Making Every Contact Count:
Making Every Early Contact Count Too:
Housing Officer Pilot Training
Dr Emmie Fulton
Emily Smith
Health Psychologist & Cognitive Behavioural
Therapist
Public Health Development Manager
Project aims
• To develop a face-to-face half-day MECC training for housing
officers
• To understand the specific needs of this group and whether
we need to tailor what was currently available (e.g. elearning)
• To consider how we can engage staff from the onset
The Training
Background
to MECC
Why include US?
Healthy
Behaviours
Chat 4
Change
Information
Signposting
Practice
How can WE
make it work for
US?
Our approach
• Established individual and team needs via a questionnaire
• Developed a half day interactive training package presented in
PowerPoint slides, practical activities and role-plays.
• Included key components:
1) Why we were asking for their help – importance of MECC to all and
their key involvement
2) Theory – What is MECC, what are the health priorities & basic
information?
3) Practice – How do I build my confidence/start the conversation?
4) Team approach to integrating MECC - Problem solving
Making the case for their involvement
Chris
• Started smoking at 15
• Always enjoyed a drink,
now drinks daily,
throughout the day
A ‘Sliding Doors’ Scenario
Referred for
specialist help
Drinking daily ,
throughout day,
smoking more
heavily
Symptoms
begin
GP
Hospitalised
Q
U
I
T
S
S
M
O
K
I
N
G
Early
Death
Rings smoking
cessation
Housing officers
provide brief
advice
Longer
Life
NHS cannot tackle this alone
• Housing see people sooner
• NHS has to wait for people to come to them
• Many don’t access healthcare services –
those who need help most
• Housing may have more insight into what to
raise the issue about - understand needs
• Can show people the doors into NHS & other
healthcare services
Results
• Evaluated the effectiveness of the training with pre- and post
evaluation questionnaires.
Significant increases in:
- Knowledge about what MECC is
- Knowledge about key health messages
- Confidence to raise the issue
- Confidence at carrying out MECC
- Knowledge about where to signpost
What did we learn?
• Encourage ownership of MECC
• Staff have ideas about what points within their service might
•
•
•
•
support MECC activity (e.g. housing assessment forms ask about
smoking, could follow up with signposting and other questions)
Housing officers were interested in the impact of Mental
health and whether this could be incorporated into MECC.
Suggested ‘Making EVERY contact count’ had put them off –
chose to say every ‘appropriate contact’.
Need regular encouragement – newsletters, progress of other
teams
MECC champion in each team
Thank you for listening
Dr Emmie Fulton
emmie.fulton@coventry.ac.uk
Tel. 024 7688 7171