Training to help staff support parents to manage children's weight
Katy Morton
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Children's centre staff in Wandsworth and Lewisham will be taught how to raise the issue of tackling childhood obesity with families, as part of a new programme commissioned by the NHS.
Front-line staff, paediatricians and staff from children’s centres and primary schools, will be offered training to support them in tackling childhood obesity including how to raise the issue with families, physical activity and implementing behaviour change.
The training is being delivered by social enterprise Mytime Active under their Boost programme, which aims to help families with young children living in areas of need to adopt healthy lifestyles.
Mytime Active has been commissioned by the NHS to run the programme in the London borough of Lewisham and won a tender to continue to deliver the service in Wandsworth, where it has been in place for two years.
The Boost programme is also being run in the London boroughs of Croydon, Hammersmith and Fulham and Wandsworth.
As part of the programme, healthy lifestyle interventions for families with young children, led by a team of dieticians and exercise specialists, are also being run in Wandsworth and Lewisham.
The 12-week sessions, designed to help families adopt healthy lifestyles, cover portion sizes, how to read food labels and implement change.
Weight management sessions for children from birth to five, who are classified as overweight, and specialist weight management sessions for children from 0-16, who are obese and have co-morbidity or complex needs, are also being run in Lewisham.
Mytime Active will continue with the work it has been doing in Wandsworth, which includes a New Mum New You class to help mothers get back to their pre-pregnancy weight, but will also focus on services for two- to five-year-olds.
Annie Holden, Mytime Active health division manager, said, ‘Winning these contracts is a great opportunity for us to build on the good work we have been doing at Boost Wandsworth in our previous commission for child weight management and health services for Early Years and new mums, teenagers and adults.
‘We’ll also be building on our previous experience of workforce training and coordinating with frontline staff and volunteers from other agencies to ensure consistent good health messages are joined up across public services.’
The training is being delivered by social enterprise Mytime Active under their Boost programme, which aims to help families with young children living in areas of need to adopt healthy lifestyles.
Mytime Active has been commissioned by the NHS to run the programme in the London borough of Lewisham and won a tender to continue to deliver the service in Wandsworth, where it has been in place for two years.
The Boost programme is also being run in the London boroughs of Croydon, Hammersmith and Fulham and Wandsworth.
As part of the programme, healthy lifestyle interventions for families with young children, led by a team of dieticians and exercise specialists, are also being run in Wandsworth and Lewisham.
The 12-week sessions, designed to help families adopt healthy lifestyles, cover portion sizes, how to read food labels and implement change.
Weight management sessions for children from birth to five, who are classified as overweight, and specialist weight management sessions for children from 0-16, who are obese and have co-morbidity or complex needs, are also being run in Lewisham.
Mytime Active will continue with the work it has been doing in Wandsworth, which includes a New Mum New You class to help mothers get back to their pre-pregnancy weight, but will also focus on services for two- to five-year-olds.
Annie Holden, Mytime Active health division manager, said, ‘Winning these contracts is a great opportunity for us to build on the good work we have been doing at Boost Wandsworth in our previous commission for child weight management and health services for Early Years and new mums, teenagers and adults.
‘We’ll also be building on our previous experience of workforce training and coordinating with frontline staff and volunteers from other agencies to ensure consistent good health messages are joined up across public services.’
