Making Life Better

A new service from Reading Citizens Advice Bureau that offers support to people who want to make a change, however small, to improve their health and wellbeing.

As with all our work, this service is delivered in line with the four principles of Citizens Advice, it is independent, impartial, confidential and free.

For more information click on a link below
 
Clients               Volunteers               Other Agencies               Royal Institute of Public Health
 

Clients

The service gives one to one support to help you to make changes to improve your long term health and wellbeing in areas such as:

• Achieving a quality of life balance
• Identifying and reducing stress
• Improving fitness
• How to eat, drink and be healthy
• Reducing weight
• Reducing or stopping smoking

We work by appointment only and offer a series of face to face and telephone sessions to help you to identify:

• WHAT you want to achieve
• HOW you are going to achieve it
• WHEN you are going to achieve it by
• WHAT will make it easy/hard to reach your goal and identify strategies to deal with this
• HOW you are going to make the change permanent

So, if you want to make a change, however small, contact Mark on 0118 952 3039 or e-mail health.admin@readingcab.org.uk to find out more.

Volunteers

We are currently recruiting volunteers to train as coaches for our Making Life Better Service. No experience is needed since we give full training including all the interviewing, action planning and motivational skills that you will need.

We also offer all trainees the opportunity to sit for the Royal Institute of Public Health Level 2 award in Understanding Health Improvement.
So if:

• You have an interest in healthy lifestyles
• Would like to be part of a nationwide scheme
• Want to make a real difference to peoples’ lives
• Would like to gain valuable experience
• Can spare 4-6 hours per week

Please get in touch.  We run 3 training courses a year starting in January, April and September.

For further details please contact Jan on 0118 952 3025 or e-mail health@readingcab.org.uk

Other Agencies

Aims: We target clients in more deprived communities and offer assistance to those wanting to make positive, sustainable changes (whether large or small) to their lifestyles and so help them to improve the quality of their life.

In line with Citizens Advice aims, we also support the Advice Service in exercising a responsible influence on the development of social policies and services, both locally and nationally.

Background: This is a 3 year pilot project that has been funded by the Department of Health to address health inequalities. This free and confidential service empowers clients who want to improve their lifestyles to deal with their aims or desires for themselves thereby improving their health and wellbeing.

The strength of delivering this service from the CAB is that we can offer clients support with underlying problems which may be contributing to their lifestyle issues, e.g. by dealing with debt or employment issues we can address the root causes of some clients’ depression or stress.

Through the project we will pilot different approaches to clients and different sites to deliver the service in order to identify the most effective.
Pilot sites are targeted to meet local goals in consultation with the PCT and Reading Borough Council – currently we are most actively working with Katesgrove Children’s Centre and Sure Start in Whitley

Service:

• Our volunteer coaches work on a one-to-one basis with hard to reach people in deprived communities, over a period of time, to address such issues as:
  • Improving fitness and diet
  • Reducing stress, weight, drinking and smoking
  • Achieving a quality life balance
• We use a clearly defined coaching model that takes clients through the steps necessary to have a successful engagement
• Clients are helped to identify realistic goals
• We signpost clients to information to help them to make choices
• Refer to other agencies where appropriate/possible
• Help clients to draw up action plans to take them to their goals, ensuring that these are SMART and will fit in with the client’s life
• Motivate and support clients while they carry through their action plans
• Address root causes of health problems if stress related - debt etc
• We can offer training sessions where appropriate to groups of clients experiencing similar issues

If you would like to discuss ways of working together, please contact Jan on 0118 952 3025 or e-mail health@readingcab.org.uk

Royal Institute of Public Health

As part of the training of our Making Life Better volunteers, they are trained to take the Royal Institute of Public Health Level 2 award in Understanding Health Improvement.

Reading Citizens Advice Bureau is a Registered Centre for this qualification, and offers the training externally. If you are interested, please contact: Gill Waters, Reading CAB Training Services Berkshire, Minster Street, Reading, RG1 2JB
Tel: 0118 958 3513 email: training.manager@readingcab.org.uk