Neighbourhood Life health and well-being programme set to launch in Shropshire
A new health and well-being programme is being launched to help those who do no or little exercise increase their physical activity.
The Neighbourhood Life pilot, which launches this month at Oswestry Leisure Centre, Shrewsbury Sports Village and South Shropshire Leisure Centre, is being led by Shropshire Council in partnership with Shropshire Community Leisure Trust and Teme Leisure.
Suitable for adults over 18 who do less than the recommended two and half hours of moderate intensity physical activity per week, the health and well-being programme offers 12 weeks of support from a health and well-being coach proven to improve participants’ mental and physical well-being by becoming more active more often.
The aim of the programme is to:
- engage with local communities to reach those who are inactive or moderately inactive
- develop skills of key leisure centre staff in engaging and supporting the least active, including behaviour change skills
- increase the physical activity levels of the participants
- increase physical activity in line with full Chief Medical Officer guidelines.
- support participants into sustainable physical activity
- support participants to sustainable membership.
The programme will involve working with 500 inactive/moderately inactive people to help achieve the recommended guideline levels for physical activity. Each participant will receive one-to-one support throughout their programme.
Pilots of the programme have already been conducted in Eastbourne, Harborough, Bolton and Wythenshawe, and the results have been impressive, successfully attracting over 1,000 inactive adults to participate in regular exercise and improve their overall health through improving diet, and reducing smoking and alcohol levels.
Dedicated health and well-being coaches have been working with community groups and other organisations across Shropshire throughout July and August 2014 to promote the programme and register participants.
Karen Calder, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for health, said:
“We are really proud to be launching the Neighbourhood Life health and well-being programme in Shropshire. The programme pilots have been independently verified by the University of Brighton and we are positive that this scheme will help to improve the health and well-being of the people of Shropshire.”
Brian Taylor, Chair, Shropshire Community Leisure Trust Limited, said:
“The health and well-being programme is about engaging local inactive people. This innovative programme offers a supportive environment to help people make lifestyle changes gradually whilst improving their physical and mental well-being.”
Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for leisure, libraries and culture, added:
“It’s great to see how by working in partnership with leisure organisations in Shropshire, we can start making real and positive changes to the health and wellbeing of our residents. I really want to encourage those people who feel this programme would be really beneficial to them to contact us.”
Nick Cummins, Chairman of Teme Leisure, said:
“‘One of our core purposes as a Trust is to engage with and deliver services that are appropriate to the diverse needs of our local population. We know full well the fantastic impact on health and well-being that well managed exercise can have for this client group, and so we are very excited to put our commitment behind this innovative programme.”
Anyone interested in participating in the Neighbourhood Life health and well-being programme can find out more by visiting www.shropshireleisurecentres.com for Oswestry Leisure Centre and Shrewsbury Sports Village, or www.teme-leisure.co.uk for South Shropshire Leisure Centre.
Or contact the centres directly on:
- Oswestry Leisure Centre 0345 0007 006
- Shrewsbury Sports Village 0345 0007 002
- South Shropshire Leisure Centre 01584 874620
For further information, please contact: Catherine Lunt, Marketing Manager, 07718 194977, catherine.lunt@serco.com.
