Helping people access support early with confidence
Hastings Voluntary Action is working with Macmillan Cancer Support to help people access local services and break down barriers. We are offering free training to volunteer Cancer Champions who can work alongside us to make a difference to people’s quality of life in Hastings.
Our role in the project
This project is one of eleven Cancer Champions projects across the UK, funded by Macmillan, and based in local communities.
We aim to understand what prevents people from accessing services and enable everyone to be proactive in identifying potential symptoms, attending screenings, and being aware of the support available locally.
We recruit and train ‘Cancer Champions’ (volunteers from the community) to help us reach wider and deeper into local communities. Cancer Champions are willing to have conversations about cancer, well-being, and mental health, and tell others about support services available in Hastings.
Cancer Champions are offered free training to raise awareness of symptoms, screenings, and local support. This includes conversational skills, mental health awareness, and information on various cancer types and treatments, as well as optional workshops such as Loneliness Matters, creative writing, Kintsugi, CV writing, budgeting, and interview skills.
Who we’re working with
We are working with local people and Champions drawn from a variety of backgrounds. We feed our findings into the wider Macmillan Community of Practice. We are also working closely with the Hastings and Rother Cancer Support Network, which brings together organisations and teams that support people living with and affected by cancer. It aims to improve joint working, integration, and shared learning to improve pathways to care, and support activities in areas of high need.
Our approach
This project builds on HVA’s existing projects, including Mr Hastings & St Leonards, Making it Happen, and work to address health inequalities. We are adopting an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach which means we are working with existing skills, knowledge, enthusiasm, and capacity in communities to reach people less likely to access support.
