Supporting, empowering and transforming
The arts have a major role to play in helping to galvanise community engagement and participation in planning and creating a sense of identity and pride.
How we feel about and how involved we are in our local neighbourhoods, affect our individual health and that of our families and communities.
Increasing emphasis on public health and the need to achieve a ‘fully engaged’ model of health, whereby people take a more active role in their own health, has brought health matters much closer to home and right to the heart of communities.
The Department of Health advocate that ‘Our health and the lifestyle choices we make are affected by where we live, our personal circumstances and relationships with the people around us….Well ordered and stable communities, with good access to services, clear leadership, cohesion and strong partnerships between local government, business, the voluntary sector, health services and community organisations provide an environment that helps people make healthy choices. Divided communities with high crime rates, inadequate or disjointed services make it harder to be healthy.’
Healthy communities are those in which individuals are supported to get well and stay well, not just where they live but also where they work, play and learn. That support can be provided by nurturing strong social networks and social capital through community development approaches to health as well as through access to excellent health promotion services. Primary Care facilities such as health centres and dentists are centrally important in supporting communities through high quality health services, both preventative and curative and Intermediate Care centres and other community based support activity help people manage ongoing conditions close to home.
In this region the arts are playing a very active role in helping nurture healthy and happy communities. Examples include initiatives that communicate complex health messages in imaginative ways, that reach out and connect people through enjoyable, shared experiences, that facilitate personal development, that motivate people to engage with their own health and that provide a positive life focus rather than a negative one.
The arts have a major role to play in helping to galvanise community engagement and participation in planning and creating a sense of identity and pride.
Our Agenda for the Arts 2006-8, Arts Council England
How we feel about and how involved we are in our local neighbourhoods, affect our individual health and that of our families and communities.
Our Region, Our Health – Regional Public Health Group
Increasing emphasis on public health and the need to achieve a ‘fully engaged’ model of health, whereby people take a more active role in their own health, has brought health matters much closer to home and right to the heart of communities.
The Department of Health advocate that ‘Our health and the lifestyle choices we make are affected by where we live, our personal circumstances and relationships with the people around us….Well ordered and stable communities, with good access to services, clear leadership, cohesion and strong partnerships between local government, business, the voluntary sector, health services and community organisations provide an environment that helps people make healthy choices. Divided communities with high crime rates, inadequate or disjointed services make it harder to be healthy.’
Healthy communities are those in which individuals are supported to get well and stay well, not just where they live but also where they work, play and learn. That support can be provided by nurturing strong social networks and social capital through community development approaches to health as well as through access to excellent health promotion services. Primary Care facilities such as health centres and dentists are centrally important in supporting communities through high quality health services, both preventative and curative and Intermediate Care centres and other community based support activity help people manage ongoing conditions close to home.
In this region the arts are playing a very active role in helping nurture healthy and happy communities. Examples include initiatives that communicate complex health messages in imaginative ways, that reach out and connect people through enjoyable, shared experiences, that facilitate personal development, that motivate people to engage with their own health and that provide a positive life focus rather than a negative one.