Delivering MECC skills training to address loneliness

Age UK recognises that loneliness and social isolation negatively impacts the health and wellbeing of a large part of its client base. They wanted support to help staff and volunteers across the national Age UK network spot opportunities to open up conversations about loneliness (alongside other issues such as ageism) and help those affected to take practical steps towards reducing the problem.

To achieve this, a pilot MECC for Loneliness training programme was developed and tested with a number of local Age UK branches. Participant feedback was very positive and additional funding was secured to roll the training out more widely across the network.

“It teaches some very valuable and useful skills in engaging with people verbally which are useful in other contexts as well. It also showed me clearly how conversations on this very sensitive topic can be simple and don't need to be lengthy.”

Participant

Overall, 150 staff and volunteers from 15 local Age UK branches were trained in MECC skills. Evaluation of the training highlighted that participants felt more ready, able and motivated to support their clients who are lonely. Very encouragingly, a high proportion (95%) indicated that they now plan to put MECC skills to use in their day-to-day practice.

If your organisation is looking to equip staff and volunteers with the skills to tackle loneliness or other health and wellbeing issues, explore our Making Every Contact Count (MECC) training. Contact us to learn more about how we can tailor a programme to meet your needs.