Sunderland Recovery College Evaluation 2018-2019 Academic Year

Sunderland Recovery College had its first community consultation in July of 2014 and started running courses shortly after. All courses offered are free with a mental health recovery focus aimed at helping students, their carers, family and friends to improve their understanding and experience of day to day living.

This evaluation covers the 2018-2019 academic year and the views of some of the students enrolled on the College courses during this time frame. During this year it enrolled 585 students. The core evaluation for this report is based upon two sets of collected data.

The first set of data was collected using a survey specifically designed by Healthwatch Sunderland (HWS) and the other set was the data collected and provided by the College using the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) tool.

59 students completed HWS individual surveys and 283 students completed the (SWEMWBS) tool which is collected pre and post course as part of the Sunderland Recovery College ongoing evaluations. The students attended courses which are held at three different venues across the City including, Houghton, Washington and Sunderland.

Key themes/findings

Overall students reported high levels of satisfaction with the College, stating that it has or is supporting their recovery journey in many areas:

• 74% of students have seen positive effects on their relationships
• 99% of students feel supported on the courses
• 100% plan to book themselves onto more courses
• 99% of students reported only high points of attending the College
• 58% of students have used NHS services less since joining the College
• 27% of those who have identified as having a physical health condition reported that this has improved since joining the College

Students identified four areas for improvement:

• Greater choice of course subject
• Greater amount of courses
• Additional one to one support for students
• Further and wider promotion of the College