Making every contact count (MECC)
Digital learning
Digital learning that supports organisations, professionals, and volunteers in having short, simple conversations about health to ‘make every contact count’ (MECC).
What is MECC?
MECC is an approach that promotes and supports health and wellbeing and empowers workforces and professionals to have short (e.g., a couple of minutes) conversations about positive health behaviour change. Telling people what to do simply does not work. MECC uses a person-centred approach and basic behaviour change skills to:
- Use open-discovery questions to initiate and have conversations about health.
- Deliver simple, non-medical, evidence-based messages about stopping smoking, drinking alcohol sensibly, increasing physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, a healthy diet and mental wellbeing.
- Know about local health and wellbeing services and how to signpost and refer people to help them access them, where appropriate.
Why is MECC important?
Too many people die early and live in poor health due to largely avoidable diseases and illnesses. The most common killer diseases include cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory and liver disease, and many are directly related to health behaviour factors (e.g., what we eat and drink, whether we smoke, how active we are). Workforces across all sectors have strong links and relationships with the people and communities that they serve and can utilise these to promote health and wellbeing in their work through having frequent, MECC conversations.
How do I get trained in MECC?
Available for any worker in West Sussex, this digital training programme contains eight short modules (that can be completed individually), and provides the awareness, understanding and skills to have short, health promoting conversations about smoking, drinking (alcohol), healthy diet and weight, physical activity and mental health and wellbeing. This digital learning can be a stand-alone training session, an accompaniment to other training in MECC, or a refresher to previous training.
Where do I register?
- Visit the West Sussex County Council website.
- Register to the site by selecting the “Create new account”.
- Activate your account via the automatic email (check your spam folder).
How do I get started?
- Login to the West Sussex County Council website using the details set up at registration.
- Select the MECC button from the homepage to enrol onto the course.
- Complete the modules, online assessment and feedback form to download your certificate.
Need technical help?
Get in touch via the online helpdesk on the Onclick website.
Anything else MECC related?
The Public Health West Sussex contact for MECC is Dan Barritt. Please get in touch in discuss how a MECC approach can be implemented into your organisation, team, or service delivery.