Personhood and collective wellbeing

This project will focus on the ways in which aspects of wellbeing can be recognised, enhanced or promoted in order to amplify and develop wellbeing capability in our society. We know that the greater the capability for support and preventative care, the better the quality of life, and the lower the demand on healthcare provision. The outcomes of our research demonstrate that the potential for collaborative wellbeing is considerable, but insufficiently recognised in hospitals, in palliative care, in prison, in remote parts of our country, and in the poorest parts of our cities.

We aim to develop a new focus on wellbeing using an assets-based approach in ‘invisible or challenged’ communities. We wish to engage with these communities, using proven methods of creative and collaborative workshops developed in GSA’s Institute of Design Innovation, to elicit the positive stories of wellbeing that challenged or invisible communities experience in order to share them with others, giving them a voice and visibility and enabling their contribution to wellbeing.  This has the potential for shaping how we build wellbeing into the fabric of our society more explicitly; developing new ways to strengthen social and preventative wellbeing; and influencing future directions of research and practice.