Annexe Communities: a case study

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1 This case study is an illustrative support document for the Community- led Health for All: Developing Good Practice learning resource. As such the relevant competence areas demonstrated by this case study are referenced throughout the text. SCDC would like to thank Julie Fox at Annexe Communities for taking the time to share the ethos, challenges and impact of the work at Annexe Communities. Annexe Communities: a case study Setting Annexe Communities is a community enterprise operating as a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Its main purpose is 'to listen and respond to the needs of the communities it serves. Annexe Communities recognises the impact of inequality and poverty on the health of the community and seeks to redress this imbalance through collective action. As such its vision is to help create healthier people and healthier communities within central and west Glasgow and its mission is to continuously engage with local people and maintain its position as a key provider of cost-effective, wellbeing initiatives resulting in fitter, resilient and more active communities within Glasgow. Background Annexe Communities has a history of identifying and developing services to meet local community needs and has evolved in name and function over three decades. Partick Community Association (PCA) was established in 1981 to develop part of a former local authority primary school, the Stewartville Street Annexe, as a community centre. Initially the building was sub-leased to a charitable trust to provide lets to small lowcapital businesses as workshop space. This was a short-term strategy to keep the building occupied and generate income while developing and pursuing the long-term plan for the facility to be refurbished and provide a much-needed local community centre. 1

2 Following a series of public meetings in 1996 PCA developed a new vision for the building and adopted a funding strategy which resulted in a successful application to the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) to operate the first Healthy Living Centre in Glasgow. In 2001, the Annexe Healthy Living Centre came into being and the successful refurbishment of the facility resulted in a community centre providing an accessible building with three multipurpose rooms, a community café, offices and general services areas. Over the past ten years The Annexe services have developed across a wider geographical area as funding criteria changed in relation to localities. Additional resources have also been secured to deliver new services in response to community need and demand. In this respect, The Annexe no longer provides services solely within the Partick area; outreach initiatives have been cultivated and delivered within new communities in West and Central Glasgow, including Anderston, Knightswood, Townhead and Netherton. As a consequence, PCA has become Annexe Communities and this has been adopted as the corporate identity of the organisation. Competence Area Know and understand the community in which we work How people are brought together The Annexe brings people together in a variety of ways but most are predicated on the process that, as needs are identified then the skills and abilities of workers, volunteers and local people are brought into action to meet that need. A key example of this is the Alternative Saturday Nights (see Annexe Alternatives below). The need to have an alcohol free space to socialise, listen to music, dance was raised by a participant at the Annexe and it was heard. The Annexe workers living their main aim to listen and respond to the needs of the communities it serves. Annexe Alternatives was then born which helps people in recovery from addictions to maintain their recovery and enjoy themselves in a social setting. It should be noted, however, that Annexe Alternatives is a well kent activity in the local area as a place to go and enjoy good music and a crack on a Saturday night rather than a recovery space for folk with addictions problems. So it is an integrated community space were people can get chatting how many other services of the Annexe will be hatched in this relaxing, informal space?! Competence Area Build and support groups and relationships 2

3 Activities Annexe Communities currently delivers across nine principal areas of operation listed below. However, these should not be read as separate entities but rather as activities that complement and build on one another which actually reflects how and why they were brought into being. Annexe Healthy Living Initiatives Annexe Communities offers health improvement interventions to individuals and groups through an extensive programme of activities and events. The services operate on the principles of inclusion and accessibility. Partick Healthy Living Centre delivers 15 separate healthy living initiatives including; cooking workshops, health walks, yoga, chi kung, chair exercise, open days, Health Issues in the Community courses and stress management. These are delivered by staff, tutors and volunteers. Many of the activities are also delivered on an outreach basis to four other communities in West Glasgow Anderston, Townhead, Knightswood and Netherton. Annexe Activities This programme provides personal and social development opportunities in the following subjects: Local History Digital Photography Audio and Media Introduction to Internet and Stained Glass Workshops Art for Beginners Sewing and Design These are aimed at a range of participants from those with long term health conditions to those with addiction issues. Annexe Wellbeing This initiative has two strands; working with the individual and working as a group. Individual relaxation sessions are delivered entirely by volunteers and include a range of complementary therapies. Group stress management courses are delivered by a member of staff, supported by volunteers. These are available to members of the communities in which the Annexe operates. This is a highly effective entry point into community participation for the public and leads to continued involvement in other positive activities. 3

