Ardoyne Shankill Health Partnership (ASHP) Report 2022/2023
Ardoyne Shankill Healthy Living Centre have been delivering
We continue to live and work in challenging and uncertain times throughout 2023, with rising costs of living, the after effects of the covid pandemic that has had a devastating impact on our service users, along with people losing their jobs, we have found that the mental health of people living in Ardoyne/Shankill areas has been severely affected. We have seen an increase in people requesting financial help for everyday cost of living rises and we refer them to appropriate welfare rights organisations or apply on their behalf.
The Ardoyne Shankill Health Partnership is enabled to work with the help and support of the PHA and other funders to deliver a wide range of programmes and services to both communities and further afield. During 2023 we have seen an increase in participants taking part in many of our programmes and services. We have brought many new partners together to provide health promotion programmes and services to local hard to reach people within Ardoyne and Shankill communities. These communities are situated in areas of high deprivation with severe health inequalities. This year we have successfully reached over 3,500 people who have all benefited from the programmes we offer. Participants have reported that they are happy to be able to get out of the house after being in lockdown for so long and the demand for programmes has grown significantly.
Through working across all sectors and community organisations we have delivered a wide range of health promoting initiatives which helps people to make positive decisions to improve their own health and reduce health inequalities in areas of high deprivation. We empower people to take more control over their personal health, promoting an ethos of peer led selfmanagement for people with long term conditions.
ASHP have helped those with mental health problems, low educational achievement, those who are unemployed both young and older people. We have provided health promotion programmes which address, Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, Smoking Cessation, Drugs/Alcohol, Mental Health, Suicide
and poverty. We provide educational programmes which help people gain accredited qualifications and gives them the confidence to apply for jobs.
We have developed stronger links within and between people from Nationalists and Unionists communities through focused health promotions programmes which raise awareness of the factors that affect health and wellbeing and these programmes assist them to better understand all the issues that affect health and respond in a positive way to them by making healthier lifestyle choices. These links are going from strength to strength each year.
Ardoyne Shankill Health Partnership are members of the local Mental Health Hub, Family Support Hub, Neighbour Renewal and Connected Community Care and many other initiatives which empowers local wellbeing. We are also members of the Healthy Living Centre Regional Alliance and work together to bring about change to improve life and allow people to live longer healthier and happier lives.
We value a bottom up partnership approach engaging local people and organisations to work together to address health inequalities and to improve their own health and that of their communities.
We would like to thank our main funder the PHA and all those who fund ASHP, without their continued support these people would not be able to avail of localised health promotion programmes and services.
Una McRoberts Manager