RIC Health Messaging
RIC Health Messaging aims to increase the understanding of individuals within the Bradford (RIC) geographical areas, using different communication methods to enable them to make positive choices about their health and wellbeing.
There will be a set of simple and consistent health messages to promote healthier lifestyle behaviours and self-care which will improve health literacy levels within the cities communities..
This project will focus on work in the Bradford City (RIC) area covered by Community Partnerships 4, 5 and 6, and due to the nature of those who live and work in this central area, there is likely to be a wider benefit to the population as a whole.
Grant application deadline is 5pm, 5th August.
Grant Award Round – £4000
The VCS Alliance in partnership with our RIC Commissioners wish to establish a consistent approach to health messaging that resonates within our hardest to reach communities. To this end we are looking for 3 Delivery Providers that have the capacity to deliver 3 health messages concurrently utilising the same approach and the Digital Media Toolkit.
We would welcome projects working in partnership to deliver this programme of health messaging.
The 3 health messages are that must be delivered across the three Community Partnerships of 4, 5, and 6 are:
- Healthy Eating
- Mental Health and Suicide Awareness (please see separate information about this HM below)
- Smoking Cessation – Women during pregnancy and new mothers/ fathers.
The timeline for this is:
- 15th July – 5th August: Application period
- Week Commencing 8th August: Projects Informed of decision
- 15th August – 2nd September: Co-creation workshops
- 5th September – 31st October (Approx 6 weeks): Delivery of Health Messages
- 1st November – 17th November: Evaluation and planning for 2023 health messaging campaigns
Additional Information About Health Message: Mental Health and Suicide Awareness
Working in the voluntary and community sector though enjoyable and fulfilling can be stressful. The last 2 years have seen levels of anxiety and stress increase amongst VCS project staff members as well as those members of our communities you seek to support.
In response to this RIC Health Messaging: Mental Health and Suicide Awareness is structured very differently to previous health messages and the two health messages highlighted above.
This health message will have two parts:
1. Money awarded is intended to be used by the project to upskill nominated staff member (s) in Mental Health First Aid through the leading provider
MHFA England https://mhfaengland.org/. This provision will:
- Enable staff to recognise their own anxieties and stress triggers and know what appropriate action to take.
- Recognise anxieties and stress triggers in fellow staff members and know how to advise them.
This is the first time this approach has been taken with Health Messaging grant funding from The VCS Alliance and so we will want to understand how it has helped build capacity and resilience in our delivery partners. To this end awarded projects will be asked to keep a short reflective diary over a number of weeks and tell us about how it has helped them and their organisation.
We will also ask the project to complete 2 questionnaires (either PHQ9 or GAD7, these are tools to measure changes in anxiety and stress. Theses questionnaires will be totally anonymous and only shared with prior permission.
2. We want projects to have the skills necessary to continue supporting the most vulnerable members of your communities. This training increases the capacity of projects to support people in crisis:
MHFA won’t teach you to be a therapist, but it will teach you to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis – and even potentially stop a crisis from happening.
You’ll learn to recognise warning signs of mental ill health, and develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone while keeping yourself safe.
You’ll also learn how to empower someone to access the support they might need for recovery or successful management of symptoms. This could include self-help books or websites, accessing therapy services through their GP, their school or place of work, online self-referral, support groups, and more.
What’s more, you’ll gain an understanding of how to support positive wellbeing and tackle stigma in the world around you.
MHFA England
We would like to hear in your application how you would make use of this mental good health and wellbeing tool to support yourself, your colleagues and latterly your communities going forward.
Please visit this page for a more detailed breakdown and/ or to apply:RIC Health Messaging: Mental Health and Suicide Awareness – The VCS Alliance
If you would like more information before applying please contact David Holt, Grant Manager: david@thevcsalliance.org.uk
Living Well
Living Well is run by Bradford Council, in partnership with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), alongside local voluntary and community sector organisations.
Links to the Living Well programme will be carried on all digital and print media, and we would ask that projects selected to deliver this series of health messages make use of the huge amount of resources available free to download.
There are set links to up to date and accurate information around, smoking cessation, mental health and wellbeing and eating well, where you can download additional flyers etc to supplement your health messaging. When conducting outreach we would ask that you talk to those you engage with about what Living Well can offer.
Though the health messaging programme is RIC based, we would encourage projects to see this as a joint effort between all sectors in Bradford and Craven districts to support people in making positive life choices.
The Digital Toolkit
This toolkit will provide you with drag and drop digital elements that can be used across all social media and websites. The library of components you will have at your disposal will all be designed to be ready for immediate use on any site; this means you will not have to worry about how to alter sizes etc.
