My Health Matters

My Health Matters (MHM) is a community health initiative commissioned and funded by LBH that has been successfully delivered for ten years. The MHM team actively engages with the public at various events across the borough, discussing health-related topics and directing individuals to appropriate local services for further support and information.

A key component of MHM is the recruitment and training of Health Champions from the community. This involves a free, one-day training course that culminates in a RSPH Level 2 accredited award in "Understanding Health Improvement." The training is available to anyone aged 18 or older who lives, works or volunteers in the borough and has an interest in health and wellbeing. Once qualified, Health Champions receive signposting materials and ongoing support, including monthly newsletters.

Health Champions also have the opportunity to share ideas, give feedback and network with other health champions at a bi-monthly health forum. The aim of the bi-monthly forum is to engage existing and active Health Champions, labelled "Core Health Champions." These forums provide an opportunity for Core Champions to upskill their knowledge on public health priorities through health presentations from internal and external specialists, discussions and networking.

The aims of the service are:

• To empower members of the Havering community (those who live, study, work or volunteer) with up-to-date and accurate information about health and well-being.

• To improve trust and engagement between authorities and the community.

• To work collaboratively with the Havering Public Health Team, Voluntary Sector organisations, businesses within Havering and council-funded services to target residents to improve health outcomes.

• To reduce health inequalities of adults within Havering

The objectives of the service are to:

• To target and recruit Health Champions with a strong community connection; that are representative of the community and have an interest in community health and well-being.

• To support existing and newly trained Health Champions & Core Health Champions by providing robust up-to-date signposting information.

• To hold bi-monthly health forums to engage and retain Core Health Champions with topics informed by Public Health priorities and input from health champions themselves.

• To work in partnership with Havering's Voluntary Sector Organisations, local businesses, and council funded services to support the delivery of public health priorities and specified national/local campaigns and to reduce inequalities by targeting priority groups.

• To gain quantitative and qualitative data evaluation of confidence levels of Health Champions prior to training and 1 year on.

• To ensure that all newly recruited Community Health Champions & Health Champion Volunteers receive the required RSPH Level 2 Understanding Health Improvement.

This is not an invitation to tender.