Information for community groups
The Institute has an important role in the provision of South Australian Primary Health Care services, particularly through our state-wide community education and capacity building program. This program supports individuals, groups and communities to develop skills and networks for increasing social capital and a sense of belonging.
We have been delivering this service for over 30 years (formerly through COPE) and have developed a reputation for excellence, especially in the provision of social and mental health education, peer education and community development.
We use a primary health care framework in the delivery of this service. Our approach focuses on supporting communities to respond to the social isolation and personal despair that people and groups may experience as a result of complex issues such as: violence, abuse, poverty, gambling, disability, relationship breakdown and mental illness.
Our primary target populations
People who are disadvantaged in their health, specifically:
- People with mental health difficulties
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
- People from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds
- People living with the effects of violence
- People with disabilities.
Communities which are socially disadvantaged:
- Regional Aboriginal communities
- Newly arrived CALD communities
- Health consumer groups such as young people with mental health issues
- Young people who have been sexually abused
- Women who have lived with domestic violence.
Our programs are also aimed at those who support our primary target populations. These include: informal personal networks of carers, parents and partners; and workers within small community agencies and their volunteers.
Our strategies
The following strategies underpin our community education and capacity building program:
Addressing disadvantage locally
Our work has long recognised the importance of community based programs that contribute to the development of local strategies and skills to address community and individual concerns.
Capacity building
Community education and capacity building provide an inclusive framework which avoids a ‘one size fits all’ approach to service delivery. This approach encourages ongoing learning and service development through partnerships with other services and specific population groups.
A population health approach
A population health approach focuses on the interrelated factors that influence the health of specific populations over their life cycle. It requires a long term commitment to engage with the regional and systemic variations in the patterns of health problems. There is increasing awareness that individual service delivery approaches, without a context of population health, can escalate inequity within the community.
Acknowledging informal networks
We recognise that people from many groups will seek help from informal networks rather than use formal services and that it may often be productive to work with these networks to create supportive environments for individuals in need.
The community education and capacity building program incorporates the following three main services:
- Lifeskills and Wellbeing courses – we provide a range of personal development workshops and learning programs from our training facility in Hindmarsh. A fee is charged per person for attendance at group sessions. These courses are listed in our Relationships Australia Course Brochure, you can download a copy of the brochure or browse online for more information.
- Strengthening Communities – this service can be provided from a wide range of community locations and offers short to medium term community education and community development programs for priority groups.
- Library and Information Services – this service provides referral information to telephone callers and a community library which enables people to access information about social health issues, including self-help manuals and biographical stories to help people through challenging times. Membership of the library attracts a small fee.
Programs that community groups are often interested include:
If you have any questions about education and training for community groups please email Belinda Saunders or phone her on (08) 8245 8100.