Making Every Contact Count (MECC) aims to provide advice and support for behaviour change, so that Sefton residents can have better health and live longer healthier lives. We know that staff across health, local authority and voluntary sectors have thousands of contacts every day with individuals and are ideally placed to promote improved wellbeing and healthy lifestyles. The aim of the training is to maximise the opportunities participants have to increase the number and quality of brief interventions in Sefton.
For staff and volunteers, MECC means having the competence and confidence to deliver healthy lifestyle messages, to help encourage people to change their behaviour and to direct them to local services that can support them. For individuals, MECC means seeking support and taking action to improve their own lifestyle by eating well, finding their healthy weight, drinking alcohol sensibly, exercising regularly, not smoking and looking after their wellbeing and mental health.
MECC is not about
• Adding another job to already busy working days
• Staff becoming specialists or experts in certain lifestyle areas
• Staff becoming counsellors or providing ongoing support to particular individuals
• Staff telling somebody what to do and how to live their life
The training takes place during a 2 hour session and is aimed at everyone working, living or volunteering in Sefton. The content provides an overview for non-health professionals and is particularly useful for front line staff that see lots of people during their work.
The objectives of the training are to;
• Provide an overview of the health and wellbeing of Sefton’s population
• Increase knowledge about the key health messages
• Know what support services are available and what they provide and signpost people to them
• Introduce the skills to have a healthy chat
• Recognise the opportunities to have a healthy chat
• Use the 3A’s to deliver a health chat in Sefton
The Level 2 training also takes place during a 2 hour session. with the skills to deliver a brief intervention. Again, this training is aimed at everyone but more in depth training enables staff to identify opportunities with the skills to deliver a brief intervention encouraging improvement in people’s health behaviours
• Build on the skills learned in Level 1
• Introduce skills to have a brief intervention
• Use the 5A’s to deliver a brief intervention in Sefton
• Know what support services are available and what they provide
• The training is suitable for anyone living, working or volunteering in Sefton.
Dates will be available throughout the year and take place in the north and the south of the borough. We highly recommend that staff be released to attend our open sessions as they provide an excellent opportunity for networking with other providers working in Sefton. However, if this is operationally difficult, we can provide sessions to organisations at your location.
Please book your training session below
MECC L1 = Waterloo Board Room - November 8th 10am to 12:30pm
MECC L2 = Southport, All Souls Room - 9th November 3pm to 5pm
MECC L1 = Southport, All Souls Room - 5th December 10am to 12:30pm
MECC L1 = Waterloo - 11th Dec 09:20 – 12pm
MECC for Mental Health = Waterloo - 14th Dec 10am - 4pm
MECC for M/H = Southport - 16th Jan 24, 10am - 4pm
MECC L1 = Southport - 12th Jan 24, 2pm - 4.30pm
Click here to find out more about MECC for Mental Health and how it can help all Sefton residents working in a public facing role.
