Community Connecting Community Connecting is a way of creating relationships between disabled people and people with mental health difficulties and the local community, based on shared interests, mutual support and a focus on the positives both the disabled person and other community members gain by coming together. Often disabled people and people with mental health difficulties are isolated from their local community. This might be because of the community’s lack of understanding or fear of disability or mental health, the person’s confidence levels and state of mind, physical barriers such as inaccessible buildings or different communication needs e.g. people with learning disabilities who use few words to communicate. This isolation tends to get worse, the more complex your disability or diagnosis. We use a Community Connecting approach across a range of projects to enable disabled people and people with mental health difficulties of all ages to have meaningful friendships and connections which unlock opportunities: We train staff teams in how Community Connecting can be used as a means to enable people to be linked into their local areas, gain friendships and other opportunities. The Co-op Foundation has awarded us a grant to work with young people 14-25 in Birmingham and Walsall using Community Connecting as part of their Youth Loneliness Campaign. We use Community Connecting as part of our Leadership Programme to enable people to make strategic links that can benefit their personal development. If you want to know more about Community Connecting email us at [email protected] or ring us on 0300 302 0770.