Join us at our first networking event in 2023! The event is for Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector groups and organisations in Milton Keynes!
Date: Friday 3rd March 2023: 10am-12pm – drop-in during this time (booking essential!)
Venue: Water Eaton Church Centre, Drayton Road, Bletchley, MK2 3RR
Theme:
The them for this networking is: “New World – New Health. How can we manage our health and wellbeing in our new world in a different way?”
What we want to explore?
More people are now working from home, we have a cost of living crisis and long waits for some services. How can we use these as an opportunity to manage our health and wellbeing in a different way? We will be exploring the following questions:
Why focus on health and wellbeing?
Here at Community Action: MK we have been working on a number of health-related projects since the pandemic. We have also been supporting other organisations to deliver their initiatives. The Mental Health Alliance is one example. We have been facilitating this amazing collaborative network working as part of the NHS Community Mental Health Transformation programme. The Mental Health Alliance members have been delivering a range of projects in primary care (GP Surgery areas) which range from how to reduce health inequalities within the BAME/minority communities and LGBTQIA+ communities, to peer support groups for people with complex emotional needs. It is so exciting to see all this partnership working with the health service and all delivered by local voluntary groups and charities, many working collectively.
We are also excited to be starting a new pilot community research and engagement project that will focus on finding out what matters to local residents most to them when it comes to health. We will be exploring what will help communities improve their health and wellbeing to inform a plan of what a Community Connector plan would look like, while sharing insights with local health sector partners. We want to tell you more about our plans and connect with as many groups and organisations that might be able to contribute and share their expertise/ insights with us.
We want to bring the wider VCSE sector in Milton Keynes together to discuss the vital role that the VCSE sector plays in helping communities stay healthy and well, and all the opportunities of working much more closely and collaboratively with partners from health and public health sector/ teams across the BLMK (Bedford, Luton and Milton Keynes) region. There are lots of opportunities to join up efforts now that the Integrated Care System has been launched in the UK and with so much emphasis placed on designing and delivering services that meet the needs of the local communities and putting lived experience at the heart of the service design. We want our local groups and organisations to know about these opportunities and make the most of them!
What can you expect?
The event will feature a range of local groups joining us to share information about their projects and initiatives that are related to health and wellbeing and/or to addressing inequalities within the health system that have become so apparent in recent years and following the coronavirus pandemic.
We will have stalls (lots of fantastic organisations and groups and VCSE Reps for Health & Wellbeing will be joining us to share their work and updates), refreshments… and general networking, of course! We know that we have not had many opportunities to come together in person over the last few years and so we really look forward to reconnecting with our colleagues from across the VCSE in Milton Keynes and, as always, welcome any new people/ groups too!
The event is open to any VCSE groups and organisations in MK. We look forward to seeing you there!
