ABSTRACT
The South West Compassionate Communities Network (SWCCN) was established in 2018 with the mission to build the capacity of the communities in the South West of Western Australia to be able to take a compassionate communities approach to dying, caring and grieving, guided by the Ottawa Charter principles for health promotion. This chapter gives examples of successes and challenges of two of the SWCCN key building blocks aimed at system changes in two settings, a health service and local government: The Compassionate Connector program, a partnership with a health service, involved volunteer Connectors supporting people living with chronic and advanced life-limiting illnesses by enhancing people’s social connections and networks. The evaluation demonstrated a significant increase in social connectedness and a decrease in hospital usage.
The Compassionate Bunbury Charter, in partnership with the Bunbury City Council, has fostered community conversations and actions around caring, dying and grieving with ten guiding themes being identified by the community. The Charter is accompanied by a Toolkit of practical actions people can undertake individually and collectively. These two initiatives succeeded in creating supportive environments in the community, strengthened community action, developed personal skills in the community and attempted reorienting health services pending health system reform.
Public Health Palliative Care International endorsed SWCCN as a Compassionate Community in October 2025.
