Power and Connection: The International Development of Local Area Coordination

Local Area Coordination is one of the most important and promising social innovations in the world today. This book provides an up-to-date account of the evolution of Local Area Coordination since its beginnings in Western Australia in the late 1980s. It summarises all of the relevant research and identifies the key developmental strategies necessary for successful implementation.

The book's authors, Eddie Bartnik and Ralph Broad, are two of the leading figures in the international development of Local Area Coordination and the book is supplemented by research and stories from many other practitioners and researchers. The book also includes the stories of people who have experienced the positive impact of Local Area Coordination.

Building on the original core Western Australia Local Area Coordination foundations and Framework, the last five years have seen an exciting period of intensive international learning, adaptation and growth. This includes moving towards a 'whole community' approach, ensuring easier access and no barriers to early help, increasing reach across the whole system and emerging international collaboration, mutual support and shared learning. This learning has also further improved the understanding and embedding of broader elements, or building blocks, of design and implementation. These are critical to effectively 'getting started', building authentic relationships with people, families, communities and service partners and, importantly, consistency of outcomes, influence, scaling up and sustainability.

Chapters in the book are organised to highlight the key themes that underpin the sustained Local Area Coordination international development. These themes include clarity of the purpose and international history of Local Area Coordination (Chapter 1), the 'must haves' of the Local Area Coordination Framework and the maturing connection to whole system reform (Chapter 2), the building blocks for ensuring fidelity and embedding sustainability (Chapter 3), stories of change and impact (Chapter 4), the growing evidence base to sustain 'A Leap of Fact' (Chapter 5), new horizons as a whole community approach, in new countries and as a key community and service resource in a time of pandemic (Chapter 6) and the critical importance of leadership development and learning networks (Chapter 7).

The authors end by sharing their vision of a 5-year plan for Local Area Coordination in a post COVID-19 world, alongside people and families, embedded in community and in partnership with formal services.

Eddie Bartnik has been continuously involved in Local Area Coordination from its inception in the late 1980s right through to the present. Further to his early role as state-wide Director of Local Area Coordination in Western Australia, he has been supporting Australian and international developments through his work as a Director of Tamar Consultancy Pty Ltd and his writings. Eddie has held a variety of senior state and national government positions across disability, mental health and community services, including being Western Australia's first Mental Health Commissioner and Strategic Advisor with the National Disability Insurance Scheme. He is currently International Lead for the International Initiative for Disability Leadership.

Ralph Broad is Director of Inclusive Neighbourhoods Ltd and led the development of Local Area Coordination in England and Wales. This built on the original ground-breaking developments in Western Australia, expanding Local Area Coordination to its current, inclusive "whole community, whole system" focus alongside people of all ages and backgrounds. He also established the England and Wales Local Area Coordination Network and authored the first two reports on Local Area Coordination in England and Wales. He has subsequently worked in partnership with leaders to support new Local Area Coordination developments in Western Australia, Singapore and now the Isle of Man, as part of contribution to health and social care reform. Prior to this, Ralph had a variety of senior leadership positions in organisations in England, Scotland and Western Australia.