Frontline workers across Camden and Islington are pulling together to improve the wellbeing of local people. Making Every Contact Count is about putting local people first. Wherever we work we can help people make positive changes to their lives.
Every day staff and volunteers in Camden and Islington talk to hundreds of local residents who are dealing with all sorts of issues and challenges. These conversations are opportunities to help people improve their health and wellbeing.
Although we can’t make people change, if we know how to recognise the issues and challenges a person may be facing, and how to have a brief, yet meaningful chat with them, we can gradually increase people’s confidence and motivation to make changes to improve their lives.
MECC is about using the conversations you are already having to deliver additional support and advice where appropriate to help local people improve their wellbeing in relation to:
- Healthy living (stop smoking, physical activity, sensible drinking, mental health, healthy eating and sexual health)
- Money worries, debt and fuel poverty
- Getting the right job
- Housing
This might involve:
- Looking beyond specific issues and seeing a customer as a person
- Listening and asking the right questions to find out about their underlying health and wellbeing needs
- Delivering brief advice there and then and/or signposting to other support.
MECC is not about adding to your workload. You don’t need to become experts in the services you’re referring people to. It’s about being more effective at taking an opportunity to help someone.
MECC training
You told us that you want support to have conversations with residents about health and wellbeing issues. So, we offer a free half-day in-person training course, covering:
- Opportunities we have to have helpful conversations
- Communication skills to raise an issue, open up a conversation and assess a person’s readiness to change
- Behaviour change techniques (including basic motivational interviewing techniques);
- Delivering brief advice and brief interventions
- Signposting and helpful online resources
We run half-day Motivational Interviewing courses which build on the skills learned in the MECC course and use a range of behaviour change tools and techniques to support behaviour change among clients.
Our online training course is available to book for you and your teams. ‘Good Conversations for MECC’ is a 2-hour online session designed to support frontline workers and volunteers who are in direct contact with the public. Working within the Make Every Contact Count (MECC) approach, it builds confidence, knowledge and skills required for good conversations in these very challenging times when so much of our work is impacted by COVID-19.
Courses are popular and fill up quickly – sign up now and book a course.
Alternatively, to arrange for bespoke sessions for your team, please get in touch at meccsupport@smgateway.co.uk.
