Making Every Contact Count

Everyday conversations that have the power to spark change

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) training gives you transferable skills to help you listen more, ask the right questions and ensure people feel empowered and heard.

It began as a national initiative in England, rooted in the NHS and public health systems. It was designed to embed brief, opportunistic interventions into routine interactions. It’s now expanded to cover so many more people facing roles – whether that’s a patient at a GP appointment, a resident in housing, or someone wanting to borrow a book in a library.

The goal is simple: To empower people to make positive changes to their health and wellbeing through everyday conversations.

It's grounded in behaviour change science. It’s not about telling people what to do or adding to already busy workloads. Instead, it’s about listening, prompting reflection, and signposting to support – creating the conditions for change, not forcing it.

For those who receive MECC training, the principles are simple.

Get transferable skills to help you listen more, ask the right questions and ensure people feel empowered and heard.

The benefits are significant.

Earlier, informed interventions that make a real difference.
Challenges seen and addressed before they become a problem.
A feeling of connection – everyone is pulling in the same direction.
A practical way to tackle health inequalities because conversations can happen anywhere and with anyone.
Education and awareness – informed conversations help people take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing.

Oxfordshire’s Marmot Place programme is committed to tackling health inequalities and improving health equity. MECC is being delivered by local partners across the county – helping us meet the Marmot principles we are focusing on.

MECC Training

MECC training is freely available in Oxfordshire and covers:

What MECC is and who it is for
An introduction to Behaviour Change and the COM-B and Stages of Change behaviour change models
How to have a MECC conversation using a three-step approach
Using open discovery questions to have supportive conversations about health
What to consider when providing information or signposting an individual to a support service

Training Models Available

MECC 3-hour Practice Session
MECC Train the Trainer Course
MECC E-Learning – Making Every Contact Count – e-learning for healthcare

For more information about MECC training in your organisation or community group, contact us.

Embedding MECC into your team's approach

We offer free, bespoke MECC training sessions where suited. These sessions are designed to support organisations across Oxfordshire in integrating Making Every Contact Count (MECC) into their everyday practice.

Find and access support

Helping people improve their health and wellbeing starts with simple, everyday healthy conversations.

Whether you're a professional or volunteer engaging in a healthy conversation, having the right information around local support available at your fingertips can make a big difference. This information brings together a range of local and national support services and practical tips around leading a healthy lifestyle.

Visit the MECC Link website for more support and information about the MECC approach across the Thames Valley. You can access suggested open questions and signposting for both national and Oxfordshire-based services, all broken down by a range of healthy lifestyle topics.

Additional Public Health training offers and a list put in to text formulated from this PDF document.

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) training

MECC is about using the everyday interactions we have with others to help people make positive
changes to their physical and mental health and access the support they need. A MECC interaction
takes a matter of minutes and is intended to fit into and complement existing conversations. You can
access free training that will:

Develop the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to have brief conversations with the public about their health and wellbeing.
Gain information to help signpost the people you are helping to services they may require for more specific health-related support.

MECC training in Oxfordshire is live and interactive either online or in person. You can choose between:

A three-hour practice session or
A train-the-trainer course (four, two-hour sessions online) to enable you to become a MECC trainer and cascade training to your own team.

It covers all of the five key lifestyle topics (mental health and wellbeing, smoking, alcohol, healthy weight and physical activity). Email MECC@oxfordshire.gov.uk to find out more.

Lifestyle topic-based training

Further free topic-focused lifestyle training offers include:

Mental health and suicide prevention training

Content: A suite of free mental health and suicide prevention training courses is available, delivered by Oxfordshire Mind with assistance from Oxfordshire Youth on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council.

The courses are open to professionals and volunteers who work with Oxfordshire residents of all ages. The sessions are designed to equip professionals and volunteers with the knowledge and skills to effectively support individuals in crisis. In particular, the aim is to train those in small organisations and community groups who are unable to fund mental health and suicide prevention training and/or those who have contact with those who are most vulnerable.

There is a wide variety of training courses being offered including titles like Mental Health Aware, Suicide First Aid Lite, Youth Mental Health First Aid and Trauma Informed Care. Courses are being delivered both in person and online.

To find out more about the courses, including eligibility, visit:www.oxfordshiremind.org.uk/training/free-mental-health-and-suicide-prevention-training/ or contact trainingcourses@oxfordshiremind.org.uk

Place Based Physical Activity Clinical Champions (PACC) Programme

Content: PACC training is evidence-based training for healthcare professionals on the benefits of physical activity in long term conditions including education on behavioural change conversations. In the training, you will gain increased awareness of Oxfordshire’s physical activity offers and how to make a referral.

