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Priority 4: Health and Wellbeing

We will:

  • position ourselves to be at the forefront of supporting families in the community, particularly to keep them safe, independent and support their emotional wellbeing through partnerships and projects
  • position ourselves to be at the forefront of supporting families with children with special educational needs and disabilities to foster a love of reading, access support and connect with others over shared interests
  • support our residents with Living Well and Ageing Well and work with our Community Managed Libraries to deliver programmes that respond to the needs of neighbourhoods across Bexley
  • open our Library Space to youth organisations and other key partners that deliver wellbeing focused activities in the evenings
  • seek external investment in schemes that combine wellbeing with cultural and artistic activity
  • work with our culture partners and communities to provide access to creative health opportunities i.e. addressing health outcomes through creative activity

 

Case study: Bag Books

Children reading a book together
Bag Books are multi-sensory stories, designed for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties, people with severe learning disabilities and young people on the autistic spectrum. They are also hugely beneficial to those with visual and hearing impairments and work well with children who have language delay and younger mainstream children with visual impairment.

Each bag book comes in an A3 box with a carrying handle and contains one story - each story is made up of separate page cards, each of which has an object for the children to hear, smell or feel. They are told interactively, through actions and emotions rather than words and pictures and are intended to capture the listener’s interest and can be used for both leisure and learning.

Small selections of Bag Books are stocked at Central, Crayford, Erith, Sidcup, Thamesmead and Welling Libraries. Due to their size and format, they are stored away from public view, so just ask staff if you would like to see or borrow one.