The Social Model of Health is all about the power of social and community connections to improve our health. This project has taken shape over the past year through a collaboration with Healing Justice London and Walworth residents to explore how we can look after ourselves and each other, as well as to challenge injustices within the broader health system.
We began with a “Healthy Exchange” event in which we offered arts and health activities to more than 80 attendees and began community conversations about health.
15 area residents became paid community researchers under the leadership and guidance of researcher Hannah Yu-Pearson. Over the course of ten weeks the working group conducted interviews with friends, family, colleagues and neighbours in Southwark, to learn about how people understood ‘health’ and to what extent people connected their health and wellbeing to their social relationships.
A powerful part of this project explored how art and creativity can inspire broader explorations of health, and be used to support and enable difficult conversations. This was made possible by collaborative art workshops facilitated by artists Jacob Joyce and Birungi Kawooya.
Jacob Joyce is a local artist whose work focuses on amplifying historical and new queer and anti-colonial narratives and was commissioned to co-create a mural at the Walworth Living Room. Birungi Kawooya is a collage artist and art tutor who is inspired by nature, Black feminists and the Afro-somatic movement and was commissioned to co-create a quilt.
Team members and participants reflected on the magic of these sessions lying in art’s ability to create a safe space for people to work collectively, but also to be vulnerable. Collaging sessions, for example, provided an unexpected space for Black men to come together within the Walworth Living Room and discuss topics such as mental health.
“I’ve learnt that talking doesn’t fix everything but boy does it lift a load off” – Working Group member reflecting on the project.
Through the groups’ research and discussions, the findings were compiled into a number of themes that impact people’s health: Material Resources, Relationships, Access, Agency, and a Sense of purpose. These will become important design principles for shaping the next stage of the Social Model of Health at the Walworth Living Room. It is clear that people’s understanding of health goes beyond the medical and physical to include feeling safe, connected and valued.
A summary of the project’s findings are now available to read below in the report overview: