Durham Community Action were pleased to attend the recent Neighbourhood Health Learning Conference, coordinated by Boost.

The event brought together partners from a range of sectors, including a strong VCSE contingent, from across the North East and North Cumbria.  Presentations and discussions on the day covered community power and co-production, as well as population health data and leadership.

We had some interesting breakout discussions, including about the challenges of shifting focus from treatment to prevention within the health system, while continuing to navigate demand, politics, reduced funding and competing priorities. It’s clear that working together with true openness, shared ambition and leadership and building on existing community strengths are all vital to the success of Neighbourhood Health.      

You can see the slides and a short video from the conference here:  

Neighbourhood Health Learning Conference: from insight to action

We will be continuing to actively engage in this work through various partnerships and will bring you updates as things develop.

A University College London study suggests social prescribing can deliver substantial wellbeing gains and strong social value.

Using data from 19,627 people referred to Social Prescribing Link Workers in the UK, researchers found improvements in mental wellbeing, happiness, life satisfaction, anxiety and sense of purpose within around two and a half months. Using a UK Treasury-recommended method, the rise in life satisfaction was valued at more than £4,000 per person, indicating a £9 social return for every £1 invested.

Senior author Professor Daisy Fancourt (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care) said:

“Research on social prescribing has been ongoing for several years now in the UK, with local trials and evaluations reporting similar 20% improvements in wellbeing. This study provides crucial large-scale data to corroborate those findings at a national level and advances our understanding of how social prescribing provides financial return on investment.”

These findings support earlier evidence that social prescribing can improve outcomes, reduce unnecessary health service use and offer good value for the NHS.

Find out more about the report:

The impact of social prescribing on wellbeing outcomes

To find out more about Social Prescribing in County Durham and how Social Prescribing Link Workers are supported by Durham Community Action, please contact Sue Garrett, Health and Wellbeing Coordinator, by emailing  susan.garrett@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

Social Prescriber Link Workers in County Durham were joined by Tracy Emery, one of Durham Community Action's Community Development Officers, to find out how their Climate Action in Rural North East (CAIRN) project is working with organisations across rural County Durham to help residents reduce their energy costs.

This work includes the offer of free Home Energy Audits including:

• Understanding Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and home energy efficiency
• Advice on heating controls, smart meters and appliances
• Support with grants, tariffs and insulation options
• Thermal imaging to identify heat loss
• Free energy-saving items

It’s an important issue to tackle as in 2023, there were an estimated 13% of households (3.17 million) in fuel poverty in England.

The Social Prescribers also found out about other energy related advice services available for support to residents from Groundwork North East and Cumbria, including Green Doctor Energy and Retrofit Advice, Citizens Advice County Durham, and National Energy Action.

To find out more about the  CAIRN partnership please visit our CAIRN webpage or email isla.ballard@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

Following a recent re-tendering process, Thrive Tribe have now taken over delivery of the Stop Smoking Service in County Durham, known as Smokefree County Durham (SFCD).

The service continues to operate as a dedicated Stop Smoking Service, and the team are excited about the opportunity ahead and looking forward to working closely with residents, partners, and stakeholders to grow and develop the service over the course of the contract.

If you live or work in County Durham and are aged 12 and over, the service can offer an individual quit programme for up to 12 weeks. You will be offered weekly tailored advice and support from a Specialist Practitioner to help plan and manage your quit attempt. The team work alongside the NHS, local pharmacies, and a range of other organisations to support your journey to becoming smoke-free.

Healthcare professionals can refer a patient here: Professional referrals - Smoke Free County Durham

One of the SFCD team will reach out to the patient within three working days.

You can watch a recording of the relaunch webinar here: Watch the Recording

Training: Smokefree County Durham offer free training for partners: Smoking Cessation in Practice (SCIP) (full day), SCIP Refresher (half day), Very Brief Intervention (1 hour), and bespoke sessions.

Please email hello@smokefreecountydurham.org.uk to book sessions.

Marketing Materials: A range of marketing materials are available, including posters, leaflets and referral cards. To request copies, please email hello@smokefreecountydurham.org.uk and the team will get back to you.

