What is Community Living Room?
The Community Living Room is a non-clinical, person-centered environment for people seeking social connection and emotional support.
The primary objective of the Community Living Room is to utilize the concept of connection as a framework for prevention in a no-cost, community-based supportive space.
The outcome of the Community Living Room is connection. The Community Living Room is grounded in the present, offering a healing space for people to be seen, heard, and valued just as they are.
Many other spaces in community offer plans, treatment, and resources – action-focused. The Community Living Room is focused on present-moment connection and support.
HISTORY
In 2019, we began providing Emotional CPR trainings in the Fox Valley through LEAVEN—a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to people in need.
LEAVEN recognized that people coming for financial support were also experiencing emotional distress. They received funding to provide emotional CPR training to their staff, volunteers, and faith-based community partners. They also implemented a “Listening space” at the LEAVEN Community Resource Center. The space was staffed by individuals who completed the 12-hour Emotional CPR Practitioner Certification, and the listeners began hearing the stories of people in our community.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, expanding Emotional CPR Training became an urgent and critical need to build capacity of individuals that could provide support throughout our community.
To date, we have had over 1,200 people attend our 2-hour introductory workshop and over 300 people complete our 12-hour practitioner certification. Participants come from all walks of life and represent a wide variety of community organizations, including non-profit organizations, businesses, faith communities, schools, law enforcement, county government and human services, clinicians, and more.
The LEAVEN Listening Space demonstrated the importance of connection as prevention. To expand listening opportunities, we obtained a 6-month planning grant to explore the concept of Community Living Rooms.
We identified the need for a non-clinical, person-centered environment with the primary objective being connection as a framework for prevention.
We interviewed over 60 community stakeholders and learned that pop-up spaces would allow us to bring the environment to all areas of the community for people seeking social connection and emotional support.
In 2023, we received a grant from the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region to pilot pop up Community Living Room spaces. The outcome for Community Living Rooms is connection – connection is prevention. Community Living Room listeners will offer a nonjudgmental, mutual, trauma-informed, culturally empathetic connection space by supporting folks in feeling seen and heard just as they are.
Advancing of Healthier Wisconsin on Community Living Room
Recognizing the adverse health effects of loneliness, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services formed the Coalition to End Social Isolation and Loneliness, and the NEW Mental Health Connection identified social connection as one of the leading factors significantly affecting adult mental health.
In this video, Community Living Room is recognized as an innovative approach to addressing social isolation in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, by creating a welcoming, inclusive, and equitable space to offer opportunities for connection that support thriving in the community. The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment-funded initiative builds upon a pilot project in the Fox Cities. It seeks to expand the capacity of people and organizations to provide emotional connection and support in Winnebago County. The approach leverages relationship building and training on emotional wellness and social connection to be delivered in pop-up Community Living Room spaces to address the epidemic of loneliness present in the community.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW to learn more.
Benefits of Community Living Room
The White Paper
Sara Kohlbeck, PhD, MPH, with the Medical College of Wisconsin, conducted qualitative research on the Community Living Room. In this white paper, Kohlbeck shares their findings that Community Living Room connections positively impacted their own mental health and well-being. Click the image to read the paper.
Foundation for Social Connection SILC Intervention Catalog
This catalog comprises a list of resources for connection intervention. Community Living Room is listed as number 61, a resource for addressing social isolation, loneliness, and connection as some of its outcomes. As its impact, it is a solution that engages two or more people.
Strategies for Action & Hope: Wisconsin Data and the Prevention Plan 2025
As part of Wisconsin’s 5-year Suicide & Prevention Plan, Community Living Room is included as a strategy, and we contributed to its development.
Mind Your Wellness Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Recommendations
Fox Cities conducted a Mind Your Wellness Survey and found that social connection was paramount. As part of their recommendation for city—and state-wide improvement, they listed Community Living Room and Emotional CPR as Tier 1 Prevention Strategies.
WHAT DOES A POP-UP COMMUNITY LIVING ROOM LOOK LIKE?
Community Living Room Pop Ups will be offered in 3-4 hour segments. Some spaces might look like coffee and connection, offering coffee and pastries; other spaces could look like an ice cream social. Offering food and comfort decreases barriers to connection. For each pop-up, 2-3 trained listeners will be present.
Connection might be 1:1 with a listener or could be in small groups with participants.
Some pop-ups will be scheduled and occur multiple times at the same location. Some pop-ups will be offered in response to a community need. Pop-ups offered are for everyone associated with the hosting site: staff, volunteers, and agency/organization participants.
Listeners will be trained in Emotional CPR and be paid for their support. Listeners will create a mutual support experience, utilizing their own lived experience in connection. Hosting organizations provide the space, Community Living Room brings the listeners and food/beverages.
Connect with us!
Interested in learning more about Pop-Up Community Living Rooms? Would you like to host one? Send us a message with your info and we will reach back out to you with the details.