Primary prevention communities of practice
Communities of practice are emerging as a successful and sought-after mechanism to improve the wellbeing of workers, organisations and the primary prevention sector.
Safe and Equal’s primary prevention communities of practice (CoP) bring together those working in primary prevention to explore challenges and opportunities, strengthen policy and practice and build the capabilities and skills of those working in prevention.
Communities of practice are established with the aim of creating a safe space for prevention practitioners to exchange knowledge, resources and ideas, and build rich relationships. Through peer learning and expert facilitation, we enable opportunities for personal growth and practical skill development. You can learn more about our approach to CoPs through our resource, ‘Learning Together’.
Applications for 2023-2024 have now closed.
Waitlist and other CoPs
Put your name down for future CoPs by joining the waitlist! We are always revisiting our wait list and assessing our ability to respond to sector demand and interest. We will let you know the possibility of another CoP becoming available. Let us know by filling out the Open Expression of Interest
Our ethos to online CoP delivery
Since 2021, Safe and Equal have convened CoPs purely online, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and work from home mandates. We received positive feedback from participants about these online forums and the safe spaces we were able to create, and continue to hear, particularly for those with caring arrangements and working in rural or remote areas, that online continues to be beneficial.
However, we are increasingly receiving feedback that face-to-face would also be valuable. A key part of Safe and Equal’s ethos to CoPs is the formation and holding of space in line with a Group Agreement. This agreement is determined with each group and underscores how each CoP is convened so that each group is as safe and enabling as it can be. Considerations around format, including face-to-face options will be discussed as a part of group agreements with each CoP and considered on a case-by-case basis.
What practitioners have to say, and what we are learning through communities of practice
Over the years our primary prevention communities of practice have become a valuable offering through Safe and Equal. Safe and Equal continues to hear from prevention practitioners about the importance of enabling connections with other prevention practitioners and expanding networks to enable greater visibility of the range of work occurring in prevention.
We know connection is key for exposure, but also well-being. Working in social change is not easy, and isolation is common in a sector working in organisations where prevention may not be the sole focus. CoPs help connect those people.
We hear from practitioners that CoPs create an environment of support, lead to reduced isolation and create opportunities for connection in a sector where people are often working in isolated roles. Some reflections from past participants about their experience include:
“Safe space to reflect about our practice, including the challenges of the work. Overtly given permission to be inarticulate and vulnerable as we grappled with difficulties in the work. Sufficient structure but also flexibility to follow themes of interest as they arose.”
– CoP participant (June 2023)
“We did problem-solving work. I didn’t always put into practice but was interesting to learn that model.... Sometimes we just got time to get things off the chest. We also got the opportunity to work in small groups to work through problems.”
– CoP participant (June 2022)
“I was looking for any tips and tricks to do it better, and to take into my workplace to say, ‘we should we doing this’, and show best practice, have something better to speak to at the end in a more strategic way.”
– CoP participant (June 2022)
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