More than 450 people attended the Hounslow Assembly on Wednesday 16 October and enjoyed a day of wide-ranging panel sessions, workshops, and keynote speakers.
The opening plenary session was led by Professor Lee Elliott Major who spoke movingly on social mobility (Professor Elliot, grew up in Feltham and was a very inspirational speaker), to the closing panel session moderated by Antonia Jennings from Centre for London.
The day showcased a diversity of perspectives on how Hounslow Council and partners are driving forward change through collaboration. In addition to the scheduled sessions, it was a day full of conversations and connections.
Health highlights on the day included:
- Music, Movement, Mindfulness & Mental Health
A celebration of joint working between West London NHS Trust (WLT), Hounslow VCSEs & the London Borough of Hounslow.
This was presented by Gail Dearing, Associate Director CARMHs, West London NHS Trust and Mark Blomfield, Senior Joint Commissioning Manager, London Borough of Hounslow.
The focus was on VCSE groups who are funded by the WLT to support the MINT and Forensic services, and the partnership with Joint Commissioning who commissions the groups on their behalf. These VCSE groups are based in the community and are a key element in MINT’s work with GPs and social services to support people’s mental health, alongside physical health, social needs and focus on strengths and solutions, helping to build residents hope, resilience and ability to cope with challenges, reaching marginalised communities who often find NHS services difficult to access.
Mark Blomfield, Senior Joint Commissioning Manager, London Borough of Hounslow, said:
"The event provided a great opportunity to meet and engage with our partners, and we held a very insightful session to celebrate the joint working that is delivered between West London Trust, the VCSE and Hounslow Council, with Mental Health under the BBP programme.
There were fun and engaging taster sessions on mindfulness, music production, art and movement provided by VCSE groups. It was great to see these sessions in action rather than just hear about them; they were incredibly inspiring, and you can see how residents' mental health benefits greatly from accessing them."
(BBP colleagues, including staff from organisations such as Key Changes, MIND Axis, EACH, the Asian family Counselling Services, Positive Movement, Hounslow Wellbeing Network, Metro/Naz, MIND (to name but a few) who work together to support residents’ mental health in the community).
Food Summit
This was led by the Hounslow Public Health Team and provided an opportunity to map food systems, set priorities, and shape future strategy, table discussions covered:
1. Food Systems
2. Healthy Food for All
3. Good Food Movement + Economy
4. Food for the Planet/ Sustainability Music,
Jo Manley, Director of Integrated Pathways - Local Services, West London NHS Trust, said:
"What an excellent day; meeting community partners, recognising their contribution to support improving health and wellbeing for Hounslow residents and talking about how we can try and work better together, especially to reach more of our under resourced populations."