What should social care make possible beyond the immediate support someone receives? In a guest article for Social Care Future, Care City’s Michael Roberts, Emily Brook, and Rachel Fuller share learning from Connect, a community initiative in Barking & Dagenham.
Connect works alongside residents experiencing isolation to rebuild relationships, pursue interests, and find ways to contribute. The accounts describe people reconnecting with friends, joining activities, and beginning to consider how they might support others.
The authors ask how commissioners and funders can recognise these changes without making every conversation an assessment. Connect explores the strength of people’s relationships, opportunities to meet others, getting out as much as they wish, sharing what they can offer, and trying new things.
These are accounts of practice and questions for further learning. The article does not establish that Connect reduces service use or prevents future crises. It examines how to understand wider effects while preserving the trust on which the work depends.
Read ‘Beyond giving and receiving: rethinking social care’ on Social Care Future.