On 18th May, Amy Hobson (CEO) facilitated a Health Inequalities community of practice event with the Academic Health Sciences Network at Oxford University. The event centred around how to increase health equity, community engagement and co-production in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. The following is her account of the day…
Being a consultant, I get to spend time with lots of different groups. Last week was no exception. I spent time with a diverse group of people who were trying to resolve a complex conundrum of using co-production in the reduction of health inequalities through the medium of communities of practice.
Communities of practice can provide psychologically safe spaces to develop and evolve ideas that change lives. Each of these individual approaches are complex and yet this group of people seemed to overcome those challenges simply by determination, curiosity and compassion. It reminded me of The Wellbeing Collective’s central values, particularly that of ‘every conversation counts’.
There was something powerful for me spending time with a diverse group of people attempting to reduce health inequity through co-production. One of the ways I helped bring together this really diverse group of people was going where the energy was. I tried to find something that everyone was equally passionate about because we can all have different ideas, lived experiences and learned experiences, but sharing the same intention can help connect people together.
One of the most important things at an event like that is to be energised by resolving something or making it better. You can then work with that energy, see where it takes the conversations and harness it for good. The effort and thoughtfulness people put into making this a meaningful approach was enlightening.
I know that there’s a lot of research into the differences between communities of practice, action learning sets, coaching groups, focus groups, etc. but what I learnt from this event is that the most important thing is community. Community can show itself in different ways – at this Health Inequalities event, I saw it when people shared a purpose, were able to be their true selves and when they worked on something together that really meant something.
I had a wonderful day and met lots of fascinating people who are genuinely passionate about making real changes to bridge the gaps between health inequalities.
Check out our other social media platforms for more on this event.
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