Project: IN-CONTROL
Health Equity Fund: £14,986
More Horizons are a charitable organisation whose aim is to provide holistic support to individuals and communities. The group enable clients to make conscious, positive lifestyle changes to better their physical and mental wellbeing. The IN-CONTROL project was set up to directly benefit and empower Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, by addressing the health inequalities they face. These inequalities are often due to significant economic and social deprivation. Research by the group also highlighted higher than the county average rates of depression, diabetes and cancer within those communities.
With funding from the Health Equity Fund, the group were able to deliver the IN-CONTROL project to 100 adults across a series of sessions, both online and face to face at four different venues. Each session was delivered to a group of between 10 and 12 participants. The sessions explored topics of Motivation, Nutrition and Mindfulness. This included talks on how to look after your weight, sleep better and set achievable goals, cooking demonstrations of healthy meals, advice on eating well, and meditation and movement for better mental health. The group also delivered sessions for women on hormonal health. Participants were also encouraged to consider the environment, recycle more, and explore greener travel options.
The project was delivered by trained nutritionists, therapists and health experts. More Horizons also used their team of local volunteers who spoke up to 11 languages, enabling the sessions to be culturally inclusive and have a much greater impact to those who experience language barrier issues when accessing health services. Through the groups own knowledge of those communities, and their links with other local groups and agencies, 91% of participants of the project were from BAME communities. With this, the project was able to cross boundaries and reach individuals who may not have otherwise been able to engage with such projects or services.
Case Study
Ms. M aged 69 is widowed, lives on her own, is a cancer survivor and currently in remission. She had been struggling with physical and mental health challenges, loneliness, lack of motivation, anxiety and generalised low morale due to her physical condition. Ms. M was seeking support and found out about the IN-CONTROL project from a promotional flyer at a local community group. She booked on to the project and completed the motivation scale assessment, used the goal setting template to set personal goals and also benefited from the recipes demonstrated and provided to the group to incorporate in her daily life. Attending the sessions was extremely helpful and beneficial to address her needs and enabled her to make positive lifestyle changes. She found the mindfulness session extremely helpful to deal with her anxiety and felt positive to be part of the group as that aided to combat her social isolation. After finishing the project, she went on to join dance sessions which will continue her wellbeing journey.
Quotes from beneficiaries
It was very powerful. This has become my daily wellbeing practice. In addition, the 3 things I am grateful for are now a daily morning realisation. The thinking behind how I plate up food and proportions is taking some work but the concept of visually dividing my plate into the right portions is something which I am trying to achieve. Overall, the programme has been fantastic and reiterates what we know but seldom practice. The team gave a fantastic holistic wellbeing message and one that was easy to follow, practical and reaching lots of different cultures across the community. This for me was so important as it was inclusive and adaptable so that families and individuals can change it according to their needs.
That was a wonderful course with so much information. The recipes are very useful. The mindfulness exercises were unforgettable.
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