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About Cannock Chase Can

Cannock Chase Can is an innovative health initiative that tackles health inequalities by providing infrastructure to empower communities. Our approach brings together services, groups, and individuals to develop creative solutions that give local residents the tools and inspiration to improve their personal health and wellbeing.

At the heart of our work is co-production, resulting in:

  • Targeted Fun Projects

    A programme of targeted projects developing fun, activity-based challenges

  • Accessible App

    An accessible app bringing these activities to the wider Cannock Chase population

  • Supportive Website

    A comprehensive supporting website

  • Wellness Wheel

    The Wellness Wheel framework promoting self-efficacy and measuring impact

  • Action Group

    The Cannock Chase Can Action Group - a flexible partnership underpinning all initiatives.

Our model combines multiple theoretical approaches into accessible practice, allowing everyone to contribute and expanding our potential impact.

We incorporate Human System Learning, Tony Clements' Kit for Councils, Kings Fund recommendations, and Marmot Principles—creating an emergent, autonomous, and progressive approach to community health.

Why Choose Cannock Chase Can

For Individuals
 

  • Take control of your health journey with personalised wellness tracking
  • Access a variety of engaging challenges that make improving health fun
  • Connect with your local community through shared activities
  • Discover local resources, services and support networks
  • Monitor your progress with the Wellness Wheel self-assessment tool

For Community
Groups

  • Strengthen community bonds through collaborative health initiatives
  • Create locally-relevant solutions addressing specific neighbourhood needs
  • Build capacity and skills within the community
  • Discover local resources, services and support networks
  • Monitor your progress with the Wellness Wheel self-assessment tool

For Partners and
Organisations

  • Join a growing network of health and wellbeing providers
  • Reach more residents through our established platform
  • Contribute to reducing health inequalities in Cannock Chase
  • Access community insights and data to inform service development
  • Align your offerings with our wellness themes to enhance health outcomes

Our App Approach

Our Model

Cannock Chase Can operates on three interconnected pillars that drive our success:

Insight

We gather rich data from:

  • Strategic reports and population health priorities
  • The Cannock Chase Action Group with partners from various sectors
  • Co-created targeted projects revealing knowledge gaps and personal barriers
  • App usage data showing community priorities
  • Partner feedback and communications

Investment

We leverage multiple resources:

  • Alignment with organisations contributing to wellbeing outcomes
  • Building local capacity through volunteers and champions
  • Diverse funding streams including grants and fundraising
  • Professional expertise from health specialists
  • Sustainable project development with lasting tools and resources

Impact

We measure and improve through:

  • The Wellness Wheel assessment tool
  • Individual and group needs identification
  • Preliminary and post-completion evaluations
  • Continuous app-based self-evaluation
  • Responsive adaptation based on community feedback

App Experience

The Cannock Chase Can App provides users with:

  • Personal wellness assessment using our innovative Wellness Wheel
  • Varied challenges across different wellness themes
  • Community connection through a social feed
  • Direct links to local services and support
  • Progress tracking and achievement recognition
  • Location-based activities including augmented reality trails and QR code collections

Key Achievements

LGC Finalist 2023 and Beyond

Cannock Chase Can has received national recognition for its innovative approach to community health and wellbeing, including being shortlisted as a Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Finalist in 2023.

The App Experience

We've established meaningful collaborations with key partners:

  • Primary Care Networks - Cannock North PCN is collaborating to provide evidence of impact to all district PCNs
  • Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles' GP/SP Activity Referral Service now uses our Wellness Statements to measure wellbeing impact
  • Compassionate Communities Charter (Integrated Care Board)
  • Cultural Education Partnership integration
  • Know Your Neighbourhood Tour initiatives
  • Pedal Empower program for severe mental illness support

Community Impact

Our initiatives have created meaningful change:

  • Collaborative “Staying Well” events with Support Staffordshire, NHS commissioned services, and PCNs
  • Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles' GP/SP Activity Referral Service now uses our Wellness Statements to measure wellbeing impact
  • £324,260+ external investment from diverse sectors including land managers, town councils, Sport England, Arts Council England, NHS, education providers, and SMEs

Testimonials

The Cannock Chase Can programme has transformed how we educate communities about protecting our heathland habitat. Through the app's AR functionality, we've created immersive experiences based on the Cannock Chase Code's 12 key messages, using a fun approach to engage children and families with wildlife protection and responsible access. Our co-production approach with local schools has been key - children create their own conservation content around the 12 messages and become ambassadors in their families. The digital platform connects fun wellness activities to our broader conservation responsibilities, helping users understand they're active participants in protecting the Special Area of Conservation. It's built a community of conservation champions across all age groups.

- Georgina, Cannock Chase SAC Project Officer, SAC Partnership

It’s definitely worth downloading the app as it really helps you to identify what can be improved in your life and set some goals to work towards.

- App User

Cherished Café benefited from being part of the programme through investment, promotion and doing a fun project with our customers. We also discovered new partners as well.

- Ruth, Local Community Café owner

Being a part of Cannock Chase Can means we can put our activities on the app, so we can reach a broader spectrum of people. This really benefits people.

- Lynn, President of Local Community Group

The Cannock Chase Can app has really benefited my role. The wellness wheel gives me a clear framework to identify exactly where my patients need support, and I can now direct them to specific community programmes that match their assessment rather than making vague referrals. Recently, I signposted a patient to a local gardening programme through the app - it addressed their physical activity, social connection, and mental wellbeing needs all at once. The app transforms signposting from time-consuming searches into targeted, evidence-based referrals and the wellness wheel is a simple yet affective tool to offer patients a way of re-evaluating and measuring how far they have come over time. My patients feel more confident engaging because they understand how each activity connects to their wellness journey.

- Preet, Social Prescriber

It’s opened me up to the community. I’ve made friends within the community following the app. Without the app, I’d still be isolated, I’d still be struggling with my mental health.

- Mel, Cannock Chase Can community programme participant

The Cannock Chase Can programme has been instrumental in helping Support Staffordshire deliver our Core 20 PLUS 5 objectives. The place-based approach allows us to target interventions to specific wards where our most deprived communities live, rather than generic health messaging. The wellness wheel helps us identify multiple deprivation factors affecting our communities, and the app's community challenges address these holistically. We've seen remarkable engagement from our most at-need populations who traditionally struggle to access services. The app meets people where they are, both digitally and geographically, supporting our place-based work by connecting residents to hyperlocal resources and peer support networks.

- Michelle, Community Development Team Leader, Support Staffordshire

I’ve been introduced to several different things going on in the community, and it’s important to be in the community. My life is totally different. My life is great now.

- Roy, Cannock Chase Can Community Participant