Step by Step (SBS) will empower men to move from poor health &/or isolation to healthy social participation or active engagement in the labour market. It will use PP12s participation ladder to measure personal development (see the 'visualisation of the project logic' section for more details). It will promote a culture in which all citizens in all regions will have the confidence to make sustainable positive changes in their lives benefitting themselves & society. Expected changes: reduced health costs related to physical & mental health issues; better health contributing to healthier individuals, families, communities & workforce; increased labour market activity; decreased number of work days lost to poor health.
The target group for SBS is specifically men and in particular those who may be socially isolated and suffering from poor mental health or poor wellbeing. However the project will also be open to women who will be very welcome to use the new SBS services.

• A model to improve men’s mental & physical health/wellbeing via a community space/workshop where men meet/learn new skills/engage in hands on activities 94 new workshops implementing the model.
• New model of community health service delivery for men & vulnerable groups.
• A gaming-based virtual tool to connect people and indirectly raise their awareness of their physical/mental health and wellbeing. This tool will take the learning from the experience of Pokemon Go (where an unexpected side-benefit of the game was that players increased the amount they walked, with unforeseen consequential health benefits http://bit.ly/2a5Wobb). SBS will create something similar; our research has shown men do not like talking directly about their health/unemployment but enjoy doing things & being competitive.
• Training programme to create champions for health & wellbeing from within the workshop attendees
• Training programme for soft skills (motivational interviewing, empowerment etc)

Health & wellbeing services targeting men in the 2Seas region are not accessible by all in their current format e.g. Wattrelos is located in an area nationally recognized as having few psychiatric services. To generate long-term sustainable change, services need to be embedded within their communities. SBS partners bring together the necessary expertise to develop & test a model which will do this: PP2 has experience of the Men’s Shed programme tackling mental health (http://bit.ly/1V188vv). PP3 have experience with a community health champions programme to tackle physical health. FR & NL partners have relevant community outreach experience addressing social isolation & upskilling. SBS will create a new model providing mental health, physical health, participation & employability services in one setting, building on PP12s participation ladder. The individual elements have all been implemented successfully; SBS brings this expertise together to benefit an under-served target group.