4 Annexe Volunteering The Annexe recruits around 40 volunteers each year, mainly appreciative service users who wish to 'put something back' into the community. Around half take part in accredited training organised to enable them to become qualified complementary therapists who are then supported by the Annexe to deliver therapy treatments as volunteers in their own communities. In the last three years about 2000 individuals have received treatments as a result of this volunteer programme. Community members are also supported to volunteer in other activities, for example to help out with the community vegetable growing project, to assist in the community café or to help out at open day events. Funding is now being sought to train further volunteers and continue this successful initiative. Annexe Alternatives Widespread interest is being shown in the Annexe's innovative programme of alternative alcohol-free entertainment, introduced as a pilot throughout central and west Glasgow. Such has been the demand that many of these evenings are now oversubscribed. Referrals mainly come from specialist addiction and mental health services although the events are also open to family and friends. Annexe GROWS In partnership with a group of residents in the Anderston district of Glasgow, Annexe Communities secured a grant from the Climate Challenge Fund to create a local vegetable growing and energy efficiency project. The project has two aims: Engage the community in energy efficiency awareness and take practical steps to reduce carbon emissions Create raised bed growing plots to provide fresh local produce and promote healthy eating within the community The Back Garden was opened in June 2011 and a group of residents, with support from Annexe Communities are now constituted. This group now manages the running of the garden, takes part in appropriate training and recruits and supports further volunteers who are in the process of training to deliver healthy eating classes - using the fresh produce grown in the Back Garden - and energy efficiency / recycling workshops. Competence Area Build capacity to take action on priority health issues 4

5 Annexe Café The healthy eating community café is the hub of Annexe Communities Healthy Living Centre in Partick. The café cook a previous service user prepares freshly made meals daily and has been awarded the Scottish Healthy Living Award by Consumer Focus Scotland. Catering for an average of 40 customers per day, the café made a net profit of almost 7,000 last year. The cook also teaches master classes to local people who are interested in learning to prepare simple healthy meals for their family. The café is particularly inclusive and welcoming to vulnerable adults and those with special needs and their carers as a social meeting place. The café is also supported by a bank of volunteer café assistants. Annexe Services The portfolio of healthy living services available to the local community is also available to external organisations - public, private and other voluntary organisations. These include; complementary therapies such as reiki, reflexology, and shiatsu; stress management courses; healthy eating/cooking classes; health walks; chi kung; healthy lifestyle courses; and community arts activities such as drumming and stained glass workshops. Existing customers include Celtic and Rangers football clubs, Family integration Network; Hyndland Primary School; Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and ASRA older people from the South Asian Community. These services generate income to supplement core running costs and as such show how community organisations can trade with others as part of their business. Annexe Letting Annexe Communities headquarters at Partick has three large rooms and a café space available for hire when not in use by the organisation. Three different categories of let are available with costs based on the type of group or organisation involved. Community groups (run by volunteers) are eligible for free or subsidised lets, voluntary and public sector organisations are charged at a medium range and private lets are charged at the higher rate. Letting policies are reviewed quarterly to ensure the available space is utilised to its maximum capacity and there is a planned expansion of this service to increase occupancy and income in the future. Involving Partners With the broad range of activities and services being provided by Annexe Communities, it is not surprising that it has a significant number of partners that it works closely with on an ongoing basis. This includes the local Community Health Partnership with whom they have a Service Level Agreement to deliver the following activities in four disadvantaged neighbourhoods: Health walks and exercise classes Nutrition and healthy eating courses C Card services 5

6 Healthy living promotion, information and advice Capacity building support to emerging community groups Open day and community engagement events Other partners include The Big Lottery Fund, local Housing Associations and Glasgow City Council, and good working relationships are established with individual workers such as Community Psychiatric Nurses, GPs and local workers from organisations such as Scottish Association for Mental Health and Glasgow Association for Mental Health. Competence Area Develop and support collaborative working Addressing health improvements and health inequalities Annexe Communities recognises that whilst it has been demonstrated that the overall health of people living in the UK is improving, it is also clear that some communities remain remote from this improvement. Those who are less well-off financially are likely to die younger and spend more of their lives with ill-health than those within more affluent districts. Some people are additionally disadvantaged, e.g. the elderly, carers, those with poor mental health and physical disabilities and those who do not speak English as a first language. (The Scottish Public Health Observatory provides useful statistics on health inequalities In order to address these issues Annexe Communities has developed a three-year plan (2011 to 2014). It will focus its work during the life of this plan on the following social objectives, aiming to support: 1. people with poor mental or physical health to raise their aspirations, make informed choices, and improve their life chances 2. older people and those facing social isolation to enable them to reconnect with their local communities, participate in positive activities, and improve their life chances 3. families, in particular carers, to counter disadvantage and influence decisions that affect them, their relations and neighbourhoods 4. local organisations to build their capacity to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals and communities Competence Area Build equality and tackle inequalities 6

