Making Every Contact Count (MECC)
Making Every Contact Count (MECC) transforms everyday conversations into impactful health and wellbeing discussions. MECC training participants learn how to deliver brief interventions, signpost effectively, and support people to make healthier choices.
What will participants learn?
MECC training equips staff with the skills to:
- Use everyday conversations to influence health and wellbeing
- Engage somebody in brief, helpful health discussions
- Deliver brief interventions
- Encourage small steps towards better health and wellbeing
- Signpost somebody towards relevant services and resources
Who is it for?
Each interaction somebody in your team has with the public is an opportunity to use MECC. This training is ideal for frontline staff and volunteers who directly engage with the public, including council staff, volunteers, healthcare professionals, educators, mental health practitioners, community leaders, social care staff, and anyone else who regularly engages with members of the public.
What does the course include?
- The principles and importance of MECC
- Factors impacting health and wellbeing
- Techniques to carry out effective brief interventions
- A framework for structuring health-related conversations
- Effective signposting strategies
- Scenarios to see how MECC works in practice
- Practical resources to discover local services that can be signposted to
- A reference sheet to support participants as they put MECC into practice
Our MECC courses can focus on general health and wellbeing or be tailored to address priority issues that are relevant to participants' roles, including:
- Mental health and emotional resilience
- Cost of living challenges
- Social isolation and loneliness
- Substance misuse, including drugs and alcohol
- Vaccination uptake and health screening
- Cancer prevention and early detection
- Healthy lifestyle choices, including diet and physical activity
All of our courses can be delivered in person or online. Full and half day options are available as standard. Depending on requirements, we can also offer more in-depth training packages with multi-day, follow-up, and train-the-trainer options.
Course evaluation
11,000+
people trained
70+
organisations trained
Why choose our training?
To maximise training value and effectiveness, we offer:
- Content tailored to participant needs through pre-engagement with client teams
- Evidence-based approaches like Making Every Contact Count (MECC) and Motivational Interviewing (MI)
- Interactive learning, including simulations and real-world skills practice
- Follow-up support to help staff implement their new skills
- Continuous refinement of our courses through evaluation and participant feedback
I have found SMG to be extremely flexible in their approach to MECC training across Kent, Surrey & Sussex, often going the ‘extra mile’ to ensure that the training needs of service providers are met.
Commissioner
Medway Council
The training provides you with an opportunity to think about what you are currently doing, how you can improve and share your practice.
Training Participant
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
It has been a pleasure to work with the SMG team, who are proactive, responsive to our needs and professional. SMG were quick to suggest new ways of working in light of the Covid-19 pandemic which meant our project didn't lose momentum and continued to deliver quality training virtually, during this challenging time.
Commissioner
Hackney Council