centre | AWhite@slpt.org.uk |
| Dan Morgan | James’ Place | dan.morgan@jamesplace.org.uk |
| Denise Marshall | Islington Healing Network | denise_marshall@hotmail.co.uk |
| Esther Craven | Islington Council – Partnerships & Participation | esther.craven@islington.gov.uk |
| Juliana Lottmann | Embrace | talktoembrace@gmail.com |
| Martha Pailing | The Claremont Project | martha@claremont-project.org |
| Michael Ryan | St. Luke’s Community Centre | mryan@slpt.org.uk |
| Oliver Raizon | Talk for Health | oliver@talkforhealth.co.uk |
| Penny Seal | King Square TRA/Friends of Kings Square gardens | pennyseal75@gmail.com |
| Saffi Jones | Cubitt Artists | saffi@cubittartists.org.uk |
| Suzanne Lee | All Change Arts | suzanne@allchangearts.org |
| Tsigereda Tekletsadik | Octopus Community Networks | tsige@octopuscommunities.org.uk |
After the round of introductions, Network Coordinator from Octopus Communities, Tsigereda, took the group through an online Network Mapping Tool which can be used by all Islington-based services to highlight their organisational offer and connect with other services on a locality level and borough-wide. Users create their own profile after submitting information via the survey and can manage this in real-time, updating as and when required. Crucially, users can then connect with all the partner organisations they interact and collaborate with. More importantly still if a practitioner is sitting with a particular service user, they can go onto the map in real-time and see all of the service provisions applicable and available for that service user immediately and gain access to their contact information then and there. Tsigereda described the many advantages to this digital connectivity and invited all attendees to start using the map and submit their information. She welcomed any and all feedback on its usability and performance and asked for members to comment on any potential improvements or adjustments.
After a networking break, the group were joined by Imogen Resnick, part of the Fairness & Equality team at Islington Council. She came to describe the findings from the recent borough-wide survey which engaged over 1600 residents on their experience of inequalities. These findings have been consolidated into a presentation which you can access and dissect here: VCS Workshop Slides.
Before the end, the Local Wellbeing Network Coordinator reminded the group of the two main objectives for the future of the network:
1. Tangible Action (how to translate this energy and commitment into tangible outcomes for North locality residents)
2. The Sustainability of the Network (how to retain members, drive momentum and harness the insight and experience of attendees to keep the project running successfully)
These two points will form the initial underlying basis of the network meetings and will be critical questions for members to ask themselves and answer once the formation and introductions have taken place. This will be the topic of October’s meeting; the details of which will be released soon.
If you would like any additional information or support, please contact Local Wellbeing Networks Coordinator, Charlton at charlton.brown@vai.org.uk
