Community-Driven Solutions: A Co-Production Approach to Improving Mental Wellbeing

Healthwatch Greenwich and Royal Borough of Greenwich Public Health and Wellbeing organised three interactive workshops to develop community-led approaches to improve mental well-being support.

The first workshop, attended by 11 community leaders on 21 February, explored mental wellbeing experiences within local communities and their awareness of available resources. During this workshop, local community leaders discussed factors impacting people's mental wellbeing, including social, cultural, and financial factors as well as experiences of multiple forms of inequality.

Building on these findings, the second workshop attended by 9 community leaders on 6 March, focused on exploring factors important for mental wellbeing and identifying actionable approaches to increase awareness of mental wellbeing resources, including developing a local forum and nominating ambassadors to share information and signpost members to relevant resources.  

The third workshop, attended by 22 community leaders on 21 March, focused on identifying practical approaches to empower leaders to work with their communities and increase awareness of existing mental wellbeing resources. During this workshop, leaders gathered more information on how a community forum might operate, what tasks might be undertaken by ambassadors and what support and funding might be required.

As a result of this collaborative effort, public health is supporting the rollout of “Be Well” training amongst community groups. "Be Well" will equip local ambassadors with the skills they need to promote mental wellbeing within their communities.