Website: Home - Smoke Free County Durham

Phone: 0800 7720565

Referrals: smokefreelife.countydurham@nhs.net

REACH County Durham is delighted to be working with ten fantastic community members (including two little ones!) in Tow Law through a series of Creative Health workshops designed as a means to explore community involvement in public health research.

Through funding from the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) to develop an 18-month partnership with Tow Law Community Association, and with valued input from local creative practitioners, the fortnightly workshops will involve ‘hands-on’ activities identified by the group themselves to serve a number of purposes.

These include exploring how innovative approaches can help establish welcoming and inclusive environments and spaces, and how creative activities encourage members to understand their local assets, stimulate conversations around broad topics such as ‘health’ and ‘research '. It will also enable participants to identify any barriers that exist to their full and meaningful contribution to future research-related involvement.

The group have gelled brilliantly, and has found the initial photography and nature-themed walks have helped them bond, discover beautiful new areas, and allow conversations around those health and wellbeing influences, beyond services and individual behaviours, that are known as the wider determinants of health.

For any further information, or to express an interest in delivering a creative workshop as part of the project, please email rio.floreza@durhamcommunityaction.org.uk

We Move Together is a County Durham campaign bringing together community events, activity opportunities, and awareness weeks to help more people move more, feel better, and connect with others.

The following events are taking place in July:

We Move Together Big Walk and Gentle Steps Session

A choice of a 90-minute wellbeing walk or a gentle paced walking session on an enclosed track.

Tuesday 14th July, Riverside Leisure Complex, Chester le Street. Big Walk: 10.30am – 12.00pm, Gentle Steps: 1.00pm – 2.30pm

Big Walk – booking essential due to limited places

Gentle Steps – booking encouraged

Walking Sports Festival

A morning of fun and inclusive walking sports in a friendly and supportive environment. Delivered in partnership with Durham County FA, Durham Cricket Foundation and England Netball North East.

Monday 13th July 10.30am - 1.30pm, Riverside Leisure Complex, Chester le Street.

Walking Sports Festival - booking essential

Free Family Fun Event

An afternoon of laughter, friendly competition and family fun. Old-school Sports Day races for kids and grown-ups, rounders and dodgeball.

Wednesday 15th July, 4.00pm –6. 00pm,  Ushaw Historic House and Chapel Gardens.

Free Family Fun Event - booking essential

Nobody plans to become a carer. One day you are a partner, child or friend. The next, you are navigating hospitals, managing appointments, and trying to support someone you love whilst holding your own life together. NO CHOICE CARING™ is an inspiring workshop delivered by internationally recognised executive coach and behavioural psychologist Professor Maurice Duffy.

You are invited to attend one of the four free practical workshops for family carers and supporters, taking place at Health Innovation NENC, Newcastle, NE1 4WH

• Wednesday 22nd July 10.00am - 12.30pm or 1.30 - 4.00pm
• Thursday 23rd July 10.00am - 12.30pm or 1.30 - 4.00pm

Professor Duffy draws on his own lived experience as a full-time carer for his wife, who is living with a rare form of dementia. You will hear real stories, share experiences and learn practical techniques to help cope, build resilience and survive the life you never planned for.

Find out more and book your place:

No Choice Caring Workshops

Samaritans Awareness Day takes place on Friday 24th July and is a day to remind people that Samaritans are available all day, every day of the year to provide confidential, non-judgemental emotional support to anyone struggling to cope. 

Every year in July, Samaritans branches in the UK hold local events to raise awareness of the support they have available.

You can find out more about the campaign and take part in their 24 minutes a day challenge this July. 

Samaritans Awareness Day 24/7

The North East and North Cumbria staff wellbeing hub offers free, confidential support for anyone working in health or social care across our region, including the VCSE.

The hub provides quick access to one‑to‑one support from an experienced mental health professional, along with up to three short follow-up sessions if needed. It can also help you find other services if you need longer-term support. You can talk about anything affecting your wellbeing, from stress and burnout to personal challenges.

Using the hub is simple and flexible. You can refer yourself and your employer will not be informed. Most appointments are carried out by phone or video, making it easier to fit around work and home life, and you will usually hear back within a working day.

To access support, you can complete the online form, email hubstheword@cntw.nhs.uk, or call 0191 223 2030. Appointments will be arranged at a time that suits you.

The North East and North Cumbria Health Literacy Team has launched a new newsletter alongside free training and resources.

