Epic to deliver blended learning for County Durham PCT
Epic are delighted to announce they have been awarded the contract by County Durham Primary Care Trust (PCT)to provide a package of workshops and e-learning opportunities to raise awareness of mental health issues in the workplace.
County Durham PCT recognise a need to develop skills among local employers to tackle mental health issues in the workplace.
The objective of the programme is to enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes in relation to the stigma and discrimination often associated with mental illness.
County Durham PCT looked to select a partner to provide a training and support programme to improve access to employment for Wear Valley residents with mental health difficulties, The PCT favoured the proposal submitted by Epic, in conjunction with their chosen partner, The Professional Training and Development Consultancy (PTDC). This choice refelects the sustainability over a longer period of time of a programme that combines face-to-face and e-learning.
As part of the solution, Epic will be providing an e-toolkit, available to all employers and service users, as well as a series of face-to-face workshops scheduled to be delivered in the local community. Epic will also be managing the service, including scheduling the courses, , evaluating, hosting, tracking usage of the e-toolkit and marketing the programme as a whole, using local radio and email campaigns to engage with the local employers and residents.
The e-toolkit will be a flexible and supportive learning environment that will combine a range of learning devices and tools. As well as providing a structured learning experience, a toolkit has the potential to act as ‘dip in’ refresher learning, a reference tool and a performance support tool.
Epic were selected for their enthusiasm for the project, and their keenness to meet the objectives of the programme, appreciating the wider context of addressing this major and often overlooked workplace taboo.
The programme is due to start in September 2007 and will continue until 31 March 2008.
Pat Rich, Mental Health Development Worker for County Durham PCT said: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Epic and PTDC on this groundbreaking project.“Epic impressed us with their obvious support and understanding for meeting the objectives. We are hoping this programme will make a huge difference to the residents in Wear Valley, and help tackle the negativity surrounding mental health in the workplace.”
Gabrielle Gardner, Managed Learning Consultant for Epic said “This is a fantastic opportunity for the partnership to make a difference, in this vital area and to showcase the benefits of a blended programme in addressing a need that was originally thought of as a purely face-to-face requirement.
“The programme showcases Epic’s ability to offer a complete managed learning solution embracing both online and offline means. Epic was a pioneer in blended learning design and with its expanded face-to-face capability is now driving forward that design excellence into implementation.”
About Epic
Epic is a leader in the innovative use of digital media for learning and communications. It creates tailored solutions specific to the needs of clients and end-users that help organisations improve their performance. Epic’s many loyal clients cover a broad spread of industries across both public and private sectors, with particular strengths in Government, Defence, Education, Finance, Retail and Telecommunications.
The company has won numerous awards over its two decades of existence, and is highly respected for its work in fostering understanding of this emerging area of practice. A wealth of free resources is available on its website at www.epic.co.uk including the new Epic Blog.
Ericka Newton
Epic
52 Old Steine
Brighton BN1 1NH
Tel: 01273 728686
Fax: 01273 821567
Mail: marketing@epic.co.uk
Web: www.epic.co.uk
Blog: blog.epic.co.uk
Epicentre: www.epicentre.co.uk
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