- The toolkit will have a common branding across all Community Partnerships and campaigns, this can not be changed. We want this bespoke health messaging to become recognised by community members as a trusted resource, immediately recognisable.
- Layered on top of this will be the individual messages that are put together through the co-creation workshops. This is were projects will be able to ensure their health message is bespoke to their community.
For the purposes of the RIC Health Messaging campaigns, The toolkit includes:
- Co-creation Workshops
- Branding and Design
- Toolkit
- Photography
- PR and Marketing Plan
- Printed flyers and community distribution. (3000 per CP/ Per campaign = 27000. If you are delivering all 3 campaigns in a CP then you would be expected to deliver x3 the minimum amount highlighted in the application
- The Digital Toolkit will be available for delivery providers to adopt and use in an ongoing fashion through their wider delivery once these health messages have finished.
Co-Creation workshops
Without co-creation the concept of bespoke community level health messaging would not be valid. The experts in our communities are the people that live there. They understand the barriers to engagement as many will experience the same barriers.
One thing that has come out of the COVID pandemic is an understanding that health inequalities impact unequally across our diverse communities, these lived experiences are what has to drive this bespoke health messaging.
These co-creation workshops will require our delivery partners to ensure a minimum of 3 community members (per message) are engaged in the workshops.
These health messages will be formed around the observations and lived experiences of community members, and those things they identify as barriers to engaging with health messaging.
Nine hours in total has been set aside for co-creation workshops, (please refer to the timeline). These workshops will be used to:
- Identify barriers
- Establish the bespoke messages
- Design the media
- Evaluate and tweak as the delivery progresses.
Monitoring
As with all grants we try and keep the monitoring demands as light touch as possible, also as actual deliver is over a short, but high impact time period there will be a final evaluation but no progress update.
Instead, progress will be monitored in an ongoing fashion and linked to whether the following indicators are being met:
- Attend any and all Co-creation workshops
- Ensure you have a minimum of 3 community members at each co-creation workshop
- Work closely and openly with the Media design cooperative
- Run an ongoing digital media campaign which takes advantage of any and all social media.
- Ensure other projects and organisations in your CP footprint are linked into your Health Messaging campaign. This can be achieved by asking them to carry your Health Message on their social media, websites etc.
- Run a minimum of 5 outreach sessions for a total of no less than 15 hours.
- Ensure GP surgeries are willing to take and display printed media – ready for distribution. If you have any problems with this please let us know. We may be able to liaise with the surgeries on your behalf.
- Be aware of potential referral pathways and have that information ready to give to people you engage with.
- Keep a record of contacts made, (numbers/ medium e.g., digital/ face to face)
- Demographics :
- We recognise that collecting demographic breakdowns for this kind of project would be very difficult, therefore we will only ask for a simple breakdown of demographics relating to face to face/ outreach activities.
- Digital contacts: please ensure you log how many hits on website, information downloads, Whatsapp contacts, twitter retweets etc….
- Gather feedback from health message recipients on the positives and negatives of the designed media through outreach and invite comments on digital pathways.
- Have all monitoring data to us by the 7th November.
- Attend and actively input to planning meetings in November for the 2023 Health Message campaigns.
This will be monitored in partnership with the media design cooperative.
Value and payment schedule and banking
Campaign 4 Healthy Eating
Campaign 5 Smoking Cessation.
Each Health Message is worth £2000. This means the total award for delivering 2 health messages is £4000. This reflects the amount of work that will be needed to make this a success.
With the addition of the media toolkit the total award value is between £15,000.00 This toolkit will remain the property of The VCS Alliance and our commissioning partners but projects will be free to continue using this kit to support their other ongoing work around health and wellbeing.
Campaign 6 Mental Health and Suicide Awareness.
Please see additional information about this health message: RIC Health Messaging: Mental Health and Suicide Awareness – The VCS Alliance
There is a separate application form: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RICHM-MentalHealthFirstAid
Before a grant payment can be made to successful applicants we will require an invoice to be submitted. If you are successful you will be asked to send your invoice for the award amount, detailing:
- Grant Name (Health Messaging 2022)
- How many messages you have been awarded (1,2, or 3)
- Community Partnership Area (CP 4, 5, or 6)
- Named person and contact details (if not on the invoice)
- Banking details: (sort code and account number)
All invoices should be sent to: finance@thevcsalliance.org.uk
Please note that invoices sent to other VCS Alliance email accounts may not be paid, you will be asked to resubmit to the correct email address.50
How To Apply
Applications will only be accepted through Survey Monkey without prior agreement.
If there is a valid reason why the application can’t be submitted digitally you must contact the Grants Manager using the green button and arrange an alternate method of submission.
Or if you would like to chat about the grant before applying please email David Holt (Grants Manager) requesting a phone call.
To apply through Survey Monkey please use the button below: