For decades, community psychologists have evidenced the positive impact of community belonging on people's health. However, we have seen a vast reduction in funding for community initiatives. I partnered with a community arts hub that offers a public living room in a highly deprived area. Utilising a community-based participatory action research design (CBPAR), we used digital storytelling to explore the impact of the public living room (PLR) on people's lives. We used reflexive thematic analysis to interpret the nine stories. Co-analysing the data showed that offering a ‘welcoming environment’ (i.e., a ‘non-judgemental’, “safe space” which had ‘boundaries’ and accessible “free food”) fostered a ‘chance to belong to a community’ (i.e., enabling participants to “give back to the community”, build ‘trust within the relationship’ and ‘connections’, helping them to discover that they were ‘not alone’ and ‘people care about [them]’); thus helping them to “change their [my] life” (i.e., from a “circle of shit” to giving them “purpose” and “opportunities” which improved their “mental health” and ‘self-worth’). Recommendations are offered regarding ways of promoting a warm environment, creating relationships with the community and opportunities to develop connections.
To access the complete article, click Voss et al. (2026)
Katie Voss, Lealah Hewitt-Johns, Stephen Minton, Pete Keohane, & Eric Hewes
Keywords: Community Psychology, Community, Community-Based Participatory Action Research, digital stories, public living room, health inequalities
Based on a work at www.gjcpp.org. 
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