7 Annexe Communities has successfully developed services in response to a need for health improvement, whilst responding to structural inequalities, and this can be seen in how they have put provision in place which supports older people and carers: Annexe Connects Over a period of nine months between 2010 and 2011, user feedback was collated on an on-going basis from across the Annexe Communities portfolio of services. Clear patterns emerged outlining specific gaps and needs for particular groups. Older people and those with a caring responsibility account for 60% of Annexe Communities existing service users. Among these two groups, beneficial outcomes have been the development of new friendships and a widening of their social network. Older people also indicated that taking part in Annexe community activities has energised their lives and motivated them to try new pastimes outside the home environment. Carers responses indicated the need to get support to look after their own wellbeing and to help them cope with the stress of their day to day responsibilities. Based on this feedback, two community consultation events and a small pilot project were organised to further explore needs, gaps and issues with older people and carers. These events confirmed and expanded on the earlier feedback with key issues of isolation, resilience, coping and connecting with people being highlighted. A specific new project plan was drawn up to address the needs of these two distinct groups and a successful application was submitted to the Big Lottery Fund leading to the launch of Annexe Connects in the summer of This project closely complements the existing healthy lifestyle initiatives with beneficiaries being referred between the two streams of service. It will specifically offer support for the emotional, mental health and wellbeing of the two target groups; older people and carers and will facilitate self-help style group-work courses, as well as supporting people to volunteer. This holistic approach will enable those who make initial contact to improve their physical health to move on to the Connects project to address emotional and social needs and vice versa. This project will also help to develop deeper relationships with groups and individuals as more time will be spent with participants; listening to their needs, getting to know them and developing selfhelp support and activities. Annexe Communities are confident the results will reduce the isolation of older people and carers, and encourage and support the elderly to remain independent and resilient for longer. Competence Areas Know and understand the community in which we work and build equality and tackle inequalities 7

8 Community development and community leadership We began this case study by describing the main purpose of Annexe Communities as being to listen and respond to the needs of the communities it serves. This is paramount to the success of Annexe Communities and a key component of community development and community-led approaches to health improvement. A vital ingredient to the success of Annexe Communities is that the workers and volunteers take the time to build up trust and rapport with the local community and one another. They get to know folk, their fears and aspirations, and their hopes and concerns. Fundamentally they get to know people s stories and ask how can we respond to this to help improve this person s quality of life, and the quality of life in our community itself? If they had not done this then Annexe Communities would not be hosting the Alternative Saturdays or Annexe Connects or have successfully developed their other services over a period of 30 years and still be here to tell the tale. Competence Area Build and support groups and relationships Annexe Communities is very much coming from an asset based approach to community development in that it builds on people s strengths and qualities rather than looking at the deficits. You can clearly see this in their volunteer programme, where people, who perhaps have received support from Annexe Communities, are then given the opportunity to build their skills, abilities and confidence by working for Annexe Communities. Also it is an acknowledgement of the fact that different people need different support and for some folk, the best support you can give them is to enable them to support others. This is what Annexe Communities has excelled in - releasing the assets that people already have, enabling them to grow and develop more assets be they skills, abilities or their enthusiasm to contribute to their community in some way. Indeed it is the growth of these more intangible assets that have enabled the Annexe to exploit the tangible assets they have in order that they can income generate and bring money back into their community. Annexe Communities aims to become less reliant on local authority grants and move progressively towards larger-scale targeted contracts, service-level agreements and direct self-generated services such as accommodation letting and private healthy living classes and courses. Competence Area Develop and support sustainable community influence For Julie Fox, Manager of the Annexe the impact of the Annexe is, not about outputs but achieving outcomes and being and feeling part of a community is one of the most significant contributions to health improvement. 8

9 Key messages It is important to listen and making sure as practitioners that we are in a place to hear what the community are saying to us It is much more effective to use different methods to gather feedback from service users When we hear people s lived experience and act, this can lead to better outcomes for individuals and community organisations When we build on people s assets, there are no limits! When we enable people to share and implement the skills they have developed we ensure the sustainability of that learning and increase the longer term sustainability of community organisations To find out more about Annexe Communities, visit 9