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MECC in Action
Take a look at our most recent case studies and watch our video below to see how MECC is making a difference across the region.
Picture of a female member of staff holding up a Make every Contact Count sign at Newcastle Football Stadium.
Football Clubs Unite
The Newcastle United Foundation and Sunderland AFC’s Foundation of Light have come together to implement MECC training to enhance staff and visitor wellbeing. This collaborative effort is part of a broader strategy to engage with supporters and visitors, many of whom may not access traditional healthcare services.
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Through their many daily interactions, Newcastle United Foundation and Sunderland AFC’s staff members now use their MECC training to identify and support people to tackle health and wellbeing issues such as loneliness, finances, mental health, alcohol, and healthy weight amongst many others.

Jacqueline Critchley, Senior Health & Wellbeing Coordinator at Newcastle United Foundation said:

“Our health and wellbeing team at Newcastle United Foundation engages with so many different areas of the community and we cover a wide range of programmes aimed at increasing activity levels, promoting mental health, and aiding personal growth. We plan to utilise MECC at every opportunity and embed it within our daily practice, both with other staff members and with participants.”


Lee Crosby, Head of Informal Community Education at Sunderland’s Foundation of Light said:

“MECC training is informative and engaging and provides clear questions and pathways for discussions with the participants that we interact with daily. The Foundation of Light work with a wide range of people from a variety of backgrounds, so having this tool will complement the work we do. It will enable our team to ensure support and provision to the individuals and families that we work with. We’ll be encouraging more of the team to get involved with MECC to deliver more benefits to our community.”


MECC training, which is a half day course, has also recently been accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and can be completed by any organisation in the region. It isn’t just healthcare workers than can contribute to promoting good health. Many organisations and people can and are doing this too.

Staff members discussing MECC at Newcastle United Football Stadium
members of North Tyneside Council's sports and liesure team
North Tyneside Council
In 2024, North Tyneside Council started a large-scale training programme for its sports and leisure teams to help improve the health and wellbeing of the community. Recognising the potential impact of over 100,000 monthly visitors to their facilities, the council trained 134 staff members in MECC.
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Teams are now well equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to make even more of a positive impact in the local community. As well as being able to support residents with their physical wellbeing, staff can now discuss and signpost people to support on a wide range of topics that can affect health and wellbeing.

Tracey Stonehouse, operational manager at North Tyneside Council, said:

“The training has given our teams the confidence to have daily MECC conversations with customers, colleagues, friends, and family members. They now have the tools to address wider issues that can have a detrimental impact on wellbeing such as transport, finances, and housing amongst others. We can now maximise every opportunity in our daily interactions to help people make positive improvements to their health and wellbeing.”


Stacey French Jull from Hadrian Leisure Centre who attended the training, said:

“It was great to have our colleagues from Active North Tyneside delivering the MECC awareness training session. It has given us the confidence to signpost our customers to the MECC website which has lots of resources. It has also given us up-to-date knowledge and awareness of why each customer interaction is so important.”


North Tyneside Council plans to roll out MECC training to teams from its library service too. Bitesize sessions will take place across the year, based on the needs and feedback from frontline colleagues.

staff of the DWP outside a jobcenter standing with Craig Robson, MECC Regional and Connect Lead
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the North East is using MECC to positively impact the health and wellbeing of people seeking employment and/or claiming benefit.
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DWP staff have conversations with customers every day, many of which cover issues around health and wellbeing, and now they are undertaking MECC training to help them to recognise when someone might need help with health and wellbeing related issues.

The DWP has been keen to embed MECC with staff working at job centres, over the phone, or in the community and as the training expands across the region, they are now supporting people who may not access healthcare or are unaware of the local support options available to them.

Sue Soroczan, DWP, Group Director for the North East of England, said:

“We treat everyone as an individual on their journey to employment and seek to build a strong rapport with our customers. Through our regular conversations we encounter customers struggling with their mental health and with associated factors, such as loneliness and family pressures. A key focus of MECC is the prevention of ill health and identifying the changes that can be made to maintain health and wellbeing, and ensure longer, healthier, and happier lives. The MECC training and website are brilliant tools which will help us have better conversations so that we can then signpost customers to the support they need.”

