Capacity building for NGOs to support people to make healthy choices and take an active role in maintaining good health and wellbeing
Background/context• Community engagement process – Taking the
Pulse – to better understand factors that affect health and wellbeing
• Gold Coast Health and Wellbeing Plan – a shared vision for improved health and wellbeing across the Gold Coast
• Establishment of Health Promotion steering group
• Scoping paper on evidence base for overweight/obesity prevention and local resources developed
Health Promotion steering group
• Health Promotion steering group consists of local key stakeholders who have a strong focus on improving health and wellbeing of those most disadvantaged in our community
• Scoping paper and initial concepts of key priorities presented to Health Promotion steering group for development and wider discussion
• Several partner organisations on steering group identified as relevant for pilot initiatives
Scoping paper identified
• Many scientifically supported activities are being provided at local, state or national level
• Utilising existing opportunities and partnerships
• A range of approaches are required:- - Community-based interventions - Settings-based approaches - Practitioner level
• Three key priorities identified and endorsed in the scoping paper were translated into project plans
Key Priorities
• Capacity building – of social/community service staff (who have direct and frequent contact with socially disadvantaged people) to successfully make referrals to appropriate programs and services by:
» increase staff confidence through skill development in motivational interviewing to discuss physical activity and healthy eating;
» Create supportive social environments that promote discussion of health and wellbeing
» increase staff (particularly community service providers) knowledge of chronic disease behavioural risk factors
Key Priorities
Capacity building – at the organisational level to support staff in making healthy choices and ‘walking the talk’ by:
» Working with management to identify opportunities in the workplace for healthy options/alternatives
» Linking the workplace in with national, state and local initiatives
» Offering GCML supported initiatives (such as Eat It training and Walking Groups) as a starting place
Key Priorities
• A coordinated walking strategy to increase accessibility to walking programs, prioritising areas or localities of need by:-
» using existing mechanisms and relationships to effectively engage socially disadvantaged people, establishing walking groups through local health or community service providers
» providing information and support to maximise opportunity for behaviour change, including building capacity of organisations to host walking groups; identifying and promoting walking routes; marketing strategies; data collection (qualitative and quantitative) to understand factors influencing sustainability of walking groups
Implementation of initiative
• Working with Griffith and Bond Universities to develop an evaluation framework and implement evaluation for individual priority areas
• Brief motivational interviewing training for 80 participants throughout May
• Model for walking groups being developed in partnership with key stakeholders
• Organisational capacity building in development and to commence from July
Partnerships involved in pilot• Kalwun
• Blair Athol
• Uniting Care Communities
• Act for Kids
• Wesley Mission Gold Coast
• Job Centre Australia
Thank you!
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