The Community Health & Wellbeing Project involves collaboration across sectors with a wide variety of organizations in the capital region. Its goal is to build on the strengths of existing Capital Regional District (CRD) services to foster a healthier, more equitable region.
A key component of the project is the Capital Regional District Community Health Network (CRD CHN), formerly the Regional Outcomes Monitoring (ROM) Collaborative.
The CRD CHN's mission is to build and sustain healthy communities within the Capital Regional District. It aims to do this by facilitating discussion and catalyzing action around the social, economic, and environmental determinants of health and wellness.
More details about how the CRD CHN works to achieve its mission and its 10 goal areas can be found here: CRD CHN Brochure [PDF/2MB].
Structure
The CRD CHN is made up of local service providers, municipal governments, the Government of BC, Island Health, post-secondary institutions, people with lived and living experiences, and the CRD.
The CRD CHN strives to have a membership that is reflective of our region and 10 goal areas. Members meet once a month to learn and network, with additional work being conducted in the subgroups.
The purpose of the Administrative Subgroup is to set the strategic and operational direction for the CRD CHN. The subgroup meets four times throughout the year to identify topics that are of interest to the CRD CHN membership, identify presenters and set a meeting schedule.
Additionally, they develop the annual workplan that includes input from all members. Below is the CRD CHN's 2023 Workplan. It is a living document that is continually reviewed and updated as community needs shift.
The subgroup is made up of five individuals representing different types of CHN members. Currently, we have representatives from the CRD, post-secondary institutions and community organizations.
The purpose of the Data and Metrics Subgroup is to:
Maintain a data and reports inventory so service providers and local governments have easy access to evidence that informs their programs and services.
Respond to data and research requests from the CRD CHN membership.
Act as a community of practice to connect people working with data in our region and identify gaps.
Subgroup membership includes Island Health, the Centre for Youth and Society (University of Victoria), the CRD, the Victoria Foundation, the Community Social Planning Council, and municipal and provincial government staff.
Projects
The Data and Metrics subgroup has produced a number of knowledge translation tools related to different determinants of health. To ensure the information is accessible and engaging, it has been presented through infographics.
More recently, the Data and Metrics Subgroup has developed additional research partnerships with the University of Victoria and other network members to conduct original research. The subgroup also maintains a data and reports inventory that provides resources related to our ten goal areas that CRD CHN members and others in the community can use to inform program and service planning.
The Thriving Children and Youth Subgroup brings together community organizations, Island Health and academics to identify gaps in our understanding of the health and wellbeing of children across the region, and to build relationships and conduct research to fill those gaps. The subgroup's definition of children and youth is quite broad and spans infancy to early adulthood.
The Thriving Children and Youth Subgroup is made up of service providers who work with diverse youth, the University of Victoria's Centre for Youth and Society, Island Health and local governments.
Projects
One gap that was identified by this subgroup is the increasing feelings of anxiety children and youth are experiencing related to climate change. To fill this gap, the subgroup brought together relevant service providers with expertise in supporting children and climate anxiety to develop a series of climate anxiety workshops for youth that will run late summer and fall 2023.
The Thriving Children and Youth Subgroup supports the Centre for Youth and Society to host the annual Flourishing Children and Youth Program Fair. This event brings together child and youth service providers and academics to learn about each other's services, gain skills, and hear from the children and youth we serve.
The purpose of the Healthy and Safe Environments Subgroup is to build a regional understanding of the impact of built and natural environments on human health. The group works to identify gaps in this understanding and fill them through research and partnerships.
The Healthy and Safe Environments Subgroup is made up of municipal government staff from across the region, as well as provincial government staff, Island Health and academics.
Projects
The main project of the subgroup at this time is focused on understanding the health impacts of different climate events and who is most vulnerable to negative health outcomes. The first phase of this project is examining the impact extreme heat has on individuals in our region and how local governments and service providers can better support people to prepare for, respond to and recover from extreme heat events. More information about this project can be found in A Hot Topic Story Map.
Based on the needs and gaps within the community, we create additional subgroups that align with our ten goal areas. If you are interested in supporting an existing subgroup or would like to identify a community need please connect with our Healthy Communities Planner.
Background
The Community Health & Wellbeing Project began in 2012 to build on the strengths of existing CRD services to contribute to a healthier, more equitable capital region.
Past work of this project has included the development of a Community Health & Wellbeing Plan for the region; delivery of workshops and the development of tools to help build capacity of local governments and community organizations; coordination of the ROM Collaborative, and; the development of an online mapping resource to identify inequities in the region through the visualization of local data and community assets.
ROM focused on identifying and sharing key pieces of health information with service providers and local governments to inform their planning and programming decisions.
In 2018, the ROM Collaborative expanded its mission to include more focus on partnership development and collective work to fill health-related gaps in our region that fall outside of the previous focus on data and knowledge translation. Through this change, the ROM Collaborative became the Capital Regional District Community Health Network.
The CRD conducts its business within the Territories of many First Nations, all of whom have a long-standing relationship with the land and waters from time immemorial that continues to this day. Statement of Reconciliation
