Capacity building workshop in Blackpool

This project aims to build local capacity in Blackpool, Hastings and Weston-super-Mare, to support people working in our three focus areas:

• young people’s mental health and wellbeing
• drug and alcohol (substance) use
• serious illness and bereavement

Building on earlier projects

Through our previous work in Blackpool and Weston-super-Mare, also funded by the AHRC’s Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities programme, we identified knowledge, training, and support gaps among VCFSE and health and social care stakeholders, and ways in which current systems might be improved or transformed to better enable collaborative working. We also piloted training on a range of topics, such as qualitative and quantitative research methods, working creatively with communities, and discussing end-of-life and grief using creative methods, which was highly valued by attendees.

Workshop planning

Building on this, we are planning eighteen six-weekly capacity-building sessions across the sites, inviting community stakeholders across sectors (e.g. VCFSE volunteers and staff, local authority staff, community artists and health and social care providers). Co-investigators and local partners will help plan and deliver the workshops. We aim to tap into the local knowledge and networks, ensuring that the workshops are not only relevant but also well-connected to the communities we are serving.

Find out more

If you would like to find out more about the capacity building workshops, please contact Dr Buket Kara: b.kara@lancaster.ac.uk