Training Services Limerick (TSL) has made history by becoming the first disability service in the country to launch a Making Every Contact Count implementation site.
Making Every Contact Count (MECC) enables the delivery of consistent and concise healthy lifestyle information and enables individuals to engage in conversations about their health at scale across the health service.
Training Services Limerick Instructor Josephine Phelan says; “Once we learned the premise behind Making Every Contact Count, we felt it would be a natural fit for our service.
To provide some context, we are a Disability Day Service offering group training programmes to adults aged 18 to 65 from the Midwest region, mainly Limerick and parts of Clare/Tipperary, from Monday to Friday. Our client group are diverse, including a variety of additional needs such as autism, intellectual disability and mental health conditions.
Each person that attends our service is assigned a keyworker who will facilitate them setting their own person centred goals and working towards achieving them at a realistic and individual pace.
As part of this role and process, we endeavour to help the service users to identify changes and manageable targets that would benefit them to live a long, healthy and fulfilling life as part of their community. Assessments are completed in consultation with family members or advocates for a collaborative wraparound approach.”
“We have been completing health based interventions with our service users for a number of years, and run programmes on our timetable in line with these objectives. Physical activity programmes include soccer, rowing, basketball, yoga, dance, swimming and tai chi.
Healthy eating is encouraged through basic cooking classes, fresh fruit and yoghurt available at break times, vegetarian Fridays in our canteen, and we now have two staff qualified as facilitators of the Healthy Food Made Easy Programme, which has already had a successful run in two of our services, and will recommence in the autumn in conjunction with Limerick Food Partnership.
Many of our groups support mental wellbeing such as art, horticulture, social community outings, behavioural support /coping skills, relaxation and mindfulness.”
An implementation team was formed at the centre and with the ongoing support of local Health Promotion and Improvement Officer Daniel Butler, a communication plan and action plan were created and followed through, sharing contents and regular updates with colleagues and stakeholders. Beneficial knowledge of the applicable approaches, language and terminology through online training modules was gained and the in person training workshop which followed, allowed participants to develop their understanding and further explore how to best utilise MECC to enhance the lives of service users. This also gave the opportunity to provide feedback on the experience of the training.
Josephine Phelan continued: “As the first disability site to implement this initiative, we were tasked with adapting and tailoring the client recording tool, creating a version that would best suit our service and client group. This evolved organically with each planning meeting held, with the team wanting to capture the essence of the 5As, while maximising on the trust and rapport existing within the keyworker service user relationship.
Momentum is high following a successful launch in Dooradoyle on Monday 28th August, with service users, staff and management alike excited about the future opportunities arising from our MECC involvement.”
“It is a positive progression for our service to now have a recording tool to evidence the life-changing interventions being carried out through our daily interactions and implementation of New Directions Standards. It is evident that MECC will continue to be a positive addition to the quality of the service we provide and indeed the health service as a whole.”
Congratulations to the Training Service Limerick team (pictured below) who are paving the way in disability services when it comes to Making Every Contact Count.
