Richie Andrew - Health Improvement Specialist

Why did you decide to become a Community Champion?

The largest piece of work I am involved in is the South Tees Wellbeing Network which is about recruiting front line services, professionals and volunteers as network members across all sectors who work to improve the broad wellbeing of people in South Tees. One way we do this is by exploring the difficult issues within our system that affect people’s health and wellbeing, seek opportunities to improve these system issues in our communities, with our communities, through rapid and efficient targeted collaborations. Healthwatch is very much about the connection between the publics wants, needs and experiences of health and social care to make improvement through collaboration too, meaning our goals are very much aligned. The greatest strength in our collaboration with Healthwatch are likely their insights with the public and provider partners, and using this to highlight, explore and act to make improvement through our learning and development events, led by our members within the system and at the front line.

How does your role help people in South Tees?

I work across two Local Authority areas in a Mental Health Team for Public Health South Tees. We are about working with cross sector partners, stakeholders and people in their communities to educate, motivate, innovate and connect people across the system around an agenda of Mental health improvement, prevention and better wellbeing to close the gap for mental health inequalities and drive forward parity of esteem (to be seen as equally important) for mental health. Our work should encompass these things and more based on evidence based practice, as well as innovation to develop new understandings of what works for people locally. I personally am motivated by turning lived experience of our local community into positive action. So much can happen away from services and the system to improve mental health and wellbeing and I am keen to see better use of community assets and knowledge to build those elements from within. I also have responsibility for Men’s Mental Health in South Tees, for which I have developed a campaign called BoroManCan which is soon to become its own charitable organisation using this brand under its new title, Every Man Can, to do more of its men’s health campaigning work.