The Community Health Educators (CHES) project is a fantastic programme of work which we have been delivering for 4 years and is part funded by Leeds PCT. We provide opportunities for local people from the community to sign up for our training course about health. Through training, community members can increase their confidence levels and improve community capacity by getting involved and taking action.

At the end of the course, learners will have an opportunity to go out and work in their communities delivering simple health promotion sessions. Many of the students continue this work by progressing into careers either in the field of health or community work.

We deliver sessions to a diverse range of groups in the community. From school children to older people, occupational therapists to local businesses, we always go to the places where we can target the most people.

We cover range of different subjects which are all delivered as very simple, preventative health messages using a non medical approach. The subjects can include healthy eating, stress and relaxation, healthy hearts and physical activity. We are extremely flexible and are always looking to develop new sessions which meet the demands of our communities.

The Community Health Educator Course

The course is accredited by Open College Network and comprises of five units. The units are

• What is health?
• Powerand Powerlessness
• Recognising and building strengths in communities
• Achieving change for health
• Developing skills for working with others

The course is delivered at Level 2 and by meeting additional criteria, students have an option of going for a Level 3 qualification. The unique aspect of the course is that there is a strong element of choice given to the students over what health topics they want to learn about.

No formal qualifications are required but a willingness to learn and a commitment to the project are essential. Students need to have an interest in working with others to increase awareness and understanding about health matters and available services. They also need to have basic English skills and be able to devote 1 day a week to 14 weeks of training.

The course is delivered in an interactive and fun way, getting students to participate in group work and have a say over how health is defined in their community. We provide a low stress but high challenge environment for people to learn.

The Community Health Educator Volunteer (CHEV) Course

We have designed this short, six week introductory course to attract community members who may not feel ready to start the accredited 14 week training. It provides an opportunity for less confident local people to develop skills for working in the community. On completion of the course, students will be offered an opportunity to go out into the community with the health educators to gain experience in delivering sessions. Volunteers will also be supported and encouraged to progress in their development towards the accredited training programme and paid work.

5 A Day Programme

We are commissioned by Leeds PCT to run our 5 A Day cookery programme in West Leeds. The programme comprises of two elements.

The first is a four week adult cookery course which we can deliver to any group of adults who are interested in learning more about healthy eating. Each session lasts two hours and participants have the opportunity to prepare and eat healthy meals together in an informal and interactive way. At the end of each session each person gets a goody bag of food to take home to use and on completion of the course participants receive a 5 A Day cookery book.
Groups have included young mums groups, older people’s groups and people with mental and emotional health issues.

The other element to the 5 A Day programme is the After School Club courses. We link up with schools to run a 6 week cooking course with primary school children. We provide equipment and give basic training to teachers and support staff so they can continue to deliver the course to other children in the school. This is a fantastic programme and children love the chance to get stuck in and learn how to prepare healthy meals from across the globe.

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Community Health Educators

The Community Health Educator Course

The Community Health Educator Volunteer (CHEV) Course

5 A Day Programme

For more information about these projects or our CHE/CHEV courses please contact Jon Hindley our Community Health Programmes Manager.

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