Introduction
Social connections play an important role in helping us to maintain our mental health. They provide us with emotional support; a buffer against stress and adversity; a sense of belonging, purpose and identity; and support recovery from mental health problems. Diverse social networks including family, friends and community members provide access to information and opportunities which help us to lead more fulfilling lives. Conversely, social isolation and loneliness harm our mental health and shorten our lives.
Social connections are a key social determinant of mental health, though health and social care professionals are not often tasked with supporting people to develop them. Connecting People is an intervention model that aligns with routine practice in a plan-do-review cycle. It requires practitioners to pivot towards the communities of the people they serve but can be implemented alongside other interventions.
Content
This webinar will explore some of the latest evidence about social connections and mental health and introduce the work of the World Health Organization Commission on Social Connection. We will review evidence about interventions to tackle social isolation and loneliness. In particular, we will focus on the development and evaluation of Connecting People. This was developed with practitioners and service users in the UK and articulates the processes involved in supporting people to develop their social connections.
The webinar will explore both the Connecting People intervention model and the steps to take to apply it in practice. This will include how to:
• assess a person’s social connections
• develop a plan to support them to develop new social connections
• support them to implement their plan
• review progress towards their social connection goals
• overcome barriers which prevent people from developing their social connections
The webinar will also include some hints and tips about engaging with local communities; reviewing a team’s connections with local community assets, resources and networks; and how to prioritise Connecting People work to help make it a success.
Learning Objectives
• To understand the rationale for supporting people with their social connections
• To understand the Connecting People intervention model and the steps to take to apply it in practice
• To understand what changes may need to be made to support the implementation of Connecting People in routine health and social care practice
Training Modalities
The webinar will include didactic content with animations, anonymised case illustrations, chat function for experience sharing, and Q&A.
Key References
Webber, M., Reidy, H., Ansari, D., Stevens, M., & Morris, D. (2015). Enhancing social networks: a qualitative study of health and social care practice in UK mental health services. Health & Social Care in the Community, 23(2), 180-189. doi:10.1111/hsc.12135.
Webber, M., Reidy, H., Ansari, D., Stevens, M., & Morris, D. (2016). Developing and Modeling Complex Social Interventions: Introducing the Connecting People Intervention. Research on Social Work Practice, 26(1), 14-19. doi:10.1177/1049731515578687.
Webber, M., Morris, D., Howarth, S., Fendt-Newlin, M., Treacy, S., & McCrone, P. (2019). Effect of the Connecting People Intervention on Social Capital: A Pilot Study. Research on Social Work Practice, 29(5), 483-494. doi:10.1177/1049731517753685.
Webber, M., Ngamaba, K., Moran, N., Pinfold, V., Boehnke, J. R., Knapp, M., et al. (2021). The Implementation of Connecting People in Community Mental Health Teams in England: A Quasi-Experimental Study. The British Journal of Social Work, 51(3), 1080-1100. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcaa159.
Wickramaratne, P. J., Yangchen, T., Lepow, L., Patra, B. G., Glicksburg, B., Talati, A., et al. (2022). Social connectedness as a determinant of mental health: A scoping review. PLOS ONE, 17(10), e0275004. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275004.
About the presenter
Martin Webber is a Registered Social Worker with experience of working in community mental health teams and residential care homes. He has over 20 years’ experience as a social work researcher and educator. He is currently a Professor of Social Work at the University of York where he is Director of the Mental Health Social Care Research Centre. His research primarily focuses on the development and evaluation of social interventions for mental health, though extends beyond this into other aspects of mental health social work or social care practice. For example, he is currently leading (or co-leading) projects which are:
Testing the feasibility of a skills-enhancing programme for carers of people with complex emotional needs and chronic emotion dysregulation
Developing and validating a screening tool for social frailty in older people
Exploring how police officers respond to people with mental health problems in the routine course of their work
Exploring suicide risk and prevention, and co-designing mental health support with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
Evaluating community-based services for young mothers and young birthing LGBTQ+ people through the perinatal period
Who should attend
Nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, social care workers, social prescribing link workers working in primary or secondary care.