The Head, Heart and Hands Project is the brainchild of the Port Macquarie Hastings Sustainability Network.

The state government grant falls under the department of planning, industry and environment's community program.

The project will take a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to building community resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change, says project team lead Anna Duward.

"The project will deliver a series of experiential learning workshops, a regional health and climate change summit, a mentoring program, online resources and will invite the initiation of social labs," Ms Duward said.

"These will run across four streams - climate change resilience and emergency preparedness for individuals and small businesses, food and land resilience, mental and physical health and wellbeing, and, creating resilient buildings, spaces and environments.

"I hope the project will invite us to reconnect with self, nature and others, in order to tackle the complex challenges, we face together."

Ms Duward described the Port Macquarie-Hastings as a "passionate and innovative community.

There are so many people in our community working towards community resilience, in their own time, sometimes in relative isolation, she said.

Team member Rachel Sheppard said she felt energised by the project.

"It is an opportunity to connect these community members and unlock our community's existing potential to address the impacts of climate change that are within our control at the local level."

The HHH Project Team was formed under the Port Macquarie Hastings Sustainability Network and brings together six community-minded, passionate professionals with backgrounds in health, psychology, leadership, strategy, climate change, sustainability and engineering.

Team member and local businesswoman Jane Moye said the group was galvanized by an increasing concern and awareness of the impacts of climate change both local and global.

"I am looking forward to seeing the impact of this initial seed project and the community connections that we create through this work," she said.

Another team member, Dr Sarah Mollard said the project will help build partnerships between a wide range of organisations, collaboration across disciplines and supporting a more connected community.

"We know that positive relationships are key to resilience, and this has been built into our project through the mentoring program, supported workgroups and social labs with an approach that focuses on sharing local expertise within the community."

The project has been developed with the key support of Port Macquarie Community Gardens (The Lost Plot) which will provide the venue for many of the workshops.

The Lost Plot's president Graeme Evans, said he was looking forward to hosting workshops and contributing expertise.

"A positive initiative such as this will help lift our region's spirits in such uncertain times," he said.

"If there is one thing we have learnt from the recent drought and fires, it is that people working together to foster resilience and sustainability can achieve wonderful outcomes and help to regenerate our land and our communities."

Other organisations including doctors for the Environment Australia, Climate Change Australia - Hastings branch, Hastings Parents for the Environment, Mid North Coast Local Health District and Charles Sturt University have and will continue to provide support to the project.

Key organiser for the health stream of the project, Dr Georgia Ritchie said tackling climate change could be the greatest health opportunity of the century.

"I am excited to explore, via this project, how climate change and health are integrally linked and what solutions currently exist to improve climate change and health," she said.

The project is a seed for a broader vision for the team, to co-create a Community Climate Change Resilience Plan in the Port Macquarie-Hastings LGA which will be explored through community conversations at the beginning of the project.

If you are interested in learning more about the broader vision, project, collaborative opportunities, partnering or donating contact project and team lead Anna Durward, anna.durward@gmail.com

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