Hi all,

My name is Suzi Kelly and I'm a new Health Trainer in Oxfordhsire. I was wondering if there were any other Health TYrainers out there who wanted to share experiences??

Suzi

I'm not a health trainer - yet - but am interested, how are you finding it and what do you get up to exactly?

Hi Helen,

Well so far I'm just in training- so I spend about half my working week attending training sessions and learning and developing new skills.

Once I've finished training I'll be working with target groups to reduce health inequalities and improve levels of health by providing information and support on a number of issues - smoking, diet and nutrition, alcohol consumption etc, and I will refer clients to other serives where appropriate.

I should be going live sometime in early Decemeber and I'm really looking forward to it.

Suzi

Hi Kelly
I'm Jo and I;m a Health Trainer in Bath I work 18.75hours a week. What specific health inequalities do you expect to find or are aware of in Oxford?

Bath has many obese people. People dont seem to know how to cook or what food is healthy.

A large gap in the service is anyone without young children who are 40ish and above on low incomes. cant afford bus fares and are lonely and isolated.
Bath includes many outside villages/annexes and whilst the tourist industry is thriving many of its residents arnt.

Which course are you doing? is it C&G level 3?
We also did a health and social care UWE course which counts as points towards a foundation degree.

How nice to be able to contact another health trainer from another area.

hope you enjoy the job as much as i do.
Jo

Hi Suzi & Jo

I am Rachel, a Health Trainer from Blackpool. I am working in Sure Start on a local housing estate. We are finding that the majority of referrals are for people with weight issues. We regularly run weight management groups to include exercise for the local residents which have been very successful. This time round we have incorporated cook & eat sessions which are very popular.

We have completed C&G level 3 which counts as points towards a foundation degree & I am starting a foundation degree in Public Health in January. We have been employed since September 2007 & "went live" in January 2008

Good luck for when you go "live". It is good to be able to contact other Health Trainers & possibly swap ideas & how we each work.

Rachel

Hi Jo and Rachael,

I'm going to be doing C&G Level 2 in February. Also I will be working within the Probation Service so I am expecting to see more issues around poor nutrition (not necessarily obesity) smoking and alcohol and substance misuse.

I am looking forward to going live but getting more and more nervous about it as the day approaches!!

Hi Suzi

Don't get too nervous about going live. It isn't as bad as you think. Make sure you know your paperwork & rehearse what you will say to the clients beforehand if you can. We didn't get any chance to practise & have found that with time, each visit is getting easier & we are remembering everything in the first visit. Once you are familiar with the paperwork you will be using, it will be so much simpler.

We have a lot of issues with poor nutrition too. We are running a cook & eat at the moment & it is amazing how little these people know! Some people I have spoken to do not know how to cook boiled potatoes! We are hoping that something along the lines of Jamie's Pass It On can be worked out around here.

We have not had many referrals for smoking as we have a highly publicised Stop Smoking Service with 3 really good advisors, and as yet we have had no referrals for substance misuse or alcohol abuse although these problems are rife in this community. There are already a lot of services in place to support alcohol & substance misuse in Blackpool.

Good Luck
Rachel

Hi Suzy and Rachel
We also have a Cook it course in Bath. However this only covers parents with children under 5 years. It doesnt cover any one who may have had to start to fend for themselves. i.e widowers, or teenagers leaving home.
I would like to see the cook it service grow to include others.

There are 5 health trainers in Bath/Banes. how many have you got?

We are not encouraged to do any group work. The criteria of the Health Trainer being 1-2-1's. Also it is felt that there would be an overlap in the service.

Lovely to hear from you all

Jo

Hi Joanne

In Blackpool we have 5 lots of Health Trainers working in different ways. We have 2 based at Age Concern, 2 based at the Volunteer Centre working with Positive Steps into work, 6 based within the Council working with GP surgeries, 4 based within the midwifery team and 4 for the NHS based in Sure Start & Children's Centres (although 1 is on maternity leave & the other has left & not been replaced yet, so there are only 2 of us at the moment).

Our Cook & Eat is mainly for parents with children under 5, but as we are based in a community we are able to take anyone. We are allowed to do groups as we are based in Sure Start & they run a lot of groups. It helps them to cover the health aspect aswell as us reaching more people & getting ourselves known within the community. I think once the pilot scheme is over in Blackpool we will be able to concerntratte more on 1-2-1's as the role will be across the town & better known.

Rachel

Hi Guys

Wow, it's nice to see so many of us out there!!! I may be running groups as it fits with the structure of my working environement.

We have a team of 16 (I think) HT's across Oxford City and Banbury.

Suzi