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Staff at the Centre have applied our focus on equity and inclusion to several pressing health and social concerns in the U.K.
Recent work includes the Brent Integrated Care Partnership, which explores how community assets and community participation can be leveraged to address systemic health inequalities in Brent, Northwest London. Key elements of the work involve mapping community assets in context and their potential to improve health, as well as producing a framework for co-designed social innovation interventions to address health disparities in the borough.
Brent Integrated Care Partnership
Throughout 2023 Brent Health Matters and researchers from the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care partnered to address health inequalities in Brent, Northwest London by focusing on the strengths and challenges found when accessing community assets in Harlesden and Stonebridge. A team of researchers, including two community members trained by the team as researchers, visited dozens of events and met many people who live, work, and learn in Harlesden and Stonebridge. They told us about the challenges they face such as loneliness, digital exclusion and navigating health services but they were also proud to show us their strengths; community hubs, voluntary organisations and, very importantly, people and partnerships. By understanding where these assets are, how they work and who drives them, we can strengthen and support them to help address systemic health disparities, as well as work to replicate the benefits elsewhere. The research has forged new collaborations between Brent Council and UCL, and has already led to other research initiatives. It was funded by the AHRC in the second phase of a national £26 million research fund.
Outputs from the research project, including a toolkit for practitioners and two brilliant blogs depicting the experiences of our community researchers, Sarah and Sean, can be found here. We are also really pleased to present here the project zine, with pictures and stories documenting the project and its findings here.
Partners
Brent Council, Brent Health Matters
Project team
- Lead Investigator: Professor Maria Kett
- Network Coordinator: Ines Neidhardt
- Brent Research Liaison: Tamsin Youngson
- Co-Investigators: Julius Mugwagwa, Hannah Sender, Audrey Prost
- Research Assistants: Emma Carta and Fernando Albero
- Community Researchers: Sarah Al Halfi and Sean Chou
Community researchers
Meet our Community Researchers Sean Chou and Sarah Al-Halfi.
I'm Sean and I have been a community researcher with Brent Carers Centre. I have a background in social research and community activism, having studied BA Social Anthropology at the LSE. I have strong ties to Brent and have previously worked for Brent Council and volunteered with local organisations, such as the Family Wellbeing Centres. My research interests are in mental health, social care and community action, so my time as a community researcher has been an excellent springboard into these interests. I have a focus in using research to empower local residents and create agency and support networks needed to tackle challenges in areas such as health and wellbeing.
Read this blog by Sean Chou.
Hi, I'm Sarah, a community researcher at Brent Carers Centre. I have a degree in Business Information Systems from the University of Westminster. Being a Brent native, I'm active in the local community and recently have been researching how art affects mental and physical health in our community. It's been a rewarding journey where I have been able to explore the impact of local community projects on people's lives.
Take a look at this zine by Sarah Al-Halfi.
Find out more on the Brent Integrated Care Partnership webpage