The idea
This would be a place where anybody can go for support from other people in the country on anything related to health and well-being related issues. Users could create their own online support groups for whatever health issues, thus providing support for others. The online centre would provide information on local and national contacts. Not only would it provide support, it could act as a central point with a vast range of contacts, such as counsellors, therapists, GPs, etc.
What social need does it address?
Society needs support. Physical health problems are stressful and can sometimes lead to mental health problems. Mental health problems can often make people feel isolated. This online community will bring people together, and help them to understand health and well-being a little better. It would also empower them, and give them the understanding, information and contacts they need to make their lives more positive.
What’s new about it?
There is nothing like this online. Local centres have their own local websites. But online, each community is separate from the next. We need to bring the communities together and help each other up and down the country.
What inspired you?
I am determined to raise awareness of health issues and the impact they can have on people. I am inspired to create support for as many people as possible, and believe strongly in peer support being the way forward. If somebody has been through what you’re going through, they can understand it more than (for example) a professional who only has the academic side to it all.
Idea submitted by Kerri Jones
I have recently started a self-injury support group in St Helens, Merseyside, for those who self-injure. I am currently volunteering with a local project which is promoting positive well-being.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
It would be great to add to this, a participative/ searchable Action research database of effective practice/things that worked, to generate evidence (eg if a hunderd people try solutions focused therapy, or omega 3 / nutritional intervention, or talking and friendship network or making a valued contribution etc etc) both for professionals as well as individuals to access (the former pay?). Otherwise all the system will continue to offer is medication and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. A communty of “recovery practice” if you will.
I’m acutely aware of the amount of people falling through the web, and the limited vision and resources of the NHS. In the end, recovery is linked to a whole range of issues and approaches, and it is, as Kerri points out, the people who are living the experience and their friends and allies who have the best knowledge of what works.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:20 am
[...] a look at an idea for the Social Innovation Camp sent in by Kerri Jones for a Health and well being centre – could this be a starting point? How could a tool be integrated into the ways in which young [...]
February 27th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Take http://www.teenhelp.org as an example of positive use of technology for teenagers across the world – peer support proves to be effective.
Yet Teenhelp is limited – age restrictions and lack of information. Personally, I think Teenhelp works very well, yet with it being worldwide, there is lack of further information on resources.
What would be useful for this Health and Wellbeing Centre, would be to have a database where members can easily access local information and support for whatever health/wellbeing needs.
http://www.Kooth.com is also another brilliant use of technology, in which young people between ages 11-25 years can access online counselling. Again, this is restricted to certain area’s but would be useful to people of all ages. Obviously young people’s needs are different from older people, but again a health and wellbeing centre could potentially meet the needs of all people – young, old, male, female etc.
March 15th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Great Idea! It evokes a little nostalgia, I worked with an IDEO alum health innovation/product designer on an e-health platofrm that addressed the need – how to support people’s experience on therapeutic interventions to improve long term adherence – while at first glance it was a more medical model/focus as an outcome, the means to achieve that based on our user-research was precisely what you are speaking of….
So based on social behavior research and user research of patients, we proposed a web-based peer-peer and peer-coach (someone ‘ahead’ of the experience) environment. The platform would link someone with a new diagnosis, say high blood pressure, with someone similarly situated as a “coach” and a peer group of people newly diagnosed and they could share tips, experiences, etc… Something in the anonymity (from geographic distance) might enable people to feel more open than realizing they would see the person down the street; yet, it included the ability to link into local resources and access “best practices” or “suggestions on” per comment above. It ultimately looked a lot like the alcoholics anonymous model, which incidentally has a huge success rate in behavior modification and social support, so the integration of that for health & well-being makes a lot of sense.
We pitched this to VCs in late 2000, and though conceptually interested, B2B and telecom were the focus on investors stung on web apps, and the smaller margins of social enterprise were nascent and social networking as a tech destination … unheard of, but the upside is that now, 8 yrs later there is ample “research” for people who like data that indicates how to support people with chronic conditions, so for investors who like data, the time may be better now. Better now, than never
I may be able to dig up a white paper, that explains the research on the background for the model (so you don’t have to start from scratch), if you choose to pursue this project.
Good luck on the worthy endeavor!
March 17th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[...] and services data more accessible and localized to the individual? Mori Sugimoto, Ben Howarth and Kerri Jones all focused on the issue of access to health care provision in this [...]