Healthy Living Programme (HLP)

Building on the belief that - ‘happy people are healthier people’ – the Healthy Living Programme aims to encourage people to lead healthier lifestyles. The initiative is funded by the New Opportunities Fund, a distributor of National Lottery money, and was launched on 29th January 1999 with a national budget of £300 million.

The programme was launched on the Island in September 2001 aimed primarily at the most disadvantaged people, and all the £1 million available is now committed. NOF funding for some of the projects will finish in 2005. However the projects are envisaged to go from strength to strength with funding from other sources.

The emphasis is on community involvement and responsiveness to the expressed and required needs of local population groups. The Healthy Living projects taking place on the Island can be divided into four themes for ease of reference:

• Skills development for healthier lifestyles
• Promoting well-being in community settings
• Complementary health activities
• Making it easier to take part in sport and leisure

The Isle of Wight Economic Partnership co-ordinate the programme on the Island, but it is also closely linked to the NHS Plan – Our Healthier Nation – as well as the broader national health strategy.

Healthy Living Options Scheme (HeLO)

Why?
Not all illnesses can be cured by traditional medicines, and people are turning to other methods to ease their ailments. Stress, back problems and asthma are examples of illnesses that are on the increase and don’t always require medical intervention. The HeLO scheme provides these other options. Participants can take part in physical activity, the arts, osteopathy or social activities for next to nothing (Arts on Prescription and Music for Healthy Communities do not charge for their activities). It is hoped that, in time, such projects will reduce people’s dependency on an already over-burdened health service.

How?
In most cases people can self-refer. The contact details are provided under each project. If you are in doubt of your ability to participate in the activity, please contact your GP.
All projects accept referrals from medical practitioners (Health Visitors, District Nurses, Mental Health Practioner, GP). The exercise referral schemes will ONLY accept referrals from GPs as such projects are suited to those with more serious medical conditions. Your GP should have a prescription form that he/she will need to complete. You will then need to contact the project leader/ leisure centre to find out availability etc.

Please note, as this is a new scheme not all medical practitioners refer to these projects.

It is hoped that new projects will be offered under the HeLO scheme in the future. If you know of a project that could become part of the HeLO scheme, please get in contact through the links below.

For more information about either the Healthy Living Programme or the Healthy Living Options contact either:

natasha.koerner@iwep.com or debbie.sagar@iwep.com

The Healthy Living Projects on the Isle of Wight:

• Active Life Clubs
• Complementary Therapies for All
• Fairlee Road
• Families First
• Green Gym
• Healthy Environments and Creative Communities
• Injury Prevention Co-ordinator
• King James Youth Club
• North Medina Healthy Lifestyles Coordinator
• Protective Behaviours
• Ryde Young People’s Inclusion Project
• Soundbeam
• Sports College
• Trustline
• West Wight Healthy Lifestyles
• West Leisure Referral Scheme
• West Wight Sports 0-12
• Youth Leisure Access Scheme

Active Life Clubs

Quoits, bowls singing and quizzes have proved to be the most popular aspects of the Active Life Clubs which are run by Island Volunteers and Age Concern as part of their Active Life and Healthy Eating project. Physical Exercise and outings are also offered at the clubs in Ryde and Newport as well as in venues which people in sheltered accommodation find easy to get to. This project is part of the Healthy Living Options Scheme (HeLO).

In addition to the active life clubs the project comprises tea dances and healthy eating clubs for older people.

New Opportunities Fund money has paid for 50% of the costs of these projects.

Organisation:	Island Volunteers
Project Website:	www.islandvolunteers.org
Project Leader:	Pauline Smith
Tel:	01983 539500
E-mail:	ivg@btconnect.com

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Complementary Therapies for All

This project, which provides complementary therapy at the low rate of £5 per session, is aimed at those people on very low incomes who are most at risk of ill-health. Therapies that have been, or are being, offered include chiropractic, osteopathy, reflexology, massage, counselling and psychotherapy.

Run by the Isle of Wight Natural Therapies Trust, the project has proved enormously popular, especially with people referring themselves for musculo-skeletal problems and auto-immune conditions. The number of people being referred by their GP’s is also increasing. This project is part of the HeLO scheme. Participants can be self-referred or referred by their medical practitioner.

Organisation:	Isle of Wight Natural Therapies Trust
Project Website:	www.naturaltherapycentre.freeserve.co.uk
Project Leader:	Hugh Harrison
Tel:	01983 522477
E-mail:	naturaltherapycentre@freeserve.co.uk

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Fairlee Road

Young people living in the Isle of Wight Housing Association hostel at Fairlee Road in Newport need a great deal of support in order to live a fulfilling life and to reach their potential. Residents suffer from health problems such as eating disorders, self-harm and aggressive behaviour.

This project offers a variety of health-related activities like cooking and participation in leisure activities as well as practical support in areas such as household decorating, financial budgeting and receiving assistance with completing application forms for benefit and employment.

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Families First

This project was established to reduce inequalities in health and social inclusion by supporting families to create stable family settings. It is based in Carisbrooke and targeted at high-risk, vulnerable, socially excluded parents and other hard-to-reach carer groups.

Improved mental health and well-being of parents is achieved through empowerment and improvement to self-esteem and reduction in isolation.

Healthier living for all family members is promoted and social development is increased through improving parenting skills and raising awareness of child safety issues.

