Well London Delivery Team in Limehouse, Tower Hamlets

• Overview
• Aims
• Background
• Approach
• Outcomes
• Evaluation
• Recommendations

Overview

The Well London Delivery Team has run in each of the 20 Well London areas. The projects recruited teams of volunteers who received training in outreach and health promotion and then went out into their communities to signpost local residents to services and activities that promote health and wellbeing. They also fed back to service delivery organisations to help them to deliver better services.

In addition to raising awareness among local residents, this project also built capacity particularly around confidence and skills among the volunteers, a number of whom found employment as a result. The Well London Delivery Team run by City Gateway in Tower Hamlets was a particularly successful example.

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Aims

• Increase levels of healthy eating, physical activity and mental health, especially among those who have experienced barriers to accessing services in the past, by enabling people from the area to take up Well London and other local activities and resources.
• Increase levels of responsiveness of local service deliverers to community need.
• Build the knowledge and skills base of local residents and communities in order to improve their own wellbeing and promote a sense of community. Not only did team members gain knowledge and skills themselves, through 1:1 and peer support and through the training they received, but then cascaded this within their communities
• Achieve leverage on existing services - making them more responsive to local needs.
• Help build ambition and aspiration in communities, by empowering people to take up resources and services and make small changes.
• Help make the community engagement and consultation process more meaningful by mobilising participants who would not otherwise take part.
• Reinforce local strategies by increasing take-up of already available services, particularly among groups perceived to be 'hard to reach'. The local team also acted as key spokespeople in the community who could feed back to local service providers such as the PCT and local authority.

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Background

Community research carried out by the University of East London for Well London identified a need to provide local residents with skills to increase opportunities for volunteering and to be inventive about communicating those opportunities. Service providers were seen to be in competition with each other, with a lack of joined up promotion or working. Investment in the capacity building process of individuals and local organisations and promotion of the role of local people in delivering services within their own community was identified as a priority. Developing a sense of community was seen as important, as well as awareness raising around health issues.

The Well London programme was devised in the context of the Mayor of London's production of a health inequalities strategy and was led by an alliance of representatives covering major strategic development priorities for London. The Well London Delivery Team contributes to current policy objectives such as improving wellbeing and equality, increasing capacity building and participation, as well as enabling delivery of better services.

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Approach

A group of 15 volunteers or 'champions' with existing relationships in the community were recruited by City Gateway and trained to reach out to and empower local people. The project was based on social marketing theory, recognising that a peer-to-peer approach is often effective in motivating people to take up certain activities and even make lifestyle changes.

Champions in the Delivery Team worked both as a local team and individually to:

• 'signpost' people to services and resources.
• Act as advocates for people as they engage with service providers.
• Encourage and enable people to take up healthier lifestyles.

On average 9 volunteers went out twice a week for four hours a day promoting activities, talking to and befriending residents within the Limehouse Well London area. The recruitment of volunteers from the local community meant that those who were not usually reached by services or involved in projects were more likely to be engaged, through existing community relationships. The enthusiasm of the volunteers and their face to face approach was vital for engaging with residents who were frequently unwilling when first approached.

A range of marketing materials were produced and given out to households, local community venues and other service providers. Over the lifetime of the project, over 3400 marketing materials for various activities were given out.

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Outcomes

The Well London Delivery Team model enabled integration and cross-promotion of both Well London activities and other health and wellbeing services. The volunteer training built local capacity and increased community engagement and participation in activities to promote wellbeing, leading to a transformation in the local community.

The volunteers have asked to continue volunteering within the area because they have enjoyed it so much. Three of the volunteers were even interested in setting up walks for community members and have applied for funding. As part of their ongoing work programme, City Gateway continue to promote Well London activities and develop existing Well London partnerships in the area.

5 of the 9 volunteers that took part in the last 6 months of the project found employment as a result of their capacity and confidence building. As one volunteer stated:

I have become very confident in convincing people of the benefits of living healthy lifestyles. I myself became more aware about healthy living and try to follow all what I have learnt during my time participating in the project.

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Evaluation

The project was evaluated through measurement of the number of local residents that were signposted or 'referred' to services and activities. Lots of interest was generated about activities and initiatives, particularly the Café, keep fit, gardening, youth and general health. Residents have taken up a number of the health promotion activities, which the coordinator felt was due to the drive and determination of the WLDT.

Throughout the project, over 1000 referrals to health and wellbeing activities were made. However, measuring the actual take-up of activities following the referrals by the volunteers was hard to measure.

Referrals to specific activities that were identified included:

• Cook and Eat Courses - 18 referrals
• Food co-op - 45 referrals
• Well London Christmas Party - 38 male and female referrals
• DIY happiness - 9 referrals
• Café Launch - 16 direct referrals, 21 attendees had heard of Well London before
• Café relax resident walk-ins over 6 months - approx 46 referrals
• Keep fit - 11 local residents attended the class
• Spring in your step project to support the against childhood obesity scheme; 56 people registered, 11 of whom confirmed they had heard of the Well London project

One local resident commented:

I am looking for a job and need help and now I know where to go

One of the WLDT volunteers describes a particularly memorable outreach experience;

The WLDT team and I were outreaching and knocked on one of the doors in the Hind Grove (HG) area. A lady opened the door and was not interested in talking. I told her that we were from her neighbourhood working on a project that specially works for the HG community. "I just wanted to inform you about the hidden activities/projects run specifically for HG that I would like to tell you about" and then she stood for a while. I continued after introducing myself that "Did you know that we have a food co op in the HG community centre and did you know that there is a grow bags facility in Lansbury Lodge gardens" all of a sudden she seemed to become really interested and eager to know more. I informed her more about keep fit, Cafe Relax and all other partner activities. Finally I handed her a few promotional leaflets and a contact card. The following week, she came in looking for me with a friend and used the Cafe Relax for lunch. She even brought the contact card and flyer which I handed to her that day. I gave her a tour around whole centre and she was so pleased that she started coming along to the centre on a regular basis with her other friends.

The volunteer coordinator, Davinia McFarlane at City Gateway, said:

I think this project is an excellent idea as social marketing was really shown to be effective. The volunteers loved it and learned so much. It is a shame it has come to an end.

The Well London Delivery Team model enabled integration and cross-promotion of both Well London activities and other health and wellbeing services. The volunteer training built local capacity and increased community engagement and participation in activities to promote wellbeing, leading to a transformation in the local community.

The volunteers have asked to continue volunteering within the area because they have enjoyed it so much. Three of the volunteers were even interested in setting up walks for community members and have applied for funding. As part of their ongoing work programme, City Gateway continue to promote Well London activities and develop existing Well London partnerships in the area.

5 of the 9 volunteers that took part in the last 6 months of the project found employment as a result of their capacity and confidence building. As one volunteer stated:

I have become very confident in convincing people of the benefits of living healthy lifestyles. I myself became more aware about healthy living and try to follow all what I have learnt during my time participating in the project.

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Recommendations

• Ensure there are sufficient training opportunities available - these are hugely valuable and City Gateway organised additional internal training to complement the Well London training
• Coordination was vital to make sure the Delivery Team were aware of all available activities

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