Community empowerment
Help people shape the support and opportunities that affect their lives.
Community-led social innovation
Social Innovation CIC
Prevention Is the Cure
Building healthier, better-connected neighbourhoods through prevention, innovation and collaboration. We bring lived experience into practical solutions across health, education, social care and communities.
What we do
Turn experience into practical change.
Based in Greater Manchester, our mission is to bridge health, education, social care and communities through practical innovation: recognising needs earlier, improving the information available for decisions and creating measurable social value. We help people develop ideas, strengthen projects and build partnerships.
Ideas into action
Develop plans, explore funding routes and build practical digital or community solutions.
Prevention and partnership
Bring people together to act earlier, test approaches and learn what helps.
Future neighbourhood health · proposed model
Shared purpose. Local voices. Earlier support.
Our vision is a neighbourhood where people, families and local services shape support together. Social Innovation CIC proposes a community-led contribution: turn lived experience into priorities, test practical ideas and make the learning visible.
Listen and share decisions
Use the proposed Community Power Lab and citizens’ jury to bring residents’ priorities into conversations with health, social care, education, housing and community partners.
Build relationships and trust
Agree a shared purpose, named responsibilities and accessible ways to take part. Include people whose voices are often missed, with digital inclusion and practical support.
Act earlier and learn together
Explore how Small Steps, NeuroPathway and Safe Space could support wellbeing, everyday observations and reviewed evidence, with clear boundaries for each tool.
Make accountability visible
Agree pilot measures with communities and partners. Report ‘You said, we did’, explain what changed and review what helped, what did not and what remains uncertain.
From community voice to a local pilot
Choose one local priority together, co-design a small pilot, agree who is responsible and review the results before expanding. Intended outcomes include easier access to support, stronger community influence and better coordination; these would need evaluation.
This is a future proposal, dependent on partners, funding and appropriate governance. It does not represent a commissioned neighbourhood health service or NHS endorsement.
Explore the citizens’ juryInspiration and official context
Inspired by a third-party ‘Leadership and Management for Neighbourhood Health’ graphic shared with us on 7 October 2026. Its creator and publication date have not been verified; the graphic is not presented as CIC work.
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England’s Neighbourhood Health Framework describes collaborative working between the NHS, local authorities, communities and wider partners. The CIC proposal above is our interpretation of a possible contribution, rather than an official delivery model.
DHSC and NHS England — Neighbourhood Health Framework, 17 March 2026
Our approach
With communities, every step.
We work with people and communities. Lived experience guides the questions, the design and what success looks like.
- 01Listen
- 02Co-design
- 03Build
- 04Test
- 05Learn
- 06Grow
Early intervention, shared learning and sustainable social innovation sit at the heart of our work.
Projects & programmes
One mission. Different ways to help.
Citizens’ Jury
Problem Community voices need meaningful influence on decisions.
Solution A planned jury to weigh evidence and recommend preventative change.
Who it supports Community members
Planning stageExplore Citizens’ JuryNeuroPathway
Part of Community Power LabProblem Evidence of need can become fragmented.
Solution Connect observations, support and human-reviewed evidence.
Who it supports Families, education and professionals
In developmentExplore NeuroPathwaySafe Space
Part of Community Power LabProblem Young people need ways to express how they feel.
Solution Check-ins, reflection and everyday wellbeing tools.
Who it supports Children and young people
In developmentExplore Safe SpaceMediSense
Problem Care information can be difficult to bring together.
Solution A proposed summary of care for better-informed conversations.
Who it supports People using care and professional teams
Development conceptExplore MediSenseCommunity Power Lab
Problem Confidence and digital barriers can limit participation.
Solution Home to Small Steps, digital inclusion including Shine Online, The Modern Social Entrepreneur, NeuroPathway, Safe Space and the Innovation Hub.
Who it supports Community members and people needing digital support
Programme developmentExplore Community Power LabInnovation Hub
Part of Community Power LabProblem Community ideas need space and support to grow.
Solution Bring lived experience, practical ideas and partners together.
Who it supports Community innovators and organisations
Accepting enquiriesExplore Innovation HubOur Work & Community Impact
Support that moves ideas forward.
Approved, anonymised accounts of community support will appear here. We share outcomes with permission and protect private case notes.
Supporting an early-stage lived-experience project
Challenge
An idea needs a clearer structure and delivery plan.
Possible support
Project development, funding direction and partnership thinking.
Intended outcome
A clearer delivery model and preparation for funding conversations.
Books & publications
Stories that ask us to listen. Ideas that help us act.
Explore Tanja Ceri Hanson’s memoir and poetry.
Memoir · reading edition
The Patterns They Missed
What happens when a mother sees the warning signs, but the systems around her keep waiting? Tanja Ceri Hanson shares her family’s journey through loss, fragmented support and the fight to be heard. An intimate account of love and survival, and the lived experience behind NeuroPathway’s call for earlier understanding.
“People think crisis happens suddenly. Ours didn’t.”
Reader care: discusses stillbirth, self-harm, suicidal distress, restraint and family trauma. This is the author’s personal account.
Enquire to buy
Poetry · forthcoming collection
Poems of Hope and Change
Poems for the moments when words are hard to find. Through love, grief, difference and determination, Tanja Ceri Hanson gives voice to children whose struggles go unseen and families waiting to be understood. From A Poem of Hope to Before the Label, these verses ask us to notice the person before a crisis defines them.
“A child shouldn’t have to break to be believed.”
The collection is being prepared for publication. Enquire about buying the final edition; no payment is taken now.
Enquire about the final editionPurchase by enquiry: ask about the price, format and availability of your chosen title. The team will confirm these before you decide to buy. Submitting an enquiry does not place an order or take payment.
Explore all publicationsSocial Innovation Marketplace
Discover ideas. Connect with their creators.
Our showcase is the Social Innovation Marketplace: a place to explore preventative innovations, meet the people behind them and discuss pilots, partnerships or support.
Current listings invite enquiries. Availability, pricing and delivery arrangements would be agreed with each creator.
Explore the marketplace
NeuroPathway
Everyday observations, interventions and what works—brought together into evidence for professional review. Explore the pilot partnership invitation.
View full poster
Safe Space
For young people aged 10–17: check in with your mood, journal, find calm and set goals. Your voice. Your pace. Your space.
View full poster
NeuroKids Space
Created by Duane Walters, Neuro Kids Space grew from a dad and son learning new ways to interact and connect together.
Duane Walters: a dad learning alongside his son
As the father of a non-verbal autistic son, Duane has been learning more about autism and exploring different ways for them to communicate, interact and enjoy time together. Their shared journey is at the heart of Neuro Kids Space: a project inspired by finding new ways to connect with his son.
Neuro Kids Space is Duane’s independent project. Tanja has been supporting him as he develops his idea, and we are sharing his story in our Social Innovation Marketplace. Ownership stays with Duane.
View full posterOur direction · 2026–2029
Build evidence. Learn together. Grow responsibly.
A proposed roadmap, with each stage dependent on readiness, resources and what we learn.
Prepare
Define a focused use case with communities and prospective partners. Complete priority development, accessibility testing and proportionate governance before a controlled pilot.
Pilot and learn
Explore a six-month pilot with an agreed cohort, clear responsibilities and baseline measures. Review safety, usability, evidence quality, professional time and people’s experience.
Grow what helps
Use evaluation findings to improve delivery, training and support. Expand across Greater Manchester and beyond only when evidence and capacity support it.
We aim for sustainable delivery through organisational licences, training, implementation support and commissioned projects, alongside suitable development funding. These are planned routes, not confirmed contracts or measured outcomes.
Work With Us / Affiliation & Casework
Bring your idea. Share your challenge.
Individuals, community groups, social enterprises and organisations are welcome. Tell us what you need and we will explore how we can help. Submitting a request does not automatically create an affiliation.
Partners & collaboration
Better solutions begin together.
We welcome collaboration with communities, funders, universities, education, NHS and public-sector teams.
Tanja Hanson
Bringing lived experience and community insight to preventative social innovation.
Nicola Dickins
Profit for Purpose
Supporting the CIC’s social-enterprise development and partnership thinking.
Visit Profit for PurposeTrust & governance
Care, consent and accountability.
Our approach prioritises safeguarding, privacy, informed consent, responsible data use, accessibility and partnership accountability. Before relevant pilots, we will agree data access, safeguarding responsibilities, evaluation measures and the assurance needed for the intended use. Digital tools support human judgement; they do not independently diagnose, make statutory decisions or provide emergency care.
Social Innovation CIC · Company number 17366103 · Incorporated 28 July 2026.
Company documents
Draft articles for member review — asset-lock recipient awaiting nomination; this draft does not replace filed articles.