An organisation bringing voluntary, community and public service organisation together in Barnstaple has been launched.
OneBarnstaple aims to bring everyone involved with the wellbeing of people in Barnstaple together such as the town council, GP’s, social services, police, fire, the hospital, and many other groups.
One of the group’s founders, Dr Simon Jones from Litchdon Medical Centre said: “I’ve been a GP in Barnstaple for many years now. Two things continually strike me in my surgery; the first is complexity, and the second is problems with no easy solution.
“Taking how complex the system of health and wellbeing is first. Even as a busy Barnstaple GP, I struggle to keep up with what is on offer from different organisations, and how best to signpost people to what they need. Read More Be part of the next 80 years of volunteering at Citizens Advice
“At a recent meeting of voluntary groups, over 100 different organisations were represented just in Barnstaple. There were several active groups I didn’t even know existed, and if people like me don’t fully understand how much there is available in Barnstaple, it is even more difficult for someone lonely, struggling with something, or wanting to change their lives for the better to navigate things. One Barnstaple is there to help reduce that complexity and ultimately help people navigate situations better. Hopefully, it will also break down barriers between organisations so that people don’t feel passed from pillar to post sometimes.
“I’m a GP, and I am very well aware that many of the things people come in to see me about are things I cannot change or cure. They are issues around housing, loneliness, needing support, or positive things like people wanting to get out into nature or get their kids to exercise more. The solutions to these problems are often quite complex and need lots of different organisations working together for the same goal. It is important that this happens at a local level, as the people who know how best to solve issues in Barnstaple are in the town.
“For example, the police spend 40 per cent of their time in Barnstaple dealing with people with psychological difficulties who would be better supported elsewhere but end up with police involvement because the wider system is not working together as well as it should. It is an ambitious problem to solve, but the people in OneBarnstaple feel that this is the right way to go about it.” Read More Fire brigade believe Barnstaple building blaze was started deliberately From Thursday, May 30 until Saturday, June 1, the group will be hosting three days of events and activities based at the front of Barnstaple Library.
“We are interested to know what people love about their community, and how they want to improve it for their own and others wellbeing,” Dr Jones added.
He added that the organisation would not cost anything.
He said: “Partner organisations see the value of working together even more closely. We have a small amount of funding from DCC for Gail and Paul have recently started work with us on a project called Flow that aims to focus on supporting people with what matters and joining up services around people rather than expecting them to navigate their way around services to try and find the support they need.
“Flow aims to take a holistic problem-solving approach to supporting individual clients to address their own needs and vulnerabilities and to pull in support of partner agencies where appropriate
“There are similar projects at various stages of development throughout Northern Devon. Ilfracombe and Braunton already have more established groups, OneBideford is already well supported, and groups are rapidly gathering strength in places like Torrington, South Molton and Holsworthy.”
Full article from Devon Live – https://www.devonlive.com/news/local-news/group-aims-bring-groups-across-2916051