Greenstead Care: Residents’ Experiences of Care, Health And Wellbeing

The Greenstead Care (GCARE) project explores how care, health and wellbeing are lived and experienced by residents in Greenstead, Colchester, particularly those from Black and Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) backgrounds. Adopting a participatory, place-based approach, the project investigates how everyday practices, spaces, and relationships shape the capacity of residents and communities to live well, feel healthy, and care for oneself and others. Greenstead is the most deprived ward in Colchester and among the most ethnically diverse. Residents face intersecting challenges, including poor health outcomes, inadequate access to services, and experiences of exclusion and stigma. These are intensified for GEM residents, whose voices and experiences often go unheard in policy and planning. Through participatory community mapping workshops, walking interviews with residents, and conversations with local service providers, GCARE documents how care is experienced in community spaces, parks, shops, spiritual spaces, clinics, and everyday encounters. The research reveals that care is not only formal or institutional—it is relational, emotional, spatial, and ethical. It is embedded in acts of mutual aid, social interaction, and cultural belonging.