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Develop Your Community Connection Plan
Key Learnings
- The Art of Asking and Circles of Support can be used to plan your community access plan
- Peer support networks can help build a person's capital
- The Peer Connect website provides information on joining or starting a peer network
Now that we have talked about the Art of Asking and Circles of Support, it’s time to think about how you can apply these to building you own community connection plan. Let’s start by thinking about the networks in your life that can assist you to achieve your vision and goals.
Design My Networks to Support My Vision and Goals and Connect
Approaches to Gain Support to Connect in Community
The Circles of Support Approach – A Planned Approach
How did you go? Did you start making some great plans?
If you looked at your networks and felt they weren’t as strong or big as you would like then this is something you can work on...and peer networks are a great place to start!
Peer Support Networks
A peer support network is where people with similar experiences or circumstances meet and provide support to each other. Evidence shows that peer support can help people feel more confident, knowledgeable, capable, and less isolated. They have also been shown to build a person’s capital. Check out the four types of capital shown in the table below. Remember when we looked at these back in Topic 1?
| Personal Capital | Knowledge Capital | Social Capital | Material Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can express myself, people understand me, I can build confidence, feel safe, feel valued, build positive identity | Tips & tricks, get good information, develop skills and knowledge, gain access to role models | Emotional support, friendship, gain a sense of belonging, recognise value of networking | Shared transport, somewhere to go, people and social connections can become valuable resources, food and drink |
These types of capital help people move towards Citizenhood, which is all about taking up active and valued roles in the community. Peer networks also provide something we like to call the ‘feel good formula’. This formula is made up of:
- social support through a sense of belonging, companionship and connection
- knowledge gained through contact with people with similar lived experiences
- social learning by learning from role models
- chances to compare ideas and thoughts with others
- gaining a sense of purpose when you can help others too
Let’s hear what peer groups mean to members in the videos below!
Our Voice SA (OVSA) is a group of people living with intellectual or learning disability who come together to learn about self-advocacy and decision making skills. The first video below was made by and features members of OVSA.
Gavin Burner Interviews Our Voice Chairman, Ian Cummins from JFA Purple Orange on Vimeo.
The Disability Elders of All Ages (DEAA) is a peer network for people living with physical or sensory disability who are interested in technology. In this video we hear from current members of the group about how they have grown through connecting with each other.
What is Disability Elders of All Ages? from JFA Purple Orange on Vimeo.
The Enabled Youth Disability Network, EYDN, (formerly Julia Farr Youth) is run by youths living with disability and aims to amplify the voices of young people living with disability in South Australia. Watch this video to learn more.
What is the Enabled Youth Disability Network (EYDN)? from JFA Purple Orange on Vimeo.
To find out more about all these peer groups visit the Purple Orange website.
If joining a peer network is something you would also like to do, the Peer Connect website is a great place to start!
This site provides practical information about peer networks in Australia, with a specific focus on disability. You can find videos and guides that show you how to set up and run a peer support network.
If you would prefer to join an existing one you can also search for a group near you. There are also many online peer support groups that you can connect with.
Click the links below to start your peer network journey!
A huge congratulations, you have made it to the end of Topic 6! In this final topic of the SKILL series, you learned about:
- Your right to connect to community
- Barriers that make connecting tough and strategies to overcome them
- Supports and plans you can put in place to make your connection goals a reality
Next Steps and Upcoming Opportunities…
JFA Purple Orange hope you both enjoyed and got a lot out of the last 6 topics.
If you would like to offer any feedback on these SKILL topics, please email your thoughts to Andrew at andrewg@purpleorange.org.au or hit the Contact Us button at the top of this page.
You can also contact Andrew if you are interested in joining the SKILL Facebook group or a SKILL Peer Support Network. These are starting up in regions all around South Australia and in Broken Hill too. Andrew can help you connect with the Country SKILL Connector near you.
Thanks for taking part in SKILL! We hope you got a lot of ideas and information and we look forward to hearing from you.
Click below to view your reflections.
