Without strong communities, prevention remains fragile: lessons from SamenWelZijn

Researchers from the Athena Institute at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have completed the three-year SamenWelZijn project, exploring how local communities can contribute to wellbeing. The project brought together researchers, residents and community professionals to examine the role that caring and connected communities play in people's wellbeing, and how approaches such as social prescribing (Welzijn op Recept) can connect with existing assets and strengths in local communities.

The societal value of connective work
Social connections and a sense of belonging are important for people's wellbeing. Yet these connections do not simply emerge or sustain themselves. They are continuously built and maintained through connective work.

A central insight of SamenWelZijn is the key role of such "connective work": the everyday actions and attitudes through which residents, volunteers and community professionals help people feel welcome, create opportunities for encounters and nurture relationships within communities. This may involve organizing activities, but also listening, staying present and building trust over time.

This connective work plays a key role in building and sustaining the social fabric of neighbourhoods in Bospoort (Ede) and Geuzenveld-Slotermeer (Amsterdam). It helps create the relationships, networks and welcoming environments through which people can develop a sense of belonging and social connectedness.

This also has wider societal implications for how prevention and wellbeing are organised. While individually oriented approaches to wellbeing, such as social prescribing, have an important role, their potential lasting social connectedness also depends on the social networks, community initiatives and welcoming places available locally. The researchers therefore advocate for recognizing connective work as a societal value in its own right and investing in the people, places and collaboration needed to sustain it.

From participation to belonging
Taking part in activities does not automatically mean feeling included. SamenWelZijn therefore also explored how to support the step from participation to belonging: finding a place where someone feels welcome, develops meaningful relationships and can become part of a social network.

Social prescribing (in the Netherlands: Welzijn op Recept) served as an important starting point for this exploration. It enables primary care professionals to refer people with psychosocial complaints to a wellbeing coach, who helps them explore activities, social contacts and opportunities that may contribute to their wellbeing.

Researchers explored how wellbeing coaches, residents and other community professionals can work more closely with social networks and initiatives already present within communities. This involves looking beyond a referral to an activity, towards the relationships and welcoming environments that can help social connectedness grow and endure.

Researching and learning together
The findings emerged from a participatory action research approach, in which residents, community initiatives, community professionals and researchers worked together throughout the research process. Through interviews, neighbourhood walks and creative workshops, they explored different perspectives on wellbeing, caring communities and opportunities for local change.

Combining participatory action research with agent-based modelling and drawing on complexity theory, the project examined how interactions between individual wellbeing, neighbourhood dynamics and local contextual factors may influence one another.

Together, these approaches provided insights into the relationship between wellbeing, social relationships and neighbourhood environments. They show that wellbeing cannot only be understood at an individual level, but is also shaped by the social and local environments in which people live.

Resources for practice and policy
The findings of SamenWelZijn have been translated into publications and practical resources for residents, community organisations, professionals and policymakers. These resources provide practical tools for strengthening connective work and social connectedness in local communities:

• Weef Werk - makes connective work visible through stories from practice.
• Verbonden buurten, sterker welzijn - a policy brief that draws attention to connective work as an independent goal that deserves recognition and investment.
• Van meedoen naar erbij horen - an inspiration brochure for wellbeing coaches on promoting sustainable social connectedness in the neighbourhood.
• Krachten Bundelen in de Buurt - a workbook with activities for community connectors, residents and community professionals.

The societal contribution of SamenWelZijn therefore lies not only in generating new knowledge, but also in making visible and recognising the work required to develop caring and connected neighbourhoods. The findings offer residents, professionals and policymakers practical ways to build on existing strengths and relationships within neighbourhoods and to place not only participation, but also a sense of belonging, at the centre of efforts to support wellbeing.

The project is funded by ZonMw. The publications and practical resources are available for download on the project website.