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Community Health Champions
Community Health Champions is an innovative Sheffield project to empower people, and increase skills and knowledge relating to health and well-being within the city’s priority communities.
The Health Champions are volunteers whose role it is to support people in Sheffield’s least healthy communities to make positive changes to their lifestyle and diet. There are currently over 60 Health Champions working across the city organising activities such as: walking groups; healthy eating activities; group activities such as dancing or swimming for older people, families and other groups identified by the champions themselves in their communities.
This pioneering model is proving to be an effective way of reaching people and making a real difference within the target communities. The project will be expanding over the coming months to recruit a further 180 Champions to increase the scope of the work across the city.
Health Champion Michelle Smedley, based at Healthy Cross Community Project in Sharrow, says “Being a Health Champion has really helped me and my family. We are more outgoing, and we do more activities together.”
The project is managed by the Sheffield Well-being Consortium, a consortium of over 40 voluntary and community sector organisations across the city, funded by the Big Lottery and overseen by NHS Sheffield and the Council’s Health Partnership Team.
For more information about the work of the Health Champions contact Nigel West on nigel@sheffieldwellbeing.org.uk.