Mental Well-being Impact Assessment

Anthea Cooke Director of Inukshuk

and

Nerys Edmonds – Mental Health Promotion Specialist - South London

and Maudsley NHS Trust

What is Mental Well-being Impact Assessment (MWIA)?

A pioneering methodology that enables a wide range of organisations

and programmes to understand and demonstrate their impact on

mental well-being

MWIA Toolkit

• The MWIA toolkit provides a structured, evidence based analysis of how policies, proposals, programmes and projects might influence mental health and well-being

• It focuses on positive mental well-being• MWIA is rooted in Health Impact Assessment

methodology and exists to build healthy public policy • With ever increasing policy emphasis on well-being, this

MWIA toolkit provides an ideal methodology for supporting systems, organisations and programmes to improve and evidence their impact on well-being

• Current toolkit is designed for use with adults, a version for use with children and young people is in development.

The MWIA toolkit has been developed by a partnership of:

Achievements and Developments•200 people have now been trained in the North West, Midlands and London to carry out MWIAs

•Well over 400 MWIAs have been carried out on a wide range of programmes including Local Area Agreements, Carers Projects, mental health projects, community arts, the European Capital of Culture 08 in Liverpool, Well London, and now in schools.

• A National MWIA Collaborative has now been formed to integrate MWIA in public health policy and practice at a national level

•An updated version of the toolkit will be published in 2009 and work is currently taking place on a version for use with young people and in schools

From evaluation of the use of the MWIA tool the benefits are:

• Engaging a range of stakeholders, including beneficiaries, to increase awareness and understanding of mental well-being

• Identifying potential positive and negative impacts of a ‘project” or “proposal’ on mental well-being

• Creating set of evidence based recommendations and an action plan for a project to enhance positive impact and minimise negative impacts

• Developing specific indicators (measures) of mental well-being for projects

MWIA is based on four key evidence based factors which promote and protect mental

well-being• Enhancing control• Increasing resilience and community assets• Facilitating participation• Promoting inclusion.

(Department of Health, 2001)

What is the impact of Statutory PSHE on your mental well-

being?

• Enhancing control

• Increasing resilience and community assets

• Facilitating participation

• Promoting inclusion.

Social support

Emotional health and well-being

Importance

PositiveImpact

NegativeImpact

MWIA work with schools and young people

• Design process for a specific MWIA toolkit for work with young people

• Work for the Learning Trust in Hackney carrying out MWIA in three schools

MWIA design work

• Early version of the toolkit was used in youth settings as part of Neighbourhood Renewal and MWIAs were carried on physical activity projects and youth clubs

• Piloting of a “game” version with a youth club in Croydon in 2008

• A co- design workshop with young people to test activities and develop appropriate language

Work in Schools

• We were commissioned by the Learning Trust in Hackney to carry out MWIAs in three schools

• Each school has selected a specific programme or issue for the focus of the MWIA

• We have MWIAs focusing on: – staff well-being, – parental engagement – a preventative programme for children in year 5/6

Learning so far

• All of the schools have been able to readily see the connections between issues and programmes in their school and the four factors addressed in MWIA

• They have been enthusiastic and open to using the tool

• We have so far completed the MWIA with parents

MWIA with parents• Focused on the impact on their well-being of getting involved

in with school life• We negotiated with the school a way to encourage parents to

attend• An assembly focused on health eating , where parents

brought in international dishes• 15 -20 parents engaged with the MWIA workshop – many of

whom were not ‘the usual suspects’• Quickly able to generate what ‘well-being’ meant for them –

e.g. being able to care for their children, social activities, money, meeting people

• “I think today’s session was great, met new parents, each of us spoke our mind and we all raised thoughts. We should have more of these sessions”

Support for putting MWIA into action

• The MWIA toolkit can be downloaded for free

• Seeking partners to develop the children & young people’s MWIA toolkit….

• Action Learning programme – a three day programme where you learn the theory and evidence behind MWIA, how to use the toolkit in practice and how to use the materials. During the programme you put MWIA into action by working in small groups to carry out an MWIA on a local project

• Mentoring during and after the training course to support you in using MWIA on your local programmes

• Providing MWIAs for organisation’s projects and programmes.

For further information on MWIA• You can download the toolkit from:• http://www.northwest.csip.org.uk/work/mental-health-and

-social-wellbeing/mental-health-promotion/mental-wellbeing-impact-assessment-toolkit.html

• The toolkit and MWIAs report and information are also on the HIA Gateway - http://www.apho.org.uk/default.aspx?RID=40141

• Contact us:

• anthea.cooke@inukshukconsultancy.com

• Nerys.Edmonds@slam.nhs.uk