OUR wellbeing is vital to our health and happiness.

It’s shaped by where and how we grow, live, work, play and age.

In Port Stephens we’re surrounded by a natural environment that encourages us to enjoy time outdoors, is in proximity to jobs and opportunities and has services and facilities we need to thrive.

For wellbeing to grow, it’s critical that all people in our community, especially our most vulnerable, have the same access and opportunity to participate in all the things that make Port Stephens an incredible place.

This month we’ve placed our draft Community Wellbeing Strategy on public exhibition for our community’s feedback.

This Strategy represents our commitment to making Port Stephens a place where wellbeing is prioritised and people can lead happy, healthy and connected lives no matter their age, background or ability.

The Strategy provides a roadmap on how we can improve overall well being – bringing together directions from a number of existing strategies and policies such as our Ageing Strategy, Crime Prevention Plan, Disability Inclusion Access Plan and, Multicultural Policy to deliver an integrated approach to wellbeing.

Over 760 people shared their time, ideas and opinions as we developed this Strategy. Through these conversations, we’ve learnt that wellbeing means different things to different people and ranges from fundamental basic needs such as access to food, water and shelter through to accessibility, time with family and friends and access to facilities.

From what we heard we’ve focused the strategy on creating inclusive places which encourage participation in community life, making sure our community feels safe in our public spaces and building our resilience, capacity and skills to ensure our community can adapt and thrive in times of change.

We know we play a significant role in community wellbeing and recognise that collaboration and partnerships with our communities and other stakeholders are critical to our success.

We look forward to strengthening our partnerships to achieve real positive change to wellbeing across our place.

For more information or how to share your thoughts on visit pscouncil.info/PSC-Wellbeing-Strategy.

By Mayor Ryan PALMER