Helping people to move more isn’t just about gyms, sports or organised exercise. It’s also about finding simple, realistic ways to build movement into everyday life.

That’s the focus of Helping People to Move More, training designed to give staff the confidence, knowledge and practical tools to talk about physical activity and wellbeing with the people they support.

Sessions have so far been delivered to staff in Adult Social Care and Community Plus, with a further session planned with Home-Start soon.

The training is already making a difference. Evaluation showed that:

• Familiarity with physical activity guidelines increased from 30% to 88%.
• Confidence in recommending physical activity increased from 50% to 88%.
• Knowledge of local physical activity opportunities increased from 30% to 50%.

Participants also highlighted how useful the training was in helping them think differently about physical activity with the following comments from participants:

“Build in PA into conversations with clients, start somewhere. The biggest benefits are from nothing to something.”

Jaime, Community Connector

“Encouraging individuals to move more and that physical activity isn’t always the gym. How important moving more is to peoples lives.”

Farzana, a Community Connector

“Excellent and valuable training – should be rolled out to all adult social care.”

Vicki, an Assistant Practitioner

By building the confidence and capability of the wider workforce, the training is helping create more opportunities for conversations about movement and wellbeing across Kirklees.

Because sometimes, helping someone move more starts with simply having a conversation.