The Bridges Network Approach
The Bridges Network Approach (BNA) is a way to address social issues, including alcohol and other drug issues, through linking people and organisations, focusing on strengths and underlying causes, and maximising the use of resources.
As well as working to assist individuals, the BNA influences supportive environments at family, community, organisational and sector levels. It can facilitate inclusion of marginalised groups and organisations. It is a model that encourages participation and leadership at all levels. This includes leadership by small community organisations while still valuing the leadership of large organisations.
Bridges, while collaborating with many other people and organisations, has developed and implemented the BNA . The way Bridges, as a small community organisation, has led this collaborative effort, is itself, a demonstration of the Bridges Network Approach. The BNA guides Bridges’ activities. The ideas of the BNA can be used to a greater or lesser degree of expansiveness. Bridges has used the BNA to a greater degree; for example, by applying it to influence change in the family context, the community context and the structural context.
The BNA invites service providers to ask themselves "To what degree should I use my own and my organisation's time, energy and resources to strengthen the network versus using them to strengthen the organisation". Similarly, the BNA encourages individuals to ask themselves "How much energy can I put into strengthening the community at the same time as doing the best for my family?". The BNA emphasises systems thinking and understanding, care and cooperation at individual, community and organisational levels.
The BNA is a philosophy and working paradigm for social change more than a set of techniques. At the same time, the BNA provides frameworks for enhancing collaborative strategies for service delivery, community capacity building and network development.
The BNA builds on existing and well-understood principles of strengths-based, collaborative, networked systems thinking which are widely used in the community sector and beyond. The BNA’s strategies can be organised under four themes, though the boundaries between the themes overlap and the strategies are interconnected.
The above themes apply whether we are considering community issues or organisational issues.
The BNA has guided Bridges in our work in addressing alcohol and other drug issues contextually; in Bridges' lead role in establishing Voice for Song to raise the profile and bring increased support for small community organisations; and in changing Bridges' own context for our survival and development as an organisation .
The BNA promotes the sharing of resources to a high degree to enable synergies to do more for less, and produce more innovative programs reaching more people. It enables people and organisations to have big visions, with big potential for systemic change.
The BNA is a values-based model that promotes inclusiveness, cooperation, community engagement, believing in and building on the strengths of people and communities, recognition of family and community context of issues, the value of small and local working with larger organisations, power sharing and distribution, and optimism around positive social change. These values are a long-established part of how Bridges has operated for many years. Many other individuals and organisations share this philosophy.
The BNA is a replicable model for addressing social issues. It can be used to link with networks to facilitate communities to be pro-active and develop new solutions for addressing challenges we face.
As a social innovation , the BNA works to change systems, contexts and structures that contribute to social problems.
The Networks and Partners section of this website shows the extent of partnerships Bridges works with.
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