The City of Salisbury’s Healthy Communities Team consists of Healthy Communities Coordinator Cathie Graham and Healthy Communities Project Officer Jim Binder. They sit in the Community Development Department. The team’s role is to deliver the Salisbury Healthy Communities Initiative ‘Living Well in the Living City’ Project. The Healthy Communities Initiative is a federally funded program, provided to local councils across Australia, to address the rising prevalence of lifestyle related chronic disease. The Living Well in the Living City project supports programs which help create more active and healthy communities.
The team works with national and local partners including healthcare providers based in the city to deliver a range of programs and activities which support healthy lifestyle choices and behaviours. The project is designed for people over 18 who are not in full time work. The Healthy Communities Team was nominated as high achievers by Councillor Betty Gill for their work together with the Heart Foundation, OPAL and community centres to improve the health of young people in particular.
Being such a small team, Jim and Cathie work closely together and are able to bounce ideas off each other. They both come from a community development background and have genuine passion and commitment for what they do. Working with their individual strengths, they have local knowledge of the community as well as the capacity to build networks.
Jim and Cathie most enjoy being part of something that makes a difference to people’s health and wellbeing. “It’s great to hear stories from individuals who have had positive lifestyle changes from being involved in the programs we are supporting. It’s being part of something that makes a difference to individuals and the community as a whole.”
Some of the challenges faced by the team are making the programs sustainable, dealing with funding constraints, and for certain programs, community engagement and ongoing participation. The team has learned from their experiences and they understand and accept that not everything they do will be sustainable. They have a number of community engagement strategies for different target groups, including: encouraging people to personally invite others to get involved; capturing and sharing people’s stories; and the Mastermind principle: “Two or more people actively engaged in pursuit of a definite purpose with a positive mental attitude, constitute an unbeatable force.”
The team is currently working with partners including the Heart Foundation, Australian Diabetes Council, local providers and Council on a range of programs including Heart Foundation Walking Groups, BEAT IT Lifestyle Program, healthy cooking workshops and food gardening.
One of their major projects is the Cycle Salisbury program, in partnership with AustCycle and Bike SA, which aims to create a more active and healthy community through cycling. It encourages people to get back on their bikes, or to learn to ride for the first time.
