COASTLINES

Co-developing a coastal healthy living intervention with adults with mental health problems: COASTLINES project.

People living in coastal communities experience poorer mental and physical health, than those living in other parts of the UK. COASTLINES is a project focused on the health and wellbeing of people living in coastal towns, and how health inequalities can be addressed.

COASTLINES will work closely alongside people with mental health conditions living in two coastal towns (Great Yarmouth and Cromer), to establish a Lived Experience group. The group will help inform and shape the project. In the next phase, interviews and focus groups will be carried out with key people from the community. Our aim is to learn about views of health and social needs, and how interventions can be implemented into policy and practice.

In the final phase of COASTLINES, a healthy living intervention tailored to coastal communities will be co-produced through a series of workshops with professionals, service users and community members. The delivered intervention will be focused on improving diet quality, because diet has a strong relationship with mental and physical wellbeing.

COASTLINES is a 3-year project which began in October 2022. The research student on the project is Elisha Robertson, who is supported by researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT). The project also works with community organisations and charities based in Norfolk.