Friday 2 May 2014

Leeds Health and Well-Being vision hits Europe - part 2

In part two of his guest blog John Walsh, Mental Health Support Worker for our York Street Health Practice, talks about his experiences delivering a workshop on an integrated Adult Health and Social Care approach whilst at a recent conference in Oslo.

On the second day of the conference Jo and I ran our own workshop of around 60 delegates which was entitled 'On the Ground - street work, skills, techniques and engagements with youth and adults'.

We started with a very interactive exercise where the delegates had to try to access services that weren't integrated, didn't communicate and weren't offering person centred approaches. After this we had a classroom wide discussion of how the exercise experience made the delegates feel. From there we went on to identify what could be different. This involved integration, communication, a relational approach, the creation of positive space, advocacy and good partnership working. The exercise worked really well and several delegates asked us for the details of how it worked so they could use it. Throughout the workshop we drew on and examined the differing experiences of youth, adults and people from ethnic communities and how to work collaboratively.

For me this conference highlighted many things but three things in particular stand out. The first is how well Social Care and Health can work together. The second is that across Europe we are all facing the same issues (although the degree and intensity may differ). It was wonderful to be able to listen, learn and offer a contribution to the debate of how we proceed. The third is that Leeds has a lot to offer to this European discussion. In sharing what we try to do in Leeds I felt very proud that as a city we have an amazing vision and so many services and agencies working on the ground to make it real. I also felt very humbled to be able to play a part in this vision and work every day.

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