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Social Services Collaborate in Wellbeing Conference

Monday, 30 September 2013 at 00:00

Heart FM Local News

It was a meeting of the minds today, with community health the focus of discussion.
 

Social service leaders from across the County joined for a panel discussion at the CAW Hall that featured speakers from Guelph, who are in the midst of a series of Community Wellness initiatives.


Executive Director of the Woodstock Community Health Centre, Cate Melito, hopes bringing the community leaders together will lead to more collaboration.  "It's phenomenal to see the cross-section of people that are attending today because I think that it's by sharing this understanding, that wellbeing is something that we can influence.  We can start to look at to build those networks around what the needs are for Oxford County."


Melito says this collaboration among social services is key.  "We have tremendous relationships in Oxford County, so it's really an opportunity to build on those networks and pick some specific areas where we would really like to see some change occur, and focus our energies on a common goal."


The service providers were asked what areas they'd like the Social Planning Council to focus on in the next 3-years.

 

The "health status" of Canadians has been on the decline since the 1990's, according to metrics from the Canadian Institute of Wellbeing.

 

Here are some of the areas of concern:

 

-After the 2008 recession, Canadian wellbeing levels decreased by 24% and have not fully recovered.
-Diabetes are on the rise increasing 53.1 percent over the past 17 years.
-The likelihood of depression is also steadily growing.
-Canadians rating of their health status has declined since the late 1990’s. The decline in health status has been most marked among teenagers, a worrisome trend given that this age group is generally considered healthier than most.

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