‘Help: Your Health, Your Community’ is the title of an event coming to Dorchester’s Corn Exchange on 4th May 2022. The event is a day of workshops and talks to stimulate discussion on social prescribing in Dorchester for both professionals and self-help groups and is completely free to attend, being sponsored by the Fine Foundation.
One of the organisers, Paul Wallis, told KeeP 106: ” The NHS locally is excellent and we are very lucky, however it can be delivered differently. Come and listen to various speakers talk about different models of Community health around the country.
“The NHS model generally is to diagnose and treat which is ideal for acute conditions, if you have the flu or appendicitis. However, for chronic problems it has limitations. As you are often left with a longstanding set of issue, for example arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and so on. You may end up going back to your GP practice because of these problems.
“What people often fail to recognise is that the expert on living with a condition is the cohort of patients who live with it 24/7.
“Help and Health” is a grassroots event to encourage a debate within the community as to how patients can support each other and simultaneously take pressure off the NHS.”
During the day there will be book talks from outstanding national authors:
- Julian Abel: The Compassion Project: A case for hope and human kindness from the town that beat loneliness. This is about the town of Frome and how they have built a grassroots project that has had tremendous effects on the local community. Julian is a retired palliative care physician, Director of Compassionate Communities UK author and podcaster.
- Dr Michael Dixon: Time to Heal: Tales of a Country Doctor He is a GP in Cullomptom Devon and Chair of the College of medicine.
- Mark G. Williams, Mindfulness Finding peace in a frantic world Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford.
In the evening Dorchester Arts will present a topical comedy show by Dr Phil Hammond.
There will be a workshop for local support groups and local GP practice groups in the morning. Support groups can be underappreciated; this is an opportunity to let people understand their value.
This is also a chance for them to learn from each other but also to educate the wider public about what they do.
The idea of the workshop is to:
- Share common problems and learn from each other.
- Introduce them to the PPG’s Patient practice groups of the local GP surgeries
- Empower them and recognise the good work they do
- Network so that they can share their knowledge more widely in the local community
There will be a ‘fair’ throughout the day with the local groups showcasing their offer to the public during the afternoon and demonstrations of a local self-help website, helpandkindness.co.uk This contains a wealth of information about local organisations that can provide help, services or social activities.
If you feel you would like to be involved in the workshops in the morning please contact
There are more details on this Facebook page and you can register your interest at eventbrite here.
