Approaching the WISH project
WISH
Approaching the WISH project
The project approach
The new WISH project builds on the 'old WISH model' (see below) and replicates it so that there are case workers covering the whole of Somerset. As well as face-to-face support offered to people in their homes or at meetings, the service provides telephone advice, training and presentations, participation in larger outreach events, and aims to have strategic input to Somerset’s fuel poverty strategies and wider dissemination to policy makers and national stakeholders.
The behavioural model that this project will adopt for giving effective advice (based on CSE’s long history of providing home energy advice to households) is that individuals are more likely to make changes to their homes and lives when they receive advice which is:
- specific and relevant to their own particular circumstances
- received in a face-to-face setting
- delivered from a known and trusted source – particularly peer-endorsed
- relatively quick and easy to act upon, with ongoing support provided
The 'old WISH model'
It was set up to ensure elderly people living in Sedgemoor and West Somerset are receiving the benefits they are entitled to, and that their homes are properly insulated, adequately heated, secure and safe and aims to:
- Improve knowledge of, and access to, benefit entitlements, energy efficiency and home improvement grants
- Maintain a dedicated training programme for health and community professionals in Sedgemoor and West Somerset
- Help overcome certain vulnerable people's reluctance to claim benefits by adding further incentive with the take up of the Warm Front and Warm and Well schemes
- Increase disposable income in order to maximise vulnerable people's opportunities for social inclusion
- Monitor referrals made to partner organisations (e.g. Age Concern, benefits advice agencies) within the area
- The WISH project began in October 2006 and will continue for three years
A number of lessons were learnt following the conclusion of the project. These included:
- Working with and learning from other outreach organisations and staff saves hours of searching for contacts and venues and means you really hit the ground running
- Householders are much happier to provide health and wellbeing information if they have regular contact and support
- Outreach work needs to be well targeted to ensure people who can really benefit from the project are reached
- Word of mouth is a really important route to 'hard-to-reach' households
- Cakes are a great way to get people along to events! Seriously, don't under estimate the importance of this kind of incentive