CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

It is, more than ever, necessary to look within the HAN for opportunities to contribute to opportunities for people, families, neighborhoods and communities. It is necessary to exchange ideas within and between academies about social issues, about social responsibility and about the contribution that everyone can make from their own profession. This social responsibility is not always obvious, which is why HAN-FairHealth and the Werkplaats Sociaal Domein are looking for ways to stimulate the conversation HAN-wide. We do this with the dialogue game Kansen Keren as a starting point.

LISTENING TO STORIES

We speak to fourteen students – one from each HAN academy – about topics that are also discussed in the game; Living environment, Health, Social support, Socio-economic status, Relationships and sexual development, Education and Beliefs. In the conversations we look for situations, circumstances and people that influenced the chances in the student’s life. The first personal stories of Tisha (International Social Work), Thijs (economics), Yaël (communication), Kaylee (Pabo) and Carmen (law) show what can come your way in the first twenty years of life.

Tisha says she grew up in a rented house with her mother, her grandparents and a total of four children. She was almost always outside to get away from the situation at home.

SEARCH FOR PROFESSIONAL LEADS

The conversations are elaborated in portraits and provided with illustrations. Each portrait is then presented to a lecturer or researcher from the HAN. We ask them to read the story and respond to it from a professional perspective. So:

• What can (future) professionals of your academy learn from this story? What is recognizable?
• What can (future) professionals do in concrete terms to reduce socio-economic health inequalities?
• Can you connect a theory/great thinker or tile wisdom to it?

We presented Tisha’s story to HAN colleagues from Built Environment. They wrote:

The design of the outdoor space can contribute to the physical, social and mental health of people like Tischa. Outdoor spaces that can offer support when home doesn’t feel at home. What the best design solution is is not yet known, but by doing more research into the design of public space and how this affects (vulnerable) people, we are getting closer and closer to a solution for the healthy living environment.

CONTRIBUTE

The stories and reflections are then bundled and included in a booklet. This allows us to organise meet-ups for conversations about social responsibilities in our own field of work. The belief is: everyone can be meaningful to another, everyone can contribute to reducing socio-economic health inequalities. We expect to finish the booklet in the spring of 2023 and look forward to a conversation!