From 2019 – 2024, the programme worked across Midlothian to effect change so that children and young people could receive the best possible support with their mental health and wellbeing and be better able to deal with life’s challenges.
In particular, the programme aimed to strengthen earlier and preventative approaches to enable more timely and appropriate mental health support for a greater number of people.
A strong co-production orientation provided the foundation for the development and delivery of the programme and where possible the voices and stories of children, young people and young adults were the basis for action.
Supporting MEAP with self-evaluation
As the evaluation partner for this work, we supported the MEAP self-evaluation through our outcome mapping approach and OutNav software, helping the team to continually reflect and adapt.
The team made a real commitment to evaluation and learning and captured very strong evidence on the positive impact a range of simple, low-cost interventions make to the wellbeing of children, young people, families and teachers.
Pictured: The Matter of Focus and MEAP team meet to share and capture learning, and to get first-hand insight into the power of an early intervention, thanks to the wonderful storyteller Tim Porteus.
Key findings from the evaluation of the MEAP programme
The MEAP programme has delivered impacts on many different levels.
- Improved knowledge, skills and mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and adults directly engaged in the activities and opportunities provided by MEAP.
- Improved awareness, confidence and skills of adults to support health and wellbeing.
- Improved relationships and partnerships across Midlothian supporting lasting action towards prevention and early intervention.
- Improved awareness of mental health and wellbeing and the need to take a coordinated approach to address this.
- New structures, funding and arrangements in place to sustain the legacy of this work.
Key learning to support true collaboration
The programme highlighted that having a shared budget enables more genuine collaboration. The partnership was built on collective accountability and action, with the shared budget removing much of the usual power imbalance and distraction that comes with conversations about budgets and who pays for what. Thinking and acting systematically supports true collaborative working on a wider scale.
Read the evaluation report
We invite you to read the full evaluation report to find out more. This report will be of particular interest to anyone looking to improve mental health and wellbeing of children, young people and young adults and also people interested in the evaluation of preventative and place based approaches to system change.
This report is generated directly from the evaluation framework in OutNav. Please be aware it will open on larger screens only.