A SHORTLIST of the top 25 social enterprises in the UK features a Coventry University company which helps cancer patients.
Hope for The Community (H4C), set up by Coventry professor Andy Turner, has been listed in the top 25 of the NatWest SE100 Trailblazing Newcomers as its helps those with long-term medical conditions.
Its Hope Programme, helps cancer patients improve their mental health through a six-week course, offered face-to-face and online.
With the coronavirus resulting in lockdown measures across the country, H4C is offering more services online so that people can continue receiving this vital support. Nearly 500 people are currently using the online Hope Programme.
H4C is being supported by Coventry University’s Impact Team to expand the delivery of the Hope Programme. H4C has recently been commissioned by the NHS to provide the Hope Programme to thousands of people across the South West region.
Professor Turner, professor of Health Psychology at Coventry University and founder of H4C, said: “We are thankful for the support and we are working incredibly hard with our partners such as Macmillan Cancer Support, the NHS, Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group and the Carers Trust and Heart of England to upscale our online programmes and also develop a new Coronavirus module for people worried about the outbreak.
“There is still a need to support people and we have an online platform we have been testing and using over the past few years, which we will now be upscaling so it can provide support to many more people.”
The Hope Programme is underpinned by positive psychology and cognitive behavioural therapy and aims to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of people to self-manage their health.
Macmillan Cancer Support and the NHS have worked closely with H4C in the development of its support programme.
