This week Ulster University announces the launch of CHOICE (Challenging Health Outcomes –Integrating Care Environments), an innovative new online resource designed to reduce social exclusion among individuals living with severe mental illness.
The initiative connects service users to a diverse network of community activities, groups, organisations, and services that addresses important practical social and emotional needs.
The CHOICE project uses social prescribing, a non-medical approach to improving health to empower individuals, fostering better physical and mental wellbeing. A dedicated team of Community Navigators, trained through the project collaborates with local agencies to coproduce personalised, actionable plans for service users to achieve.
Professor Gerard Leavey, Director of The Bamford Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing at Ulster University said:
“As a group, people with severe mental illness die prematurely – up to twenty years younger than others in the general population and have high rates of multiple physical health problems. Additionally, they are some of the loneliest and most socially isolated people in our society. We have known this for over two decades, but the health disparities persist. CHOICE is an attempt to tackle the exclusion and poor health of people living with enduring mental illness through social prescribing - a non-medical approach to improving health and delivered by a team of Community Navigators working in partnership with our community coalition.”
CHOICE is a major £1.9 million project funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and is part of The Mobilising Community Assets to Reduce Health Inequalities Programme’. It has been co-designed with people with lived experience of mental health challenges, and is supported by a large community coalition of cultural, sports and health organisations in the voluntary and statutory sectors, ensuring a holistic and inclusive approach.
Professor Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland praised the project at its launch event: “I am delighted to see this important research being progressed which will help address the health inequalities that are faced by many in our communities who are living with mental illness.
“It is well established that those with severe mental illness have poorer health outcomes and shorter life expectancy, and the CHOICE project will utilise the experiences of people who live with mental illness to help drive improvements in services and outcomes. The project is an excellent example of the benefits of co-production in action.”
By addressing critical social and psychological factors that lead to long-term mental illness, such as low self-esteem, exclusion, loneliness, and discrimination – CHOICE aims to overcome the many barriers within a fragmented ‘system’ of care and support.
The project’s multi-disciplinary academic team, led by Professor Gerard Leavey, Director of The Bamford Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Ulster University brings together expertise in mental health, social care, and community engagement. Additional funding has been provided by UKRI’s Building a Secure and Resilient World, and Creating Opportunities, Improving Outcomes strategic themes. The programme is also run in partnership with the National Centre for Creative Health.