Your Essential Guide: Transforming young people’s sexual behaviours

According to the Health Protection Agency, STIs are more common among young people than any other group. 16-24s represent only 12% of the UK population, but they account for more than half of all new STIs diagnosed and 65% of new chlamydia diagnoses. Yet they are also the least likely group to access services. So can […]

Making the most of Digital Communications for CDRPs: Five top tips

Whether you’re aiming to tackle violence and anti-social behaviour, increase community confidence or improve the flexibility of local services, digital communications can be a powerful tool to help CDRPs engage a wide cross-section of local communities. But faced with a range of complex challenges and pressures, how can you best use these tools and techniques […]

More Effective Highways Services: Your Five Key Steps

With some of the lowest temperatures of the winter so far and the current culture of “where there’s blame, there’s a claim”, local authorities are taking a hammering on insurance payouts– and that’s driving a reactive culture which concentrates on mitigating insurance risk rather than making the streets safer. So how can councils better deal […]

Behaviour Change: Can you contribute to international best practice?

Supporting increased engagement across international and cultural boundaries will be vital to driving sustainable change to some complex and deeply entrenched behavioural challenges for us all. That’s why I’m working with peers internationally to help build a new Europe-wide network of behaviour change specialists. With a working name of the European Social Marketing Association, it’s […]

What’s in your glass?

  I have mixed feelings about the Government’s new ‘sneaky drinks’ Change4Life TV ad. Overall, I think it’s got a lot of appeal.  But, by focusing on ‘glasses’ and not ‘units’ I do think it misses a key point.   This ad specifically talks about the number of glasses people consume, but the fact is […]

Meeting the challenge of NHS Dental Reforms: Your Essential Guide

Balancing the need for efficient and effective dental services with the drive to offer a truly people-centric patient experience is at the heart of the new commissioning landscape.  As dental practices take ownership of marketing their services to local people – often ‘in competition’ with neighbouring practices – they’re looking to increase patient numbers and […]

That ‘C’ word

This Saturday is World Cancer Day and this got me thinking. Tackling the prevalence of cancer in our communities is still a major concern, but where do you start when the mere mention of the word makes people change the subject? We know that many people worry about the ‘C’ word, but the truth is, […]