Organisation:	Families First
Project Website:	www.families-first.co.uk
Project Leader:	Jo Dare
Tel:	01983 539436
E-mail:	jodare@families-first.co.uk

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Green Gym

The Green Gym project, delivered through the Footprint Trust, promotes the Island’s natural environment in order to encourage people to take appropriate exercise as a means of improving physical and mental well-being. It compliments and seeks to improve the range of therapeutic and environmental rehabilitation services and recognises the need to involve those with psycho-social ill health particularly young women and older people. Green Gym may also help combat cardiovascular disease due to increased activity of those taking part.

Green Gym is an accredited scheme of BTCV (formerly British Trust for Conservation Volunteers). The programme was set up in co-operation with Oxford Brookes University who are continuing to monitor the results and long-term health benefits.

Current Green Gym’s on the mainland are site specific, entailing beneficiaries to travel into predominately urban areas. The IW Leader Green Gym will differ in that it will ‘tour’ rural communities encouraging local beneficiaries. Initial tasks will take place on IW Council and local charity-owned reserves, however the project will encourage participants to identify areas which could benefit from Green Gym within their communities.

The Green Gym provides:

• Free opportunities for people to be physically active on their doorstep, without having to travel to a facility
• Opportunities for social contact and building friendships
• Unemployed people with the skills and confidence to return to employment or other training
• Enables people to develop existing skills and learn new skills
• Engages the most excluded groups through networks with GPs and other health services

All participants are expected to benefit from the scheme, gaining enjoyable experience of putting something back into the local environment whilst also getting the physical exercise necessary for health. It is open to people of all ages and abilities; the project actively seeks to encourage young people, the retired and women to take part. This project is part of the HeLO scheme. Participants can be self-referred or referred by their medical practitioner.

Organisation:	Footprint Trust
Project Website:	www.btcv.org
Project Leader:	Ray Harrington-Vail
Tel:	01983 524219
E-mail:	rayharhar37@hotmail.com

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Healthy Environments and Creative Communities

This project develops and maintains a creative arts and media healthcare programme across the Island. There are two linked strands of the project – Arts on Prescription and Music for Healthy Communities.

Arts on Prescription- This programme provides an opportunity to find out what the arts can offer in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere, away from daily concerns. Participants can sample Visual Arts, Music, Movement and Writing, over a 12 week course of 2 hour sessions. There is no need to be ‘good at art’ or have any previous experience, to enjoy the course.

Music for Healthy Communities- this project offers a range of programmes including:

"Singing for Health". Singing lifts depression, relieves stress & boosts the immune system. Sessions are fun, informal, for all ages, and no previous experience of singing or music is necessary. Sessions are FREE.

"SoundStart". For babies, todlers, parents, family and carers. Using nursery rhymes, action songs & instruments be creative together, relax and have fun. Sessions are FREE.

Activities, timetables and locations will vary across the Island. Please phone for up-to-date information.

This project is part of the HeLO scheme. Participants can self-refer or can be referred by their medical practitioner.

Professor Stephen Clift from the University College of Canturbury has ensured that rigorous evaluation procedures have been identified and put in place because the success of this project is seen to have national significance – working as a model of best practise to be used in other areas.

Artists have been recruited and trained, research has been carried out at local, regional and national levels and relationships with public, private and voluntary groups have been developed. Therefore this year has seen the project take off and people will soon begin to feel the benefits of the projects.

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Injury Prevention Co-ordinator

Sadly, preventable accidents are the most common cause of death in young children over the age of 1 year in this country. But it is not just children who have accidents - they are also one of the major causes of disability and disfigurement for children and adults alike. On the Island, accidents account for 60% of all people attending the Accident &Emergency Department at St Mary’s Hospital, 40% of which occur in the home.

The position of Injury Prevention Co-ordinator supports the Accident Prevention Forum in creating a co-ordinated strategy and developing targeted activities that can then be taken forward by the community. The role works in partnership with a variety of statutory and voluntary agencies working in related fields to develop initiatives that are achievable and measurable, with the end goal of cutting down the number of preventable accidents across the Island.

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King James Youth Club

This project was set up to develop a gymnasium within a Community Centre in Newport to provide a low cost Health Facility targeted at low income groups who might like to use a gymnasium but find membership fees prohibitive, i.e. young or unemployed people.

It was felt that in order for people to get the best out of the gym and for them to feel at home and at ease there, it was necessary to give each group of people (young, unemployed, single parent etc) a separate and distinct period of time at the facility to themselves. Time tables for groups vary and people are advised to phone the project leader to discuss suitable times.
The sessions are staffed by volunteers who have undertaken the YMCA Gym Instructors course, funded by the Healthy Living Programme. Opportunities to become an instructor arise each year, with free training provided (contact the project leader for more details).

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North Medina Healthy Lifestyles Coordinator

The post-holder will directly deliver a programme of health activities across the North Medina community, working towards the provision of opportunities to access physical exercise and bring initiatives currently available in other areas of the Island to Cowes and East Cowes. The co-ordinator is to be based in the emerging Healthy Living Hub in the offices of the North Medina Community Development Trust and utilising all of the links that the Trust has created in both Cowes and East Cowes.

The health issues that the project addresses are:

• Physical health – active lifestyles from fitness around the home to the provision of cardiovascular workouts as well as healthy diet and lessons in healthy cooking
• Social health – create new opportunities for a wider range of social gatherings and social activities
• Spiritual health – offer encouragement and advice to faith groups that wish to become more active in the community
• Mental health – promote the concept of maintaining positive mental health through relaxation or hobbies that are proven to benefit mental well-being eg art and gardening programmes.

This is a new and exciting project and will participate in the HeLO scheme in the near future.

Organisation:	North Medina Community Development Trust
Project Website:	www.nmcdt.co.uk
Project Leader:	Dave Newton
Tel:	01983 281524
E-mail:	dave@nmcdt.co.uk

More Examples

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