From bite-sized webinars to advanced sessions, colleagues can build skills to communicate clearly, reduce inequalities and improve outcomes - supporting a more consistent, accessible approach in our region.

Find out more:

Health Literacy Update

If U Care Share Foundation, funded by Durham County Council, is pleased to offer fully funded places on a 2-day ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) course.

This CPD-accredited course is open to anyone aged 16+ who lives, works, or volunteers in County Durham with those at risk of suicide.

ASIST equips participants with the skills to recognise and act on the signs that someone is having thoughts of suicide, and support them to stay safe from suicide.

The course takes place on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th July at The Sjovoll Centre, Front St, Durham DH1 5BL.

Attendance at both days is required for completion.

Book your place on the training here:

ASIST Course

Men’s suicide prevention charity James’ Place offers free, life-saving, and quick to access therapy to men in suicidal crisis. The men they see are usually in crisis due to life events such as relationship breakdown, family worries, bereavement and financial problems. They will often have a plan to end their life, will be experiencing intense and distressing suicidal thoughts that they are at risk of acting on, and/or have recently tried to take their own life.

As well as an existing permanent centre in Newcastle, James’ Place is currently piloting a satellite service in Darlington based at Citizen’s Advice Darlington, two days a week. The charity offers six to eight sessions with a trained, professional therapist, helping to identify why a man is in crisis, what is keeping the crisis going, and what they can do to get through it.  

If you work or volunteer in the community, and are in contact with a man aged 18+ in suicidal crisis in the North East, you can refer him to James’ Place Darlington or Newcastle at jamesplace.org.uk.

The charity will aim to get back to you the same working day, and will see a man for an initial assessment within three working days. Trans men and non-binary people who feel the service might be right for them can also be referred.

The Darlington service is funded by the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales and will run until 4th September 2026.

Connecting People. Reducing Isolation. Strengthening Wellbeing.

This is the mantra of the Cree Group, the PACT Owls.

The group is a mixed gender club with ages currently ranging from 18 to over 60. Primarily a social group that meets on a Wednesday from 5.30pm to 7.30pm at PACT House Stanley, and the members also often informally organise trips, extra sessions, walks and excursions.

An average Wednesday is always built around food, be it a meal or a buffet, picky tea; they come together to talk about their week, support each other, and ensure they have someone to bounce off any issues and/or feelings.

The session will usually include some kind of activity either as a whole or in smaller groups: card games, creative and craft activities, role-play games, a film, a quiz, or sometimes they just chat. It’s a very loose session, and people can drop in and out as they feel the need.

As the PACT Owls, they’ve started to raise funding to arrange more activities such as cinema or Durham trips; they also held a fundraiser as part of Armed Forces Day and had a stall at the Stanley Food Market.

These events are great in many ways; helping to promote the group but also going a long way to giving a confidence boost to their members.

Recently they took part in well-being days at Beamish Museum, which were a huge success and something they loved being part of.

Above all, PACT Owls is a welcoming, safe, accepting space; some of the members are neurodiverse, some feel lonely and isolated, others have struggled with addiction; they are diverse by nature and united as a group.

Find out more:

PACT Owls Facebook page

The County Durham Community Pain Management Service continues to support people living with persistent pain through specialist assessment, treatment and self-management education.

Between May and December 2025, the service received over 43,000 referrals, completed more than 150 medication reviews, and discussed 2,161 patients through joint multidisciplinary team meetings. A total of 98% of first appointments were offered within 20 working days, while patient feedback remained positive.

The team has also strengthened its psychology provision through a new Principal Psychologist and continued CBT support.

Face-to-face and virtual Pain Rehabilitation Programmes continue to provide education and coping strategies, supported by close collaboration with hospital services and community initiatives

If you or anyone you know would like to access this service, they need to have a referral from their GP/Doctor.

Find out more:

County Durham Community Pain Management Service

The Bread and Butter Thing is a charity working to make everyday life more affordable for households while reducing food waste and getting good food to where it is needed most.

Every week, surplus food from supermarkets, manufacturers and farms arrives at their Durham warehouse. From there, their teams and volunteers sort and redistribute it through the network of community food hubs across County Durham and the wider North East.

