Current Projects
Life Chances: Early Years Discussion Kit
The Early Years Discussion Kit has been designed to get people thinking more about what we need to do to get the best future for the children in our community. The kit has been developed by Our Life and NHS North West with assistance from Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust, ChaMPs and Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust. Dates have been released for the first workshops click here for more information.
Rural People Matter: The Community Inquiry
It is generally accepted within the public sector that central to the delivery of effective public services is the need for citizen's voice to be heard. Where there is less agreement however, is how best to achieve this. Where best to start then to ask citizens themselves this very same question?
This is exactly what this summer's ‘Rural people matter: the community Inquiry' sets out to do. Funded by NHS Western Cheshire and Cheshire West and Chester Council, the ‘Community Inquiry' will take place in May and June in Tattenhall in Cheshire. Over a period of eight evenings rural residents will attempt to answer the question ‘what do we need to do to ensure that rural public sector decision making has the voice of community members at its heart?'
The rural participants will use this time to share their experiences and opinions as well as hearing from a range of outside ‘commentators' who will offer other perspectives to the debate. The Inquiry will culminate in the group producing a set of recommendations.
If you would like more information on this Inquiry please contact Sue Millichap on 0161 233 7511.
North Lancashire Alcohol Harm Citizen's Jury
Our Life in partnership with Shared Future CIC will be undertaking a Citizens' Jury Inquiry on behalf of NHS North Lancashire. The aim of the Inquiry is to explore the impact of alcohol related harm within the following areas; Harbour, Heysham North and Poulton wards in Morecambe and Rossall, Pharos and Mount wards in Fleetwood. The Jury will sit for 25 hours over a 3 month period commencing in April. For further information please contact Peter Bryant on 07818 568 549.
Our Life has been funded by NHS North West to develop an alcohol discussion kit that health and community workers can take out to their local population to facilitate community conversations about alcohol. This fully-evaluated discussion kit on alcohol, informed by "real-life" citizen deliberation, is the first discussion kit ever developed in this way. It will be available to purchase in hard copy from Our Life, or it can be downloaded free of charge from Our Life's website in summer 2012.
For further information please contact Peter Bryant.
Training programme in deliberative engagement
Focused on citizens' juries and discussion kits and tailored to health and community workers, Our Life's deliberative engagement workshop package has been piloted in Manchester and Cheshire and is now available for delivery.
Please contact Peter Bryant if you are interested in discussing Our Life's training programme or hosting training in your area on 0161 233 7500.
Following the publication of the findings of the 2009 North West survey on mental health and wellbeing, Our Life was commissioned by NHS North West to develop a discussion kit that encourages communities to think about and discuss wellbeing and to increase understanding of the five-ways to wellbeing.
Our ‘A Fair Deal for Wellbeing?' Discussion Kit continues to be used throughout the country. To encourage its use in Cheshire and Merseyside, ChAMPs are funding four workshops to introduce the Kit. Dates for the workshops, taking place in Wirral, Knowsley, Liverpool and Halton, will be announced soon. If you are involved in the North West's Year of Health and Wellbeing initiative, you should consider attending a workshop to find out more about the how to use the kit to help local residents to understand more about the 5-ways to wellbeing, and how the kit might used as part of your work.
For further information please contact Matt Bowen or Peter Bryant.
Developing social value metrics to support Cost Benefits Analysis of Greater Manchester Community Budgets
Working in partnership with New Economy, Our Life has been commissioned by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) to examine the applicability of social value to the Cost Benefit Analysis of the Community Budget pilot project in Greater Manchester. Our Life and New Economy will present their findings as a working paper on the role of social value at a breakfast briefing on 10th May.
For further information on this project please contact Matt Bowen.
Housing Association Wellbeing Audit
A partnership of leading North West housing providers has come together to take a lead in supporting wellbeing and health among the communities they serve. Our Life has been instructed to undertake a gap analysis of where the partnership might look to improve their approach to wellbeing and health. Our Life will make recommendations to the partnership on their potential future role in addressing wellbeing and health issues at a community level.
Please contact Matt Bowen for further information.
