This month we’ve been having some conversations with two new Councils who are very close to developing Local Area Coordination. We’ve been reflecting on some of those early conversations about the vision and potential for Local Area Coordination and the power of learning together as a Network, sharing ideas and existing knowledge.

Starting Local Area Coordination in a new place is genuinely exciting, but it is also often complicated because, well, doing things differently is never straightforward. Whilst there is a well-established and evidence-driven set of principles and building blocks for establishing Local Area Coordination, it is important that we recognise that every area is different, and no area is introducing it in perfect conditions. Local systems are ever-changing, resources are stretched, and organisations and communities are balancing lots of competing priorities. A critical part of our role is to help these areas understand and hold onto what makes LAC work for people, while thinking through how to make it real in their own neighbourhoods and systems of support. Crucially, though, these new areas don’t do that on their own.

Our members regularly tell us that the biggest benefit of being part of the Local Area Coordination Network is being able to draw on the experience of other areas and people who have already been there, done that, and learnt what works and why. Over the 16 years of the LAC Network (and, of course, the knowledge that stretches all the way back to its foundations in 1980s Australia), we’ve come to learn an enormous amount together about the conditions that help make it a success. What is also really cool, though, is seeing how every new area is contributing to that knowledge too. We’re all learning, all the time, as things evolve. New areas bring a critical and helpful perspective to the old.

As facilitators of the development of Local Area Coordination, we help new areas connect with Coordinators, managers and leaders elsewhere who have grappled with similar questions. Often, a conversation with someone who has faced the same challenge is far more useful than a document telling you what good practice looks like (although we co-produce a lot of those too, don’t get me wrong!).

The impact, value and, to be frank, the joy of “network learning”, as we are increasingly understanding it, is something we want to make even more intentional as LAC grows.

We’re excited that, over the next month or so, we hope to be able to share more about starting that journey with at least one new area. And when they join, they won’t just be starting Local Area Coordination. They’ll be joining a community of people who are learning how to do it well, together.