Health and Wellness Friendly Communities

We are an Action Learning Lab dedicated to the growth of health and wellness friendly communities. Health and wellness friendly communities cooperate and innovate at multiple levels to promote the physical, mental, social, spiritual health and well-being of people over the life course and address social risks to health. The purpose of our Lab is to (1) learn what works in this field and why; (2) track results and value for individuals, populations, organizations, and geographies; and (3) ensure that policy is informed by scientific evidence through research, policy outreach, and training.

We facilitate Canadian-made solutions in research, technology innovation, education/training, knowledge mobilization and community activation.

Research

Create processes and infrastructure to study and increase value in Quintuple Aims
Design, test and pilot new interventions, including realist and pragmatic research and evaluation studies
Document the implementation, growth, and evolution of health and wellness friendly community efforts over multiple years

Technology & Tools

Create evidence-based & application ready solutions and algorithms that meet rapidly changing technology needs and opportunities
Provide access to a common platform/ e-technologies to build shared HWFC dataset, and manage dataset on behalf of affiliates
Track quality of life patterns and impact to contribute to longitudinal population health research

Education & Training

Train undergraduate and graduate students, volunteers, and community leaders with flexible, experiential learning opportunities
Create community ready talent pipeline

Knowledge Mobilization

Develop theory-based models
Synthesize learning and analysis of results for knowledge mobilization, value, and policy
Collaborate to study and grow promising practices, inform continuous improvement, identify patterns and new opportunities

Activation

Promote virtual programs providing access to health and wellness opportunities for all
Support emerging citizen leaders and champions to strengthen community mobilization and collective action

We take a learning systems approach to guide improvement and increase value in terms of population health and wellness, people’s experience of care, care provider well-being, equity and cost (the Quintuple Aim).

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