Making Well-Being Matter

Celebrating the Mental Well-being Impact Assessment Volunteers

October 8 th 2009

MWIA project volunteers of using MWIA

Aims of today

• Thank you for your participation in the Well London • Celebrate and recognise the hard work put in by • Offer an opportunity to share learning and experience • Discover how MWIAs have made a difference to Well London projects • Get an update on National developments in MWIA and find out about future support you can access

Overview of MWIA project

• •

Promoting understanding of mental well being across communities and stakeholders Ensuring that mental well-being is integrated and measured across the Well London Programme

• • • • •

Overview of MWIA project

MWIA training for 94 people cross 19 Boroughs.

MWIAs carried out by volunteer teams on a wide range of Well London and other projects Support provided: materials, budgets and mentors 298 people have attended MWIA workshops in total, 57 for Well London projects so far and 138 for other projects in or near SOAs Action plans developed for how Well London projects can have a positive impact on mental well-being.

Feedback on Well London MWIAs

Healthy Spaces

• Barnfield Estate improvements – Greenwich • The Hub Garden Project – Hounslow • Food Growing project in K&C • Pocket Park – Brent • Non Well London – Hammersmith Community Gardens (near SOA)

Priority impacts – common themes

• • • •

Bringing people together

– opportunities for social contact and networks to develop and creating a sense of belonging

Having your say and influencing decisions Opportunities to get involved

, have a

valued role and learn new skills Feeling safe and increasing trust

• Overall, having access to good quality green spaces was recognised as very important for mental well-being in SOAs • Possible negative impacts identified were: –

Exclusion

– if people don’t have a role, or if projects dominated or steered by small groups –

Conflict

- when making changes to type of use e.g. Dog walkers or if new activities will cause more noise –

Short time scales

Eatwell and Buywell

• Prospective MWIA on Eat Well in H&F • Cook, Grow and Eat @ YWCA in Barking and Dagenham • Prospective MWIA on Buywell in Bellingham • Buywell in Tower Hamlets – existing food co-op

• • • •

Eat well – priority impacts

Prospective MWIA in H&F Skills/Learning and development

– importance of peer learning, developing new skills and confidence – ACTION:

“Build the sharing of experience and culture into course programmes and values”

Opportunities to influence decisions

- both in terms of how session run and commissioning process

Developing Social networks

– between participants and local organisations

• • • •

Eat well – priority impacts

Retrospective MWIA in B&D Having your say and influencing decisions

– highly positive

“everyone had a choice and made suggestions

” . A very collaborative project design.

Social networks and social contact

– Highly positive made new friends, practical activities helped bring people together

“broke down barriers and created understanding of cultural identity through food”.

Links were made with local Children’s Centre to host gardening activity

Learning from each other

– highly positive

“everyone learnt from each other”

“The group has brought me up, I feel more positive, and I have started to come to another group here on a Wednesday”

Negative impacts identified: • Short timescales and limited funding limits impact of project • Lack of specialist nutritionist input • Early concerns over commissioning process

Buy well - priority impacts

Bellingham

• Skills, learning and development for volunteers • Knowledge, skills and resources to make healthy choices • Social contact and networks • Sense of belonging • Accessible services • Control over finances affordable • •

Tower Hamlets

• Skills, learning and development for volunteers

“I’m learning a lot that’s good for me”

• Skills and knowledge to make healthy choices • Social networks – reducing isolation • Sense of belonging

– “I feel needed”

• Accessible • Control over finances affordable

Activate – Physical Activity

• Women only yoga: Queens Park, Westminster • Healthy walks: South Acton, Ealing • Non Well London projects in or near SOAs – Clinical exercise group – K&C – Activate 55 – Waltham Forest – Health trainer drop in – B&D

• •

Priority impacts – common themes

Cost

– very important for participation

Emotional health and well-being

– recognised as a key impact of both physical activity projects; Yoga – mind and body: Healthy walks – confidence •

Social contact and social networks

Be Creative Be Well

• Handcroft Rd Resource centre refurbishment – Croydon • Springforward Mosaic workshops – Larkhall, Lambeth • Big Chair Dance – Noel Park , Haringey

• • • •

Priority impacts – common themes

Accepting and being accepted

– feeling welcome, diverse participants, challenging discrimination

Trust -

level of facilitation skills was very important, flexibility and responsiveness

Social contact / social networks Learning and skills development

Using the learning

• A report on the Well London MWIA project will be available from early November.

• It would be useful to get feedback from partners and project managers on if and how they feel MWIA has influenced their projects. • Having identified priority impacts, Well London partners need to consider how these impacts can be measured as part of programme evaluation and integrated into the design and commissioning of Well London projects for the remainder of the portfolio

National Update

• Comprehensive review of the MWIA toolkit – due to be published in Jan 2010 • Evaluation report of use of MWIA • National capacity building programme – funded by National Mental Health Development Unit, Department of Health • Linking MWIA into review of DH Screening questions for HIA for cross government impact assessment • New Horizons consultation • Developing the MWIA area of the Health Impact Assessment Gateway website

MWIA toolkit review – key changes

• Updated evidence base review by Dr Lynne Friedli • Higher profile of wider determinants, resilience and inequalities • Integration of Participation and Social Inclusion - 3 grids • Revision of components – new stickers!

Next steps – learning support

• Mentoring ( 2 x half day per Borough) support for you to carry out a further MWIA • Update and refresher in 2010, once revised toolkit published • Further shared learning event and taster session for people interested and new to in MWIA in 2010 • Knowledge sharing via the www.hiagateway.org.uk