Alison Crompton, Health Activity Coordinator at the Bromley By Bow Centre, has told us about her team’s plans for making the residents of Tower Hamlets both mentally and physically healthier - including how the newly launched Ad-Lib Training Health Influencers course is supporting them to support more Tower Hamlets residents in making positive lifestyle choices.
Q. What is your job role?
I’ve worked at the Bromley By Bow Centre for over 3 years, initially delivering the Level 2 Health Champions programme to local people in east London. When this programme ended, I became part of the Sports Inclusion team to work on the Active Health project which aimed to support local residents living with poor mental health by providing them with access to exercise classes. We began this programme just before the pandemic hit which led us to moving these sessions online during lockdown. We ran yoga, female only classes, outdoor cycling and aerobics sessions and were looking for a learning package to complement those classes. Ad-Lib Training delivered three Level 1 Health Influencers courses in this programme during 2020. Learning online was a good way to engage with our local residents during lockdown, they appreciated the structure it provided and the opportunity to engage with other people.
My role now involves partnering with East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) to run online activities for their service users and people in the community with poor mental health who have been signposted via social prescribing. We have been cross referring to each other’s services, so it makes absolute sense to partner to deliver our services in a joined-up approach. ELFT have been very engaged with our offer, which has led to the inclusion of the new Ad-Lib Training Level 1 Health Influencers course within our work. The course has been a stepping-stone for many service users, providing the knowledge and confidence to make positive behavioural changes and progression to other developmental opportunities.
Q. What are the objectives of the Sports Inclusion team?
Our team deliver a number of different funded projects to support the local Tower Hamlets community. Our 6-month pilot programme with ELFT aims to work with both NHS staff and service users to support them to make positive health changes.
We have run the new Ad-Lib Training Health Influencers course twice as part of the programme. Additionally, we have been providing learners with a wraparound service, finding out as much information as possible from the individual as to why they are taking part in the programme, what they would like to progress to and supporting them to achieve their next steps. We aim to continue to work with all learners for 2-3 months after the initial programme finishes.
Additional support might also include signposting learners to other activities or groups, encouraging them to get involved in running groups themselves whilst considering their unique needs and interests. Some NHS staff want to be able to deliver the things they’ve learnt to the service users that they work with which is a really interesting angle for us. We would like to explore the creation and delivery of a workshop that supports them to deliver. Many learners are interested in nutrition and learning how to eat healthily with money and time budget constraints.
Q. How is Ad-Lib Training helping you to achieve your objective of encouraging local residents in east London to make positive lifestyle changes to their health?
Our working relationship with Ad-Lib Training is really strong. We all work as a team with really good communication which helps with the organising and facilitating of the training. Delivery of the course is excellent and feedback from our learners is good. The course is clear, concise and well- paced, with enough content for participants to learn something new without feeling overwhelmed. The course tutors have been really engaging. All of these things are important especially when you are delivering online when it’s harder to engage with people.
The training has been fun with good examples and anecdotes, relating to the learners’ lives. Ad-Lib Training have created a safe space where people feel they can open up and share with each other without judgement which I think really encourages more learning. The social side has been important to our participants. The course content is so good, it keeps people engaged with the programme, inspired to complete the qualification and make positive changes afterwards.
Most learners have indicated that they want to progress to a Level 2 qualification as they’ve enjoyed it so much which is great. This is also good for the Bromley By Bow Centre as it keeps people engaged, supports achievement and progression onto new things which helps meets our objectives as an organisation.
Q. What’s next for the ELFT project pilot?
We will be reporting on the delivery and success of this pilot to ELFT. By demonstrating how this has helped and benefitted the staff and service users we hope to grow the programme. Generally, lives are busy and it’s important for everybody to have the knowledge and skills to be able to make positive improvements to their lifestyle choices. Our ambition would be to roll the programme out to all staff at ELFT and the Bromley By Bow Centre.
We would also like to explore the introduction of other training courses to deliver to ELFT that provide progression routes to learners after the completion of the Level 1 Health Influencers course. This would potentially also include bitesize learning workshops, using information to support the learners to feel confident to participate and deliver long after their initial training, ensuring the sustainability of their learning.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW THE AD-LIB TRAINING HEALTH INFLUENCERS COURSE CAN HELP TO TRANSFORM THE HEALTH LIFESTYLES IN YOUR COMMUNITY CLICK HERE OR CONTACT US AT INFO@ADLIBTRAINING.COM
By Rebecca Bridges
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Email info@adlibtraining.com or contact Rebecca directly r.bridges@adlibtraining.com
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