In Bouwlust (The Hague) two community workers invited the neighbourhood group to try the network tool “Good for Each Other”. The network tool was developed by care cooperatives in the Netherlands and is about organising care and support on a small scale.
The network map helps to gain insight into your social network. Under the guidance of community workers, the group worked on various topics:
- Daily things: household/garden, finances, transport, shopping/cooking, computers, pets.
- Social life: sociability, hobby.
- Good conversation: conversation partner
- Care: medical
For each topic the participants filled in the name of at least one person who supports them and added what they would like to do for someone in their network. This exercise generated a lot of discussion because it was challenging for some of the participants to fill in the form.
In a next step, the following questions were discussed:
- Do the people you mentioned in the form know that you think you can count on them?
Have a talk with them and discuss what you can and want to do for each other. - Do you have empty spaces on the map?
Discuss in the group how you can strengthen or expand your social contacts.
The “Good for Each Other” network card is a great tool for reflecting on your social network and getting an idea of where you could start to strengthen or expand your own social network.