Sharing Learning

Hive Cancer Support is located in the Derry and Strabane area, and work with cancer survivors. The main objective of their project is to collaborate with a researcher in ways that will help provide new levels of understanding around the psychological and emotional impact that comes with cancer diagnosis and treatment process on a survivor. They hope to give their community a safe space to share their stories and help influence practice in the oncology departments of hospitals in Northern Ireland and beyond.

The group shares that "We believe that our project puts us at the forefront of leading the way in cancer support, prevention and awareness. It also has shown very clearly that community and academia can come together in order to make ground-breaking changes to health care and wellbeing here in NI where we are currently struggling with huge waiting lists, are behind many other countries in their methods of person-centred care plans.”
Hive was recently awarded an extension grant and are working in partnership with Dr Joanne Marley from the Ulster University for this phase.

By applying a LIFEMAPS mental wellbeing framework, this project supports young people to embed daily habits that support positive mental wellbeing including altruistic behaviours.
Working with a researcher, the project trains a group of young peer researchers to gather feedback from other young people and showcase examples of developing positive mental wellbeing. The project is responding to issues that young people in their community may face including challenges around race, disability, and sexuality.

Based on the Isle of Gigha, the 'Our Gigha and Me' project which finished at the end of 2022, looked at whether specific and community led interventions could help facilitate the wellbeing of children and families by encouraging more participatory engagement with nature, with the known benefits this can bring. The partnership with the researcher was extremely positive; particularly in identifying appropriate methodology to encourage community participation and empowering the project members to be confident in their ideas and decision making. Activities are based around the story of 'The Gigha Furboch'. The children and families hunt for the Furbochs using map references – when they find them and their little shepherds' hut they can take part in a range of nature based and wellbeing activities inside. There is a separate den for families to use as an outdoor meeting space, sheltering in a wooded area on the Island.

This project is centred around young people taking an active role in their community by using discarded plastic to create new objects that will help serve the community, such as sunglasses or kitchen utensils. Participants are working with Manchester Metropolitan University to develop a participatory approach for the activities, and build their understanding of the latest research and activities that are relevant to the project. By facilitating conversations between the young people and the wider community, the project is creating opportunities for reflection on mental wellbeing whilst encouraging creativity and sustainability.

The development of a horticultural programme is focusing on wellbeing to help reduce the social isolation of older people in Oldham. Participants are working with researchers to co-design the project to incorporate and focus on their needs whilst in a horticultural setting. The project is also running indoor sessions that incorporate ceramics, nature, food, and pot glazing to ensure the project can run throughout the year. There is also a focus on long-term legacy, as any horticultural programmes will be sustainable, and the learnings will be shared with the wider community.

The Hull Roundheads were funded by the Ideas Fund to identify the stigma and barriers which discourage LGBTQ+ individuals from participating in gay and inclusive sports teams and develop strategies/activities to address that. They developed and produced a play “Safer” with their researcher, Dr. Lucy Fielding (University of Hull) about inclusion where they adapted the experiences of members of the Hull Roundheads RUFC, the city’s first LGBTQ+ inclusive sports club.

Through interactive events and intimate conversations, Groundwork Yorkshire are facilitating the co-production of a project to support mental wellbeing among local women, in partnership with a researcher who has expertise in creative writing. These conversations are held alongside an exploration of creative writing, with the aim of participants developing speeches, stories, comedy sets or dramas to be published.

The HU4 Community Network Group have opened a café and community space to provide a hub for their Chatter Box Club, where all local residents can gather to support each other and share their stories. They are working with a researcher to help them identify gaps in support, and how to bridge them. The HU4 Community group are running a personal and approachable project to help combat issues such as social isolation and lack of accessible resources.

The Lyth Arts Centre in Caithness is facilitating this project using film and photography to empower young people to document their interactions with the coastline, and its positive effect on mental wellbeing. They are being joined by researchers with expertise in exploring surf therapy, the outdoors, and mental health and arts and wellbeing in rural communities, who are providing support with co-design and practice based action research. By developing a sense of community, belonging and identity, the participants are encouraged to demonstrate confidence and self-expression.

Located in the Highlands of Scotland and founded by an Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest(OHCA) survivor, Lucky2BeHere responds to community requests to provide training and equipment to enable the ordinary person to save a life in OHCA cases.
With their Ideas Fund grant, they partnered with Save a Life Scotland and the national resuscitation campaign team within Resuscitation Research Group (University of Edinburgh), to identify individual and community narratives and commonalities in unmet needs through an action research approach. This project sought to not only give communities the confidence to save lives but has also provided significant support for OHCA survivors in the rural areas of the Highlands and Islands.
The group shares that “we feel that one to one engagement with survivors and rescuers and their families has been really valuable and worked really well so far in highlighting the holes in current services.”

Supporting parents who have lived experience of perinatal and infant mental ill-health, this is a joint project run by three specialist organisations in Moray, including those with lived experience. They are building a supportive community and involving previously underrepresented groups, with training provided to peer researchers to identify existing evidence and capture qualitative lived experiences. By hosting wellbeing events and connecting with researchers, the project is building a supportive community and equipping them with the skills to embed a long-lasting support network, as well as raising a greater awareness in the community of perinatal mental health.