Community Service for Training and Research
Empowering communities, supporting workers, building the evidence base
Community STaR, the Service for Training and Research, held a Climate Change Forum in Miller Community Centre on 5 September. We were fortunate to have three outstanding speakers from the Climate Council, the Climate and Health Alliance and 350.
Please watch the videos below and look at the links.
Professor Lesley Hughes from the Climate Council
Professor Peter Sainsbury from the Climate and Health Alliance
Gillian Reffell from 350
Alcohol Forum Community StaR & Liverpool Community Drug Action Team (CDAT) Miller PCYC October 14
Community STaR recently partnered with the Liverpool Community Drug Action Team (CDAT) to hold a well-attended public forum at the PCYC on October 14 which was based around reducing alcohol related harm. Titled Alcohol in Our Community, it aimed to address community concerns about alcohol-related harm, discuss evidence-based strategies to reduce harm, provide a forum for ideas, information and networking, and strengthen the valuable work of CDAT in the Liverpool and 2168 community. Participants included local service workers and community members. Facilitated by Mr Norman Booker, the forum opened with an acknowledgement of country by Uncle Steve Williams. In their introductory talks, Mr Bernardino Siry, Multicultural Liaison Officer from the NSW Police Force Green Valley Local Area Command spoke about the work of the CDAT and Dr Vanessa Rose, Deputy Director of CHETRE (Centre for Health Equity Training Research and Evaluation) spoke about Community STaR. A team of excellent speakers was headed by Emeritus Professor Ian Webster, an internationally acclaimed expert in the field. Speakers also included Dr John Crozier from Liverpool Hospital and local police, youth, family and health workers who together led a panel discussion about the issues. Local young people made creative contributions with two short films. The hard-hitting “What Happened” showed the consequences of a drunken party and “Still Thirsty” was a hilarious satire on alcohol advertising. The afternoon concluded with a ‘café conferencing’ style discussion where all participants had an opportunity to discuss ‘what works’ in reducing alcohol-related harm.
The forum was rated highly by participants who valued the evidence presented about effective public health strategies such as regulating access, availability and promotion of alcohol, strengthening licensing and price controls and promoting a safer drinking culture. The importance of working together as a community to solve problems of alcohol-related harm and the need for social inclusion were stressed by a number of participants and speakers. Participants also said they valued the opportunity to network, workshop ideas and opinions and gain access to new information and a deeper understanding of the local context. A number of participants expressed interest in continuing discussions on ‘what works’ and would have liked more time for this. The Liverpool CDAT continues to work on these issues and invites interested people to join. See below for Liverpool CDAT contact details.
Joseph Gormley, the Project Officer for Liverpool CDAT is the contact person for further information. Joseph is contactable by phone on (02) 9378-1300 and email: Joseph.Gormley@sswahs.nsw.gov.au
Thankyou to Sam Girgenti from LYAAC for these pictures from the day.
Today we launched our book Real World Stories: Reflections on working in locationally disadvantaged communities at Liverpool LIbrary. This book describes projects undertaken as a part of the Centre for Health Equity Training Research & Evaluation’s (CHETRE) Working in Locationally Disadvantaged Communities Course. A PDF version of the book is available here.
We are currently recruiting for the 2012 course through an Expression of Interest (EOI) process. The program trains and supports teams to plan, implement and evaluate a project that aims to improve the wellbeing of people living in a locationally disadvantaged community.
The ‘Learning by Doing’ program consists of 6 training days spread across 2012, mentoring, funding support, site visits and 12-month help desk support from the CHETRE project team.
Four teams will be selected to participate in the 2012 program. Team members may be employees of SWSLHD, SLHD, employees of Human Service Providers including local government, as well as non-government and community based organisations working in the area.
For more information about the course please contact Joan Silk by phone on 9612 0779 or email joan.silk@sswahs.nsw.gov.au
The sharing mechanism describes how people in a community share expertise, skills, knowledge and power when working together. Come and share your ideas and experience about how this mechanism can be used to improve community wellbeing.
Where: We meet outside in Miller Square, Woodward Cres, Miller (or inside The HUB Community Health Centre if it is raining).
When: 12-1pm, Tuesday 6 September 2011
Who: All who are interested in this topic! Please come along, pull up a chair and start sharing your experience.
Reflections on the ‘drawing together’ mechanism
This week we discussed how to draw people together for social cohesion. We talked about the advantages and disadvantages of formal versus informal gatherings, the former of which might be driven by community leaders but may also ignore the most isolated members of the community and not address barriers to their involvement. Questions for further discussion included:
• How to reach isolated members of the community and address issues of transport and fear?
• How to ensure equal participation and address issues of power?
• How to make Miller into a ‘destination’ rather than just a place where residents go?
Reflections on the ‘ripple effect’
This week we took the group outside (see photo above) and had a lively discussion about different ways of getting the message out about projects positive community stories through the ripple effect. Many of the ideas focussed on word of mouth, community radio, social network mechanisms such as Facebook, and getting people together to talk through community events. Questions for further discussion included:
• does the credibility of the person or people passing on the message make a difference?
• can the ripple effect can be intentionally manipulated or does it occur simply by chance?
• what is the best combination of mechanisms to ensure we reach everyone?
The ripple effect refers to how the positive aspects of a project, idea or community are transmitted through social networks to reach a broader range of people than those who were involved. We will discuss this practical strategy to build social cohesion at our next learning circle.
Where: The HUB Community Health Centre, 16 Woodward Cres, Miller
When: 12-1pm, Tuesday 9 August 2011
Who: All who are interested in this topic! Please come along.
Please RSVP to Vanessa Rose v.rose@unsw.edu.au or 9612 0779
Reflections on the first Learning Circle July 21, 2011
Residents and service providers participated in the first Learning Circle on social cohesion at The HUB Community Health Centre on July 21, 2011. In this first session, we related our thoughts about social cohesion in response to Karen Larsen-Truong’s definition, developed as part of her study of the Community 2168 project, “The capacity of a society or community to ensure the wellbeing of all”.
We began by relating the concept of social cohesion to our working lives, our neighbourhoods, our personal histories, experiences and observations about social exclusion and inclusion and our broad socio-political outlooks. We discussed several issues including:
• the marginalisation experienced by groups such as mentally ill, poor and Aboriginal people and the injustices involved in this
• the self-interest and concentration of some groups on material wealth – big cars and houses – at the expense of social issues and the need to find a balance between community needs and individual needs
• the weight of negative aspects when discussing the 2168 area and how they can seem overwhelming and give an unbalanced picture of the area
• the difficulty of achieving ‘social cohesion’ in one area when present society is fundamentally flawed and troubled
• the importance of education as a key necessary resource for social cohesion
Community Service for Training and Research 
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