New Lifestyles: Pychology of Health Behaviour

Date of Event: Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Organised by: Hampsons Solutions
Venue: Haighton Manor, Preston
Report by: Nancy Brown

This training session focused on the psychology of behaviour and how we can encourage beneficiaries to take up services we provide by marketing it in more appealing ways by using different language to attact people to the experience of taking part in the service. It was really useful!
www.hampsonsolutions.co.uk

GUEST BLOG - RSN Communications and Marketing Training

As this event was run by us we asked one of the attendees from a Target: Wellbeing project to act as a guest writer on our blog and tell us what she thought. If you'd like to write about any of the Target: Welbeing events or training you've attended let us know at targetwellbeing@groundwork.org.uk

Date of Event: Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Organised by: Target: Wellbeing, Regional Support Network
Venue: Groundwork NW, Manchester
Report by: Julie Denham, Marketing & Design Officer from Age Concern Mid Mersey (www.acmm.org.uk), which runs the Trust Matters 50+ Counselling Service Project, part of the the Target: Wellbeing programme in St Helens

"Right from the outset I felt hopeful about this training and was not disappointed. It proved to be a small interactive group with an informal and relaxed feel to it.

The training itself began with a helpful overview of branding requirements, a few useful hints and tips regarding best practice for marketing material content and layout, and an all important checklist to avoid those costly (but all too easy) mistakes. We had a good run through too of the communications and marketing options available to us, including a discussion of some very practical and effective methods often overlooked. We received some good tips too on dealing with the press, and putting together targeted press releases with a style appropriate for the specific media. A discussion of marketing planning brought each of the elements together with a strong message that one size very much doesn’t fit all.

Instead throughout was a strong message of the need to understand what each of us wanted to achieve from our marketing, what message we wanted to get across and to whom, what style and format those messages should take and a consideration of the media and methods most appropriate for our target audiences, including the messages we might want to get across to those who could help us achieve our targets!

Altogether an excellent session - well thought through, informal and friendly providing opportunity for participants to discuss and think about individual project needs. I came away feeling I’d gained fresh ideas and a different perspective on old ones."

The Regional Support Network are planning more Communications and Marketing training sessions which will be launched in September. If you would like to notify us of your interest in taking part email Rhiannon at rhiannon.davies@groundwork.org.uk. You can also contact Rhiannon for a list of training and networking session taking place between now and September.

BREAKING NEWS - NHS NW Wellbeing Conference 2009

I have just received information on the NHS Northwest Wellbeing Conference 2009, which is focussing on Wellbeing and the economy, sustainable communities, and inequalities. All very topical at the moment it would seem!

The conference brings together the 6th annual Northwest Public Health conference, and the 17th annual conference of the WHO Regions for Health Network, so it will be a big do! This will be at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, November 9th and 10th. I am hoping that Target: Wellbeing projects will make an impact at this conference. More info on this can be got from Deborah.Littlewood@dh.gsi.gov.uk at Government Office North West.

Rob goes on tour - NW Social Enterprise Trade Fair, Sustainable Funding Annual Gathering and Groundwork NW Staff Conference

Wow, three conferences in three days .. intense!

Report by: Rob Squires, Network Co-ordinator – Third Sector

Day 1 (16th Jun 09)

The 1st Northwest social enterprise trade fair

Organised by: Social Enterprise North West

Venue: Aintree Race Course

Day 1 of my grand tour was the first regional social enterprise conference at Aintree Racecourse, in a large building shaped like an aircraft hanger. The event was organised as a trade fair, with around 100 exhibitors, including trading social enterprises, and a wide variety of infrastructure support agencies. As I travelled on the train to the venue I wondered if I would know many people there, and was pleased on arrival to meet many friends, old and new. Of note amongst these were Co-ops UK who assist with the excellent Making Local Food Work project, and can provide free training and advice around food co-ops, legal structures, and governance issues.

Also present were Voluntary Sector North West, who are a Target: Wellbeing partner, and are currently championing the sector in the development of the new RS 2010 regional strategy. In the afternoon, I went to a talk by Simon Nooks who is head of strategy and performance for NWDA and is therefore a big fish in the RS 2010. Inequalities is a current emerging issue within the Strategy, with the release of the Equality Trust's new research which has proof from 50 countries, that economies with high levels of inequality perform very badly, in almost every way.

There is solid evidence of increased physical and mental health problems, obesity, drug abuse, imprisonment, lack of trust in community, violence, teenage birth, and chid well-being - all of which are issues that Target: Wellbeing projects aim to reduce. It would seem that since economic inequalities continue to grow, it is not all about economic growth and trickle down theory anymore. In addition to the business as usual economic growth priority, it would seem that the RS 2010 policy makers are actually considering measures to reduce financial inequalities in the region as well!

