Identifying a need

Founder, Felicity Hatzis, has worked in community pharmacy for over 20 years.

During Felicity’s time serving local communities, she noted that while there were many programs and services available to help individuals, the intended and often shared outcomes were not always being realised.  What’s more, some people were either not being reached or, were not accessing these services regardless of their personal needs.

exploring how to make a real difference

Leading on from these observations, Felicity followed two paths of inquiry. One within the community, the other through further study.

Membership in various community stakeholder groups, and co-creation of different initiatives with community, provided opportunities for her to deepen her understanding of a community’s dynamics. It also identified that for a project to be sustainable, local leadership and ownership was needed.

In 2014, Felicity decided to explore these concepts further and completed a Master of Business Administration. The valuable insights gained from her study included an introduction to successful whole of community models affecting social change; the importance of measuring outcomes versus outputs to reflect the real impact a program or service has on its end-user; the role of adaptive leadership and agile organisations; the value of effective public-private-not-for-profit partnerships for strong, healthy communities; and, that egos and silos can only hinder true progress.

The beginnings of community matrix

While reflecting on the learning gained from these activities, the seed for Community Matrix was planted.

In 2018, Felicity joined Western Australian Primary Health Alliance where she worked to establish the local coordination centre for the European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD).

The EAAD framework is a coordinated response within a community to provide support and care for people with depression and prevent suicides. Its success relies on a well-integrated approach, to align the services and resources available in a community with the specific needs of individuals living within that place. While it is a clinical model, it is community-led. This framework provides an excellent working example of how positive health outcomes can be achieved when there is a clear purpose, a shared understanding of the contributions of each stakeholder, effective communication, and an engaged/empowered community.

Today, Felicity is working on the implementation of the Alliance Against Depression in the City of Belmont Western Australia, to help build the scaffolding for a network of care and treatment for people living with depression in this community.

Her goal, and the goal of Community Matrix, is to align activities and people at a local level to achieve equitable health outcomes for all community members.