Delivery: Face-to-face and virtual training offered – 60-90 minutes To find out more or sign-up, please contact christinemcbride-cowell@activeoxfordshire.org

Substance use

Content: A range of alcohol and drug training opportunities are available, including alcohol and drug awareness sessions, how to refer to services and how to administer naloxone to prevent drug-related deaths.

Sessions are designed for front-line professionals or volunteers working in a range of settings including health, social care, voluntary, housing and criminal justice services.

Delivery: In person sessions run at Oxford Hub, or bespoke sessions can be arranged for whole teams at your service via Turning Point.

Sessions can also be arranged via Cranstoun Here4YOUth for services that engage with children and young people affected by substance use. The length of sessions varies and can be tailored to your team's needs.

For more information, contact:

Turning Point: andy.symons@turning-point.co.uk
Cranstoun: Here4youthox@cranstoun.org.uk

In person free naloxone training and naloxone packs can also be provided at select community pharmacies across Oxfordshire. For more information and the full list of participating pharmacies, visit: Take Home Naloxone Service.

Child feeding guide

Content: Learn about promoting healthy eating in young children and understand the psychology underpinning many feeding and eating problems. Includes practical tips and strategies for childcare, early years and healthcare professionals to help promote healthy eating in families.

Delivery: Online training (2-3 hours).
Find out more

Food poverty

Content: Helps you better support and signpost people experiencing food poverty.

Delivery: Online training through a 45-minute video.
Find out more

Smoking very brief advice (VBA)

Content: This CPD-accredited Very Brief Advice (VBA) Stop Smoking Training is suitable for those who come into contact with smokers to confidentially ask smoking status, advice on local support and refer to SmokeFree Oxon. These sessions provide an overview of smoking at a national context, the components of a cigarette, nicotine replacement therapy products, vapes and the benefits for quitting.

Register your interest: SmokeFreeOxon.S4H@nhs.net

Physical activity

Content: If you are a frontline professional or volunteer in health, social care or the voluntary sector, build your skills so you can have more supportive conversations about physical activity. You’ll get a range of information and tools to support people to increase their activity and confidence as well as how to refer to available programmes. Find out more

Alcohol identification brief advice (IBA)

Content: Open to anyone, including non-professionals, to help identify those who may be at increasing or higher risk of harm due to their alcohol consumption. It is intended to motivate people to be more aware of the level of their drinking and its influence on their health, and to encourage them to access support if relevant.

Register your interest: public.health@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Domestic abuse

Content: Find out how to spot it, its impact, and to understand risk assessment and safety planning.The training is split into seven optional modules. At least one of the three universal modules needs to be completed before signing up to any of the other modules. Each module is three hours long.

The Domestic Abuse Champion’s Programme is an accredited program that offers an opportunity for professionals to continue their development in the field of domestic abuse as Domestic Abuse Champions.

To become a champion, you need to complete at least three of the domestic abuse training modules. The modules can be run concurrently.To access domestic abuse training, please visit:Training - Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (oscb.org.uk)

SociaLed offers 2.5-hour online courses. Look out for news of expert led Webinars, scheduled to take place later this year.
Find out more

All our health e-learning

Content: Explore All Our Health bitesized eLearning sessions, designed to help professionals protect and improve the nation’s health. You’ll find signposting to trusted sources of helpful evidence, guidance and support. You can dip in and out of the content as and when you need it.

Currently, there are 33 All Our Health elearning sessions available covering a wide variety of public health topics such as financial wellbeing, inclusion health, smoking and tobacco, alcohol etc.
Find out more

Oral health improvement

Content: A range of training is available that meets your professional needs and helps support the oral health of your service users. Training covers oral health information across the lifespan, emphasising the three key messages to improve oral health.

To find out more or to schedule an in-person or teams session, please contact
oral.health@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk or visit Oral Health - Community Dental Service.

Healthy Eating

BeeZee Oxfordshire is offering free “Better Conversations Around Health” training sessions to support healthcare professionals in navigating sensitive discussions with patients about weight and lifestyle. Led by expert health coaches, the 45–60 minute webinars will explore the challenges of living with obesity, how to initiate conversations about weight, common barriers people face, and the support available.