Community Health Ambassadors Network

Ensure your community's voice is heard and get their questions answered.

Who can be a Southwark Community Health Ambassador?

There are currently have over 100 local people signed up and actively helping their community. The network is open to absolutely everyone living or working in Southwark and everyone's voice is important. Ambassadors include residents, faith groups, voluntary sector workers, volunteers, medical professionals, teachers, Tenants and Residents Associations (TRAs) and councillors.

Why join?

• Join the dedicated volunteers making a real difference to the health and wellbeing of their communities
• Help improve vaccination uptake and prevent the spread of infectious diseases by ensuring everyone has access to accurate, up-to-date information
• Ensure your community's voice is heard and their questions answered
• Make sure your community knows what support services are available
• Receive a range of resources such as posters, social media graphics, videos, and leaflets to help promote accurate information, including in multiple languages and alternative formats for people with disabilities
• Access to free, accredited training courses. We have an ongoing programme of training, which has included mental health first aider (accredited), make every contact count, how vaccines work, suicide prevention training, positive wellbeing webinars, motivational interviewing and creating videos.
• Attend monthly network meetings, workshops and webinars, led by Public Health professionals and other guest speakers. Recent sessions have included updates on:

• Cost of Living
• Social Prescribing
• Citizens Advice Southwark
• Join the network WhatsApp group to collaborate with others, share information and ask questions
• Be supported to make your own video so that your community can hear from those they trust

How much time is involved?

• To join the network, you will need to attend an online induction, which takes place on zoom (30-60 minutes)
• After the induction, you can decide whether or not to join the network. You can also leave the network at any time
• You can contribute as much as you like and use whatever methods you prefer to pass on information. Quarterly, we ask you to estimate how many messages you have sent out and methods you are using so that we can shape and improve our service
• The WhatsApp group, monthly feedback surveys, webinars, workshops, network meetings and coffee mornings are all optional resources

Read more about Southwark Community Health Ambassadors Network on the Healthwatch Southwark website.