Find something for you in your Local Community
Community Bridges
We aim to transform the health and social care system by building community bridges and empowering local people in their own communities.
We will acheive this by
Mapping community projects and charity organisations in your local area.
A mobile app showing local events and community projects along with information and lessons to help develop health awareness across many areas.
A local magazine built by the community for the community. With local events, activities, and community projects at its core. While of course, showing the support of local business to create a brighter future for everyone.
What we are up to right now
We are working across Southwark, and soon London, to build community identity and help people find activities in their local area.
We are publishing a serious of community magazines in localities across Southwark, starting in Peckham, followed by Camberwell. Each magazine will portray the different lives that make up our community as well as local activities.
We host a community map on this website where people can search for activities near to them, helping them find out whats down their road and bringing local comunities together.
Our values
Sustainability | Empowerment | Diversity
We understand that building community bridges that help individuals overcome the stress and difficulties of life is vital for a healthy population.
We believe, by concentrating on community development, we can give individuals the power and knowledge they need to become healthier and live fulfilling lives for years to come.
Working with your community is key to having a fulfilling life. However, day-to-day life in the modern world has made it difficult to find meaning. We are committed to breaking those barriers down and making it easier for you to find the right support and activities near you, so you can build your community bridges.
Does this sound familiar?
‘I have no idea about what was going on in my community and what social activities are here.’
In this statement there are two challenges:
- The core, social and cultural challenge that people now live in areas where they do not know their community and feel lonely with no sense of belonging.
- The secondary challenge that people are unable to locate certain services which they need to improve their health/wellbeing.
The first challenge is leading to a lack of social networks and support leading to chronic loneliness. Loneliness can produce long-term damage to physiological health from raised stress hormones, poorer immune function and cardiovascular health. Loneliness also makes it harder to self-regulate behaviour and build willpower and resilience over time, leading to engagement in unhealthy behaviours.
If we address challenge 1 then challenge 2 will follow and we will implement true prevention.
Today’s health and social care system
Currently, medicine is largely based around a culture of physical examination and prescription, but there is more to the human body than that, and different factors work together to create health and wellbeing.
We need to
- Reengage communities and build stronger community bridges
- Consider health and wellbeing holistically and socialy
- Focus on prevention rather than treatment.
This is where the strength, individuality and close-contact of communities come in!
Sandra’s story
I used to work in patient and public engagement for NHS mental health teams where I created links between patients, the health team with the community.
Available activities were broad, included cooking clubs by Mind, local youth government, rock climbing club and arts classes at the local Crisis centre.
But no matter how much I spoke to people, researched organisations, connected patients, I did not know all of the activities available. I soon realised that it is not possible to collect information on all the community activities, you need technology to help!
So I designed this social enterprise with the primary goal of mapping and promoting local activities through a website and social media, and one day through an app.