Projects with a focus on the power of connectedness
Why share projects?
Sharing projects is a common-sense thing to do. Here’s why:
- Sharing projects helps communities learn from and be inspired by each other’s successes and avoids reinventing the wheel.
- Seeing what has worked elsewhere can provide valuable insights and shortcuts to success. Instead of starting from scratch, we can build upon existing knowledge.
- Learning from the experiences of other projects allows people to maximise the impact while minimising costs.
- Project sharing promotes cultural exchange and understanding, as it involves learning from diverse perspectives and approaches to problem-solving. It breaks down barriers, builds empathy and understanding, and creates a more interconnected global community.
Which projects are shared?
We share learning from the development of Health Connections Mendip, a community-based approach to health and wellbeing established by Jenny Hartnoll at Frome Medical Practice in 2013. The work began long before there was a national blueprint for social prescribing within GP practices and became one of the early practical examples of how health services and communities can work together to strengthen wellbeing.
Learning from this work — sometimes referred to as part of the Frome Model or Compassionate Frome — has been shared with individuals, organisations and health systems both in the UK and internationally.
We have also shared the concept of Connectors with hundreds of people and organisations. Connectors are individuals who naturally help others by passing on information, linking people to activities, and strengthening the informal networks that support community life.
In 2026 we are launching Frome Connects — the Connectedness Experiment, which explores how connectedness can be strengthened across a whole town.
What kind of projects do we run?
Our innovative 'whole community' projects are based on over three decades of community work and are designed to be simple, practical, low cost, common sense, anyone and everyone can get involved and they are easily replicable.
