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A few years later: The lasting impact of Better Connect & ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health's partnership

10 July 2025

In 2021-2023 the ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health and Better Connect collaborated on research looking into experiences of keyworkers working on the Action Towards Inclusion employability programme. Action Towards Inclusion (ATI) was an employability programme focused on supporting individuals furthest from the labour market in York, North Yorkshire, and East Riding. Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the European Social Fund over six years (2017-2023), it provided tailored mentoring and interventions to address barriers to employment, training, education, and job searching, aiming to combat social issues like poverty and social exclusion. Dr Annie Irvine of the Centre for Society and Mental Health (King’s College London) approached Better Connect to conduct research into how the programme supported people with mental health issues to move closer to work.

Action Towards Inclusion operated via a network of regional delivery partners within the voluntary and community sector, with employability ‘keyworkers’ at the heart of the model. Keyworkers provide tailored and holistic individual and group support to people who join Better Connect’s employability programmes. Better Connect facilitated connections between Annie and the ATI keyworkers, enabling her to conduct individual interviews to gain insight into their perspectives. She then wrote a report based on the research findings, which also incorporated input from the Better Connect team.

Better Connect is a non-profit organisation that aims to create a Yorkshire where every person is empowered to thrive in their life and work. 

The ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health brings together a unique mix of disciplines and expertise to conduct innovative social science research on the impact of rapid social change in mental health.

What we learnt from the Action Towards Inclusion research

ATI participants brought a range of diverse and often complex backgrounds, circumstances and needs. The scope of the keyworker role was therefore broad and unpredictable.
Whilst the holistic and flexible nature of ATI was one of its key strengths, the boundaries of the keyworker role could be unclear and sometimes difficult to maintain. For keyworkers, this could be emotionally demanding and in some cases impact their own wellbeing.

The research interviews highlighted the importance and value of mutual support among keyworkers. Those who worked within small teams within their delivery partner organisation noted that this brought practical and emotional support. In contrast, those working alone, as the only ATI keyworker in their organisation, could feel isolated and relatively unsupported.

Building on these findings, Annie’s research report recommended that future programmes should consider how to facilitate informal and formal emotional support for keyworkers. In particular, the report suggested that strengthening peer support networks between delivery partners may be beneficial, where keyworkers are alone within their organisation.

"The impact of the research collaboration has been huge for Better Connect. Through Annie’s work, we were able to gain new insights into our partners’ and participants’ experiences, strengthen our case for more funding and greatly improve our programmes.’ – Better Connect Programme Managers

What happened next: The creation of a Peer Support Network

Acting directly on the recommendations of the research, Better Connect took up the suggestion to build peer support into ATI and future programmes. This led to consultation with keyworkers about what they would like from a peer support network, which was then put into action.

The establishment of the Peer Support Network explicitly responds to a key issue highlighted in Annie’s report: that of the isolation some keyworkers felt, when it comes to emotional support, resources and knowledge sharing. Typically attended by 20-40 people each time, the Peer Support Network brings together keyworkers from across the Better Connect delivery partner network, in a space designed to share project updates, training, guidance and to spotlight what partners offer.

What impact has it had?

The concrete change made from the recommendations of the research was the creation of the keyworker Peer Support Network. The benefit of this has been to better connect partners, bringing keyworkers together to support each other and give them an opportunity to speak up, share challenges and good practice, and feel listened to.

At these events they have been able to share knowledge, resources and learning, for instance partner-led activities, including art therapy, that allows partners the space for moral support from Better Connect and one another. All of this was in response to what partners expressed about the challenges of their role in the research interview process.

Better Connect’s work with Annie and the Centre for Society and Mental Health has been transformative. They now have much better insight into what works well in employability programmes and have used this learning to develop even better support for organisations and individuals. It has also led to further research collaboration to evaluate employment support projects that followed on from ATI .

The Keyworker Peer Support Network has become a key part of the Better Connect model, providing much needed opportunities for reflection, connection, and support for Keyworkers. Two years on, the peer support groups still play a key role and will continue as long as funding allows.