Community Listening Event

By Kathryn Wild, Project Manager

We ran a community listening event, which was attended by 19 people. These included Rotherham Federation staff and board members, local residents, members of the voluntary sector (including the new Social Prescribing Link Workers, Voluntary Action Rotherham, Age Uk Rotherham) and members of the Council, who came together.

Issues discussed included loneliness and isolationism, mental health and anti-social behaviour in the community. We talked about the causes within the communities that we live and work in, what challenges are faced in the community and how we might start to address these. Not only was it a great way to start to talk about issues in the local community and how they might be addressed, but it also raised awareness and enabled people to have the opportunity to network with each other, meeting with those who lived and worked in similar areas.

It was agreed that we should look to run a similar event again in the future, so we could keep open these discussions and build on what was being said.