What is a Community-Centred Approach in Health and Social Care?

A community-centred approach in health and social care puts people living in a specific area or group at the heart of service design, delivery, and improvement. This approach values local knowledge, strengths, and relationships. It encourages people to participate in decisions affecting their health and wellbeing, rather than leaving everything to professionals or outside agencies.

Such an approach can look different in every area, but the underlying idea stays the same: the community drives change, shapes services, and takes shared responsibility for outcomes. Services work with the community as equal partners, valuing their experience and ideas.

Why Community-Centred Methods Matter

Health and social care have often focused on treating illness in individuals rather than preventing problems and building healthier places. This can lead to services missing opportunities to support people before issues become severe. By focusing on the community, services can help people stay well and develop solutions based on what local people want and need.

People’s surroundings, social contacts, and the resources they can access all affect their health. Working at a community level helps tackle issues like loneliness, unhealthy environments, and barriers to accessing support. When people feel involved and supported, they are more likely to engage with services and make choices that benefit their wellbeing.

Principles of Community-Centred Health and Social Care

A community-centred approach follows clear principles to keep people at the centre:

• Give communities power: Services listen to and act on what people say matters to them.
• Focus on strengths: Look at what communities already do well, rather than just their problems.
• Build local connections: Link people with each other and create local support networks.
• Ensure equality: Include those who often do not have their voices heard.
• Encourage shared decision-making: Communities work as partners with professionals.
• Trust and respect: Services build long-term trusting relationships.

These principles are about shifting the balance of power, so people are not passive recipients but active participants in their own care.

Examples of Community-Centred Approaches

Community-centred projects can be wide-ranging. They often include:

• Patient and public involvement groups: Members of the community directly contribute to shaping services.
• Community health champions: Local volunteers share information and encourage healthy living.
• Peer support groups: People with shared experiences offer support and practical advice.
• Asset-based community development: This focuses on identifying and developing the strengths and resources already present in a neighbourhood.
• Social prescribing: Health professionals refer people to community activities instead of only providing medical treatments.
• Community navigators: Staff or volunteers who connect people with local services and support.

Let’s look at some of these examples in more detail.

Social Prescribing

Social prescribing connects people to non-medical help, like exercise classes, art clubs, or volunteering. A link worker or community connector usually supports the person to take part in activities which can improve both their physical and mental health.

People might use social prescribing when feeling isolated, anxious, or managing long-term health conditions. Rather than a standard medical treatment, the solution comes from the community.

Peer Support Groups

Peer support brings people together who have a shared experience, such as living with the same health condition. Members help each other by offering encouragement, sharing tips, or just listening. These groups often reduce the need for formal health or social care and boost confidence.

Community Health Champions

Community health champions are volunteers who share health information and encourage healthy lifestyles. They might run sessions about eating well, exercise, or vaccines. These champions usually come from the community themselves, so they understand people’s daily lives, language, and cultural values.

Moving from “To” and “For” – To “With”

Traditional services have often been something “done to” or “for” people. In a community-centred system, support is “done with” the community. People are seen as assets, with ideas and strengths that make a difference. This involves seeing the whole person, not just a set of problems.

Services spend time building relationships and trust. Professionals become facilitators or supporters, instead of only experts. The goal shifts from just meeting needs, to creating opportunities and spaces where people support themselves and each other.

Benefits of a Community-Centred Approach

Making care community-centred brings many benefits, such as:

• Increased trust: People are more likely to trust and use services they help design.
• Better results: Solutions built on local knowledge often work better and last longer.
• Improved wellbeing: People feel involved, connected, and valued.
• Reduced inequalities: Bringing everyone into the conversation helps close gaps in health between different groups.
• Services become more responsive: Regular feedback means services can change to better fit what people want.

Addressing Health Inequalities

Health inequalities occur when some groups have worse health outcomes than others. Often, these differences are linked to poverty, disadvantage, or lack of access to services. A community-centred approach recognises these issues and gives people from all backgrounds a chance to have their say. This helps to target resources where they are needed most.