Linda Murphy pictured at the Reading for Wellbeing Launch Event
Meet Linda Murphy
Linda Murphy is a Community Reading Coach with Middlesbrough Council, who uses MECC to help her ask questions more easily when she spots a potential health and wellbeing issue whilst carrying out her important outreach work.
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Linda said:

“I support families to access reading for wellbeing and reading with their babies. The sessions take place in the family home and include lots of discussions about barriers to reading, access to books and reading history. I also facilitate baby and adult book-themed groups.

Often, I find that those that I am working with have additional requirements such as literacy support, children with additional needs, bereavement, financial concerns, English as a second language, employment, and training.

When I am working with people, I spend additional time exploring what support is required as well as what support had been sought in the past. I try, where possible, to explore several options with families so that they are able obtain the support that best meets their needs according to their individual circumstances. Before learning about MECC I would have been limited to making verbal suggestions of support that I was already familiar with. This was not always appropriate as the support may no longer be available or not take multiple requirements into account.

As I have been utilising MECC during home visits this adds enormous value to my own role. Discussions about wellbeing, reading ability and accessibility to reading materials often prompt individuals to reflect upon other areas of their lives and the difficulties they’re facing. The MECC approach allows me to present a range of up-to-date options that are relevant to an individual’s set of circumstances. The family member feels that they have options in managing issues, know who to contact, how they can do this and what support to expect.

This approach makes me feel as though I’ve not only fulfilled the requirements of my role but also made an additional contribution that could improve an individual’s life. My role is certainly more expansive because of MECC and keeps me conscious of what services and support are available locally.

I learn something new every time I use MECC! The suggested questions are extremely helpful in prompting further exploration, particularly around issues that I have limited experience of.”

Linda Murphy pictured at the Reading for Wellbeing Launch Event
Natural England
Natural England has been actively working to integrate Making Every Contact Count to emphasise the connection between nature and health.
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Esther Smith, Senior Health Adviser, Yorkshire and the North East, Natural England said:

“Initially, Natural England staff worked with MECC and Forestry England colleagues to train in MECC, using a specially designed session which drew on examples staff were likely to come across in an outside setting.

From this, Natural England staff delivered a tailor-made workshop to colleagues from a range of conservation organisations including National Trust and a Wildlife Trust as well as Natural England’s own National Nature Reserve staff. This further applied MECC to the nature context.

Feedback from this more relevant MECC training videos would be welcome as the one we could find were in a clinical setting. We worked with Forestry England and the MECC team to produce a training film showing how MECC could be used in a nature activity setting – Feel Good in the Forest at Chopwell Woods. Banners and postcards were also produced, highlighting the connection between MECC and nature, to help sharing awareness. Natural England delivered a well-attended and received workshop at the MECC conference in Durham, showing the appetite from colleagues for using MECC to support nature connection for health,

Further sharing of MECC took place at Green Social Prescribing taster session events in South East Northumberland, led by Gem Kilbride, Natural England Lead Advisor for health in Northumbria.

These were aimed at the social prescribers and the voluntary sector, and took place in community venues with a strong connection to nature, e.g. a community park.

Attendees were given brief training on how to incorporate MECC conversations into their health interventions with clients and invited to share their experiences with their peers in facilitated group discussion.

The sessions hoped to help attendee to incorporate nature-based questions into their health interventions with individuals with the hope that a reflective conversation could take place. Within the conversation, further opportunities around health and wellbeing could be asked about within a non clinical setting environment. Advice could then be offered through signposting and referrals to a range of nature connection and other helpful activities and support.

From the evaluation, attendees reported increased confidence to have MECC conversations around nature. They also appreciated hearing about the benefits and nature and finding ways of using nature to engage and signpost people to other activities.“

Making Every Contact Count:
How do you go about reaching 3 million people? Watch our video below to help understand how we are making life-changing interactions within the community: