What is Making Every Contact Count?
Making Every Contact Count is about making the most of our daily conversations with others to signpost people to help and support that will benefit their health and wellbeing.
This can include conversations around mental health, finances, smoking, dementia, weight loss, caring responsibilities, social connections, employment and much more.
The more openly we talk about these themes, the more likely we are to access the help and support we need at the earliest possible opportunity.
RCBC is encouraging everyone, staff, partners, and residents to come on board to Make Every Contact Count.
We recognise that it’s impossible to know everything about every health and wellbeing service/community activity or your head would be spinning.
The great news is, there is website to make sure it’s easy to point people in the right direction, at the right time.
Along with suggestions of how to give the best advice you can, the Making Every Contact Count website also details the many health and wellbeing services and activities open to people living in Redcar and Cleveland and across the North East, with the ability to text, email and print the information.
The website also includes accessibility features such as the recite me function and the ability to translate the information into 100+ languages.
For those who are not online, from July 2024 all Redcar and Cleveland libraries will provide access to a paper copy of the health and wellbeing signposting information and our friendly library staff are always on hand to point you in the right direction.
You request a printable copy of the MECC information by emailing: jill.calvert@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk
Want to know more?
Contact Jill Calvert to arrange a free, informal awareness session which can be tailored to the needs of your team, group, organisation, or community.
You can contact Jill by emailing: jill.calvert@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk or by calling 01642 774774.
You can also find further information on the Making Every Contact Count website.
Want to add a service/activity to the MECC website?
Service providers can request to have their services added the MECC website by using the 'Request a new Category' form on the MECC website.
More about MECC
1000 people from Redcar and Cleveland Council teams, partner services and community organisations are now trained in Making Every Contact Count and are using this approach in their day to day conversations.
If each trained member of staff/volunteer/community member has on average one MECC conversations a day, this equates to 365,000 conversations/year.
If 1 in 10 of these conversations motivates/encourages someone to seek support for issues affecting their wellbeing/make a change to their lifestyle for the better, that is 36,500 people taking steps to a healthier and happier life.