Building Community Well-Being: An Exploration of Themes and Issues

Building Community Well-Being
An Exploration of Themes and Issues

Foreword

This report is based on real practical work in real communities. It is concerned with the well-being and mental health of our communities, what this means to communities themselves, and what people working and living in communities feel has the biggest influences on their well-being and mental health.

The findings are important.

Communities want to be part of the process of taking action - agencies delivering public services need to listen and consult, but for communities themselves active engagement and making a positive contribution are what really matters.
The importance of children and young people and their place in building healthy communities for the future cannot be over-emphasised. Children will shape the communities of the future.
There is already practical action in many places. What works well should be replicated more widely.
Local government has important new powers to promote well-being. We are confident that these, combined with the efforts of Community Planning Partners and with action to build strong safe communities and improve health in the widest sense, will make a significant difference over the next few years.
Building Community Well-Being is a challenge for us all. Taking a collective approach across government and across local agencies, with communities and with local people is the way forward.

The challenge is to mainstream improving mental health and well-being in our work in community regeneration, supporting people in our communities, improving social inclusion and health, and delivering improved public services.

The National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being, together with Ministers who are promoting health improvement, community regeneration and social inclusion, welcome this work and look forward to the improvements it helps generate.