Amazing Stories

Volunteering as a Community Health Champion is often the start of an amazing journey for many people and their personal stories inspire and motivate others and connect them with people in their communities. As part of our evidence and evaluation we record Champion’s stories and some of these now form a growing collection of Amazing Stories, because they are just amazing....

To read our Amazing Stories, click on the images below

     
  File Name Description
Download Altogether Better Kirklees, Christine Charles

Kirklees

“Christine Charles has always helped others in her community while juggling the demands of home life and work. Christine, who lives in Huddersfield, has continued to boost her skills by volunteering, even when employment has been insecure and despite suffering from asthma.”
Download Bradford Seniors Show The Way, Abdul Qureshi

Amazing Stories

“After ill health forced Abdul Qureshi to retire from running his own bakery three years ago, the 65-year-old Bradford resident was at a low ebb – until he found a new lease of life as a community health champion....”
Download Calderdale Community Health Champions, Sarah Gyenge

“Making the facts about healthy food fun is what drives Sarah Gyenge as a Community Health Champion. Why else would she go to the trouble of making a fully functional milking cow?“
Download East Riding Coastal Health Improvement Programme, Denise Dobson

“Attending an Altogether Better course* to help her cope while caring for a sick relative was the catalyst for Denise Dobson to confront issues that had been affecting her for years and to start to change her life around...”
*This refers to the Sort Out Stress course, run by the East Riding Coastal Health Improvement Programme
Download Healthwise Hull, Patrick Nolan

"Patrick Nolan joined Healthwise Hull after deciding to adopt a healthier lifestyle. A year later, he has become a committed community health champion and is about to make a fulfilling career change...”
Download Leeds Older & Active, Mavis Kennedy

 “When Mavis Kennedy first met her friend Carol McKenny, she was clinging in terror to the side of a swimming pool in Leeds.  “I got in the pool and I could not move away from the edge,” said Mavis, who had signed up to a course of swimming lessons for the over 60s. “Coming from the West Indies, which is surrounded by water, it felt ridiculous that I couldn’t swim. It was Carol who got me off to a start. She held on to my hand and just said: ‘Don’t worry.’ It worked – though I must have squeezed her hand black and blue!””
Download North & North East Linconshire Leading the Way to Active Lives, Mandy Hodgson

“Mandy Hodgson had tried Tai Chi before. But it took a challenge from the Leading The Way To Active Lives project for her to take her involvement with the traditional Chinese system of exercise and relaxation to the next level as a community health champion.”
Download Offender Health & Social Care, Jamail

“Jamail knows only too well the effect prison can have on mental and physical well-being. Imprisoned three times since the mid-nineties, he has first-hand experience of the helplessness than many feel and how this impacts on health."
Download Parents 1st, Jane Finch
 
 “When it comes to the realities of childbirth, there is little that Jane Finch hasn’t seen. A  mother of four, she’s had a partner pass out on her in the middle of one birth and faced    another that was particularly traumatic. There have been ‘nightmare’ deliveries and relatively  straightforward ones”
Download Rotherham Mind Your Own Business, Christine Campey

"Christine Campey’s motives for becoming a community health champion were to understand possible ways of improving the mental health of workers in the construction industry and to expand her skills as a human resources professional.”
Download Sheffield Community Health Champions Network, Caroline Waugh

Caroline Waugh's passion for 'inclusive cycling' has put her on the road to health and happiness and helped many others to experience the freedom, exercise and pleasure of life on two, three and four wheels. "Cycling has allowed me to go back to being me.  I thought I'd lost that forever."
Download Sheffield Community Health Champions Network, Waqas Khawaja Hameed

“A desire to give something back to his community prompted Waqas Khawaja Hameed to join Sheffield Community Health Champions. After seeing a leaflet asking for people to support and create awareness about smoking cessation at mosques in Sheffield’s Sharrow district, Waqas volunteered for the Sheffield Community Health Champions through one of the project’s partners, ShipShape.”
Download Wakefield Health Means Business, Heather Iveson

“Looking after toddlers for a living can take every bit of your energy. So when the Health Means Business project offered to help staff at the Little People Day Nursery in Wakefield to learn their ABC of health, they jumped at the chance.”
Download Yorkshire & the Humber Mental Health First Aid, Mandy Torbitt

“After taking an Altogether Better course in mental health first aid Mandy Torbitt helped a woman deal with shock after witnessing a suicide.”

resources

Quick links to some of our most recent resource collections:

achievements

Winner of the Prime Minister's Big Society Award 2011

Finalist in the National Lottery Awards 2011, Best Health Project

 

be inspired

“I am now more confident, my kids are healthier and as a family we are doing more cooking together ”
Community Health Champion

“I now have more knowledge about healthy eating. I can now help people to make a difference to their lifestyle and I feel quite privileged to be involved with something that is often a very personal issue to some people.”
                      Community Health Champion

“I find now that I’ve got something back into my life something that I find particularly rewarding for me. It’s given me fulfilment and made me feel more useful and valued. From a mental health point of view it’s made me feel happier, I’ve gained as I have also had interaction from other people.”
Community Health Champion

“It’s been really nice to feel much more involved with things that are happening in Bradford which is where I live. I’ve also met loads of interesting people.”
Community Health Champion

“In terms of my own health and well-being, I wouldn’t say much has changed other than the satisfaction of being able to continue helping others in ways that could help improve their quality of life e.g. learning new skills, meeting and making new friends and being considered as part of a community that cares.”
Community Health Champion

“My time is now being fulfilled in a constructive way instead of doing nothing. I have many skills that I can utilise to benefit myself and the living area where I belong”
Community Health Champion

“Since I was trained as a community health educator, I have found my life changed as I became empowered to face both family and work related issues.”
Community Health Educator

“I have gained the ability to be able to voice my opinions and feelings on difficult situations without constraints“
Community Health Champion

“I've learnt loads about healthy cookery ...I often test all the recipes on my friends so I'm teaching them too!”
Community Health Champion

“Being a Community Health Champion has been a great experience for my own personal and professional development”
Community Health Champion

“As a Community Health Champion, I get a big buzz by helping people. Sometimes it can’t be measured and the help and support is sometimes not even recognised, but I know I have helped make a difference to an individual and they feel better for it”
Community Health Champion

“No two sessions are ever the same - it's always really interesting and I learn something new every time!”
Community Health Champion

“Being a part of Altogether Better has given me a new perspective of the community I have learned to love and associate with”
Community Health Champion

“As a relatively new Community Health Champion, I have found the experience of meeting new people from diverse backgrounds and cultures very interesting and rewarding”
Community Health Champion

“I enjoyed the training and am pleased that I can pass on health information to family, friends and at work.”
Community Health Champion

“The training and involvement in the programme built my confidence; it allowed me to be able to speak and signpost people to access health improvement services available in their area.”
Community Health Champion

“I felt part of the network of champions which is reassuring and supported my ongoing development. I have moved on to become an ambassador within the local PCT and now play a full part in the health services within my area through the local patient group”
Community Health Champion

“I’m feeling much fitter than I previously was and it’s a real buzz getting other people to be active it’s a good way of getting people together.”
Community Health Champion

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facts & figures

Over 15,000 Community and Work Place Health Champions across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Reaching and supporting over 90,000 people to get more active, eat well, and feel better in their communities and work places