Welcome to Health Challenge Valleys - A resource for the wider public health workforce

The Community Wellbeing Coaches is a pilot being run across the Heads of the Valleys Regeneration area.

Community Wellbeing Coaches will be visible and accessible to local people, proactively engaging individuals. They will be able to receive and access referrals from professional groups, and direct people to local services through their knowledge of the area. They will motivate and help people to set goals by developing personal health plans, give practical support to carry out those plans and identify with the individual their barriers to change. They will act as a crucial link between professionals and communities, translating health messages into actions that take account of individual circumstances.

This pilot has been developed to help reduce health inequities and is targeted first at the most disadvantaged areas and groups to make it easier for individuals in these communities to make healthier choices through behaviour change techniques.

• Community Wellbeing Coaches are individuals who are engaged, trained and supported to inspire and help their friends, families, neighbours and work colleagues lead more healthy lives
• There is a solid body of evidence on the benefits of engaging community members in promoting health. Positive impacts have been reported across a range of health and social outcomes
• Community Wellbeing Coaches are likely to be effective health promoters when they are working in their own communities
• Being in work brings many health and social benefits to individuals who become involved
• The Community Wellbeing Coach is an effective model to tackle health inequalities where people face barriers to making healthy choices. It can be applied across different health issues and settings

The pilot is due to start in the HoV at the end of next month - for any information please email hcv@wlga.gov.uk

Raise Awareness - Share Best Practice - Knowledge Exchange - Networking - Regional Support - Reducing Health Inequalities