Alliance for healthy living formally launched at Parliament Buildings
Healthy living was formally placed on the agenda at Parliament Buildings, Belfast, today when the Healthy Living Centre Regional Alliance was launched.
The Alliance is a network of the 19 Healthy Living Centres (HLCs) across Northern Ireland and aims to raise awareness of HLCs and gain support; highlight HLCs’ contribution to regional and local strategies, policies and priorities; and sustain the vision and approach of HLCs.
HLCs provide a wide range of services to local communities, targeting the most disadvantaged in society by focusing on interventions which address the wider determinants of health and health inequalities, such as social exclusion, access to services and socioeconomic deprivation.
When the HLC initiative was launched seven years ago, the government wanted at least 1 in 5 of the population to have access to an HLC. Today in Northern Ireland, 439,583 people - or 1 in 4 of the population - live within the catchment area of an HLC and can use their services.
Speaking at today’s launch, Danny Power, Chairperson of the HLC Regional Alliance, said: “HLCs work effectively as they depend on both community involvement and ownership. Some focus on single health issues such as physical activity or men’s health while others act as an ‘umbrella’ for a range of initiatives including smoking cessation, nutrition advice, parenting classes, counselling, women’s health and arts programmes.
“Already we are seeing the impact of the work carried out by these organisations. External evaluation has shown positive behavioural change among users and clients with improvements in actions and activity relating to health. For instance, a recent survey undertaken with users of HLCs showed that the regular use of an HLC has a protective effect on the mental health of those who attend once a month or more. Those who attended HLCs regularly were less likely to be in poorer mental health after 18 months than non regular users. The survey also indicated that regular users of HLCs had a sense of improved health and wellbeing compared to non regular users.¹
“We hope that today’s event will provide the opportunity to raise the profile of the Alliance, engage key stakeholders and, most importantly, demonstrate the valuable role that HLCs play. We know that in the past year alone, over 127,000 people have benefited from being directly involved with HLC programmes here.’’
The event enabled a number of HLC representatives to showcase their activities and inform guests on the key issues facing HLCs. The invited audience included a number of MLAs, representatives from HLCs, a range of government departments, Health and Social Services Boards as well as representatives from the voluntary and community sectors.
The Chief Officer of one HLC, Amanda Patterson of New Life Counselling, Belfast, said they receive between 400 - 500 referrals a year to support children, families, parents, young people and adults to develop improved coping strategies to manage their trauma. One example involved a man who left school at 15, went to prison as a teenager and then later in life suffered depression, a nervous breakdown and suicidal tendencies. He found prescribed drugs were not working for him but after receiving counselling at New Life, he felt able to handle his problems and has returned to continue his education.
Alan Houston, Project Coordinator, East Belfast Community Health Information Project, also highlighted how that HLC has developed a training programme tailor made for men in the area. He said: “Our organisation in partnership has run a number of community events over the past few years and, to date, nearly 1,000 men have participated in them. The events include health assessments, which are like mini MOTs to measure blood pressure and cholesterol. There is also an opportunity to gain advice about diet, information on alcohol and drugs, self-help with depression, mental health, and, if necessary, follow-up appointments can be made with specialist nurses if there are certain health concerns that need to be monitored.”
The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) launched the Healthy Living Centres programme in 1999 with a UK-wide budget of £300million. Northern Ireland received £13.5million of this budget which has enabled the 19 HLCs to become established. The HLC Regional Alliance is supported by the Health Promotion Agency through its HLC Support and Development Programme.
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Notes to the Editor:
¹ Health Monitoring Survey The Evaluation of the Big Lottery Fund Healthy Living Centres Programme. Fourth Annual Report of the Bridge Consortium. December 2005
D. Hills, E. Elliot, U. Kowarzik, E. McGregor, P Miller, J. Rugkasa, S. Russell, F Sullivan, E Wilkinson
For further information contact:
Jenny Dougan or Rosie McGaughey at the HPA on Tel: 028 9031 1611 or 9031 1514.
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