Community health embodies the ideal that ‘together we can do more’. This is achieved through a whole of settings approach to health and wellbeing where agencies work together to address issues of concern. This is especially important following COVID-19.
Since 2017, challenges experienced in building relationships with primary and secondary schools in the Inner Eastern Melbourne area have included relying on one champion/ contact, competing priorities and prioritising education over additional programs that address student health and wellbeing. It has become even more challenging to re-engage with schools since the COVID-19 pandemic.
AccessHC and the Department of Education (DE) Respectful Relationships (RR) staff recognised the importance of working together to better engage and provide practical and tangible support for schools in the Inner Eastern Melbourne area. This has evolved from coordinating support for schools to implement Respectful Relationships Education (RRE), to collaborating in partnership across a range of health priorities that address the schools’ issues of concern.
The partners include AccessHC, DE RR, headspace Hawthorn, Link Health and Community, and EDVOS, bringing together Community Health – Health Promotion, education, mental health and gender equity expertise. DE has also provided an essential link to building relationships with schools. The partnership created a foundation to meaningfully engage schools, create projects that meet schools’ needs and align with RRE.
Examples of the collaborative work that has come out of the partnership includes:
- Developing consent education training for school teachers.
- Developing a set of Inclusive Language Resources.
- Adapting gender equity tools designed for early childhood services into a student-led project for primary school students.
This inter -agency collaboration has enabled the development of strong and mutually beneficial relationships between the partner organisations and schools that are then able to leverage local resources, expertise and partnerships to deliver greater gender equity impacts in schools. The work has also highlighted the positive benefits of the DE RRE program as core within the school curriculum in enabling this broader activity.
If you would like to hear more about the partnership work AccessHC are doing in schools, please contact the team via email at Health.Promotion@Accesshc.org.au.