The model supports health and wellbeing in a very practical way. It helps families stretch household budgets further, improves access to fresh and nutritious food, reduces pressure on people who are already managing tight finances, and creates regular, welcoming spaces in the heart of communities.

Membership

Their food clubs are open to everyone and are free to join. There are no referrals, no eligibility thresholds and no stigma. Members can use the service when it helps their household, accessing fresh fruit and vegetables, chilled food and store cupboard staples at a much lower cost than they would usually pay in a supermarket.

Three large bags of food cost £8.50, and members can also pay using Healthy Start cards.

To register as a member, people can text 07507 237 311 with their name, postcode, and the hub they would like to join, or visit:

The Bread and Butter Thing - Become a Member

Volunteering

Their volunteers are at the heart of everything they do, helping turn surplus food into practical support for households across local communities. They rely on people and organisations to help sort, pack and prepare food for their community hubs. This support means they can keep good food moving quickly and safely into communities, helping more households access affordable food each week.

For corporate volunteering opportunities, please email corporatevolunteering@breadandbutterthing.org.

Durham Cricket Foundation host a wide range of programmes for anyone and everyone, and is passionate about supporting their community.

One of the many free programmes they run is their walking cricket hubs. Walking cricket is based around the game we know and love but slowed down. It allows light exercise, meeting new people and a good laugh. There are multiple hubs across County Durham.

For more information, please visit Walking Cricket

https://www.durhamcricket.co.uk/play-cricket/walking-cricket/

To sign up to one of the groups, please email: alex.paterson@durhamcricket.co.uk

Other programmes they run include:

• Walkers and Talkers
• Craft Sessions

For more information on joining their Volunteer Team, please email: alex.paterson@durhamcricket.co.uk

The Men’s Health Community Fund (MHCF) is a partnership between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Movember, and People’s Health Trust (PHT), combining government commitment with philanthropic expertise to support community-based men’s health across England.

The fund supports delivery of the Men’s Health Strategy for England by investing in preventative, community-led approaches that improve health and wellbeing and build understanding of what works to engage men. It also aims to generate practical evidence on improving engagement, help-seeking and reducing health inequalities among men and boys to inform future policy, commissioning and system change.

The funding is for programmes focused on two cohorts: men aged 35-59 who are economically inactive, unemployed or facing economic precarity and older men (60+) experiencing key life transitions (eg retirement, bereavement, relationship breakdown, caring responsibilities).

The fund opened on Monday 22nd June and closes on Wednesday 15th July. 

For further details and to submit an application, please visit Men's Health Community Fund

The Mayor’s Opportunity Fund (Round 4) provides grants to charities and voluntary groups in the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA) area to support a broad range of practical cost-of living interventions, prioritising projects that support residents most at risk of hardship and provide support that is responsive, preventative, and community-led.

This round is designed to complement existing regional and local provision, including the Warm Homes programme and welfare advice services, ensuring funding adds value rather than duplicates established support.

Full details can be found here:

Mayor's Opportunity Fund (Round 4) 

The deadline for applications is Monday 27th July. 

Following the feedback Durham County Council received in developing the Adult Social Care Strategy 2025-2027, they want to improve how they communicate and provide information and advice about adult social care.

Your feedback and suggestions will be used to help shape how they provide information, advice and guidance in the future and help us develop our Adult Care Communication Strategy.

Find out more and complete the survey:

Communicating and sharing information about adult social care services

The deadline for completing the survey is Sunday 19th July. 

An online discussion is also taking place on Monday 27th July from 6.00 - 6.30pm; you can sign up for this event here:

Communicating and sharing information about adult social care - online discussion session

A PhD research project at Teesside University is seeking to explore young people’s experiences of belonging to different social groups and how this relates to wellbeing. They are interested in understanding the range of social groups that young people feel part of (for example, community and sports clubs or other social groups) and how these experiences may connect to wellbeing.

Participants will be asked to complete short questionnaires about their wellbeing, the social groups they feel part of, and some background information about themselves.

They are keen to reach young people aged 13 - 23 living in the North East. If a young person is under 16 there is a parent/guardian information sheet and consent form to access here.  

Please contact the Lead Researcher, Amy Holdsworth, via email with any questions or queries: a.holdsworth@tees.ac.uk

The survey can be accessed here:

Young People's Social Groups and Wellbeing