For example, involving local people in planning a new health clinic can uncover barriers others might miss, such as lack of transport, cultural beliefs, or unsuitable opening times.

Building on Local Strengths

Communities already have resources, such as skills, networks, meeting places, and knowledge. A community-centred approach makes use of these, so services work with what exists rather than starting from scratch or imposing outside solutions.

Asset-based community development starts by asking “What can the community offer?” not “What is wrong here?” For example, training local residents to become health champions can be more effective than hiring outside experts. These champions can reach people in ways professionals may not.

Challenges and Barriers

Some difficulties can arise, including:

• Resistance to change: Shifting power can make some professionals or organisations uncomfortable.
• Time required: Building relationships takes time and effort.
• Reaching everyone: Some groups may be harder to involve, such as people with language barriers or those not registered with services.
• Funding pressures: Budgets can make long-term investment difficult.
• Loss of momentum: Projects can fizzle out if local people or organisations lose interest or support.

Services need patience, openness, and commitment to keep community roles central, rather than slipping back into old ways of working.

Steps to Make Care Community-Centred

Services looking to put this approach in place may consider the following:

• Find out what matters to local people through surveys, meetings, or one-to-one conversations.
• Build relationships with local groups, leaders, and connectors who already have trust and local knowledge.
• Share information clearly so everyone understands what is happening and why.
• Invest in training and support, so people feel confident taking part.
• Review progress with the community often, keeping the approach flexible and open.

Examples of effective practices include:

• Co-production: Services and community members jointly design and deliver services.
• Community audits: Local people help review what is available – and what is missing.
• Asset mapping: Communities list their strengths and resources together.

Constant feedback and discussion helps projects stay relevant and responsive.

The Role of Professionals

Professionals play a different part under this approach. Instead of leading every decision, they listen, support, and learn from people with lived experience. Their skills are still vital, but they must step back to allow others space to work things out.

Training in communication, cultural awareness, and facilitation can help professionals become better partners to the community. Learning from mistakes and accepting challenge is part of this way of working.

Examples include:

• Taking time to listen, without judgement.
• Accepting that solutions may look different to traditional services.
• Valuing community voices, even if they challenge professional views.

Making Sure Everyone Can Be Involved

To be community-centred, approaches must reach everyone, not just the most confident or outspoken people. This can mean making meetings easy to access, translating information, or actively seeking out under-represented groups.

Simple ways to widen involvement include:

• Using local venues rather than official buildings.
• Offering childcare or covering expenses.
• Providing information in different formats and languages.

Inclusion boosts trust and ensures solutions match the whole community’s needs.

The Impact of COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many organisations saw the value of community-based responses. Local volunteers supported neighbours, delivered food, and kept each other informed. These experiences have strengthened calls to make care even more community-centred.

People found new ways to connect, reaching out to those isolated or unable to access normal services. The pandemic showed that communities could act quickly and support each other – lessons which services can carry forward.

Looking Ahead

A community-centred approach asks everyone to play a part in health and care. While it may look different in each place, common threads bind it together: active involvement, respect for local knowledge, and a belief that communities hold part of the solution to better health and wellbeing.

By working “with” not “to” or “for” people, health and social care can become more responsive, fair, and effective. The rewards are seen in stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities.

Final Thoughts

A community-centred approach in health and social care represents a meaningful shift in how support is designed and delivered. By placing people and communities at the heart of decisions, it respects their knowledge, strengths, and lived experiences. This method fosters collaboration, trust, and shared responsibility, moving beyond a one-size-fits-all model to one that is flexible, inclusive, and responsive.

While challenges such as funding constraints, time demands, and the need for genuine inclusivity exist, the benefits far outweigh these obstacles. Community-centred care leads to better health outcomes, reduced inequalities, stronger social connections, and services that truly meet local needs.

Ultimately, this approach reminds us that health and wellbeing are not just about treating illness but about building supportive environments where people feel valued and empowered. When services work with communities, not to or for them, we create healthier, more resilient societies capable of facing current and future challenges together.