Cordis Pulse: September 2019
September 2019
A number of resources this month focus on the impact of experiencing multiple disadvantage. For instance: Alcohol Change UK and the effect of alcohol on intimate partner violence; the Health Foundation on allostatic load, the Lancet Public Health on adverse childhood experiences; Public Health Wales and the WHO on wellbeing; and NICE on coexisting mental illness and substance misuse. This emphasis on multiple need mirrors a lot of our current work, e.g. evaluations of Making Every Adult Matter and of Fulfilling Lives programmes; and research on prevalence of adverse childhood experiences. We agree that it is important to have an ongoing focus on multiple challenges: not only because of the particularly poor outcomes experienced by this group, but also because of the challenges for providers in ensuring services are delivered in a joined-up and impactful way. Finally, a number of these reports examine resilience as well as risk. We welcome this as it ensures a focus on people’s strengths and avoids deficit models of delivery.