How Community Health Trainers in Manchester enable positive lifestyle changes

Learning points

The health promotion programme started with a focus on healthy eating and exercise but the active listening of the Health Trainers soon revealed that a ‘whole person’ or even ‘whole family’ perspective is required to facilitate behaviour change. For example, one Health Trainer observed that  “she needed to visit the female Asian cook in the family, who was adding too much salt to the food, in order to pass on the health messages for the benefit of her male client” (Willis and Regan, p. 76). In particular, some Health Trainers and supervisors recognised that the need to develop social contacts was a genuine goal for behavioural change.                 

The idea to ‘go where your clients are’ has been key to the success of the Health Trainer Programme in Manchester. Placing Health Trainers within different settings has meant that they have been able to reach out to clients who would not otherwise access support or professional advice.

Partnership working through integrated services is another key feature of the Health Trainer Programme. It has meant that Health Trainers are able to contribute to different initiatives across the City. These have included’ ‘Don’t be a Cancer Chancer’, Arts and Cultural facilities attendance, Employment Through Sport, and the NHS Health Check. 

Overall, one of the key success factors of the Health Trainer Programme has been its long life, as behaviour change takes time. At the same time, the Programme has been flexible and adaptive, working with new partners and groups and dealing with new challenges such as dementia. Sharing its achievements and insights with other local councils, the NHS and voluntary groups has also helped it to reflect on how to develop the Health Trainer Programme further.