Day 2 (17th Jun)

Sustainable Funding Annual Gathering

Organised by: NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations)

Venue: New Welcome Centre, London

Day two took me to the capital, for a conference on Sustainable Funding, organised by NCVO - the National Council for Volunteer Organisations. This seemed like a somewhat prodigious occasion, compared with the more gritty northern social enterprise do, the day before. There was lots of rhetoric about civil society, and good examples of 3rd Sector organisations that have diversified their income, in order to develop more sustainable funding strategies.

I am running an Introduction to Sustainable Funding training session soon, for Target: Wellbeing projects, and will be passing on some of the info gleaned from this conference then.

Day 3 (18th Jun)

Groundwork Northwest staff conference

Venue: University of Manchester

Back in Manchester for the Groundwork Northwest staff conference, which was organised by a team in the same office as Target: Wellbeing. I'm feeling a bit more on home-ground here :-)

I went to an interesting workshop lead by Richard Caulfield, Chief Exec of VSNW and Ian MacArthur, regional director of Groundwork Northwest. Richard led a discussion about sector branding, and whether Voluntary and Community sector is more appropriate than Third Sector? Apparently NCVO, the sector lead are not happy with either, and prefer the term 'civil society' or sector. Richard also speculated that if the Conservatives win the next election, the Office of the Third Sector will probably be re-branded as the Office of Civil Society, or something like this. Interesting .. this may explain why NCVO are steering away from the terms VCS and 3rd Sector.

Both Richard and Ian MacArthur sit on 4NW, which is the new Regional Assembly, where they advocate 3rd Sector (VCS?) issues. There was more discussion in this workshop about the influence that the Equality Trust's new research is having on policy makers within RS 2010. Interestingly the Equality Trust report talks about Equality not Growth, and Global Warming. I am interested to see how the RS 2010 will propose to deliver sustained economic growth, whilst simultaneously reducing CO2 emissions, and increasing the health, well-being and happiness of people in the region.

A highlight of the day was the Green Triangle Awards, for the best Groundwork projects in the NW. Offshoots Permaculture project, which is part of the Target: Wellbeing portfolio won the prize for the Environmental Action category. Pictured is Phill Dewhurst from Offshoots, along with two volunteers, receiving their award from Cllr Neil Swannick (Manchester). You can watch the the promotion film for Offshoots that was shown at the ceremony, here on Youtube.

Pedal Away .. sunshine on a rainy day!

Date of event: Wednesday 10th June 09, 10am – 12.30pm
Organised by: Pedal Away in Knowsley
Venue: National Wildflower Centre
Report by: Rob Squires, Network Co-ordinator – Third Sector

Yesterday I took a trip to Knowsley to visit the Pedal Away project, which is being lead Kelly Mckeown from the national Cycling Projects charity. It was an overcast summer morning, as we assembled in the cafe at the National Wildflower Centre run by Landlife, and based in Courthey Park, on the border between Knowsley and Liverpool. Kelly is an excellent cycle leader, and as the sun was trying to break through the clouds, she led us of on our ride, with a sense of confidence, and good humour. We were taken on a six mile journey, which took us through an adjacent housing estate, and onto the Liverpool Loop, which is an old railway line, which has been converted by Sustrans into a cycle path, and forms part of the Transpennine route which goes all the way to Hull. We followed the route south as far as Halewood Environment Centre, where we stopped for a rest, before returning back up to the Loop Line, and into the grounds of the Wildflower Centre. As we returned to the Centre, it was just beginning to rain .. I was very impressed with Kelly's organisational skills .. she even had the weather under control ;-) Landlife have been sowing wildflower seeds in the park around their Centre for many years, and even though the sky was grey, the surrounding environment was a picture to behold.

There were an interesting mix of volunteers and beneficiaries on the ride. These included a married couple who joined the group in order to encourage their son, who is a little disengaged with society at the moment, plus it also included a woman who has been attending with her father who has had a heart attack. There were also a number of younger people, including a school student, a university student, and a PHD, who were using the project to get work experience as part of their learning. Participants had a range of cycling skills, and some of them were low in self-confidence when it came to riding bikes on the open road. Because of this, Kelly walked the group through the housing estate until we reached the Liverpool Loop Line. By the time we returned, after an easy-going six mile ride along the Loop, confidence was high, and the group were happy to cycle on the roads through the estate and the traffic.

The National Wildflower Centre made an excellent venue for starting and ending the ride. Landlife run an excellent project called the Great Outdoors, which is also a part of the Target: Wellbeing portfolio, and the Centre has excellent facilities to rent, including workshop space and a cafe. As such, we are using it as the venue for a regional physical activity networking event for Target: Wellbeing projects, which is being organised for Wednesday July 8th. More info on this event will be circulated soon.