Health Promotion Practitioner

Job description

Job responsibilities

1. Work closely within and across the Healthy Lifestyles Services teams.
2. Establish partnership networks with a range of multi-disciplinary providers (from diverse disciplines, backgrounds and settings) in Public Health, Primary and Secondary Care and Communities to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities using both population-based and person-centred approaches.
3. Partner with existing providers to strengthen, sustain and scale services, and develop new structures based on needs identification.
4. Promote the importance of living healthy lifestyles through sustained self-management to address eight integrated dimensions of wellbeing; physical, emotional, social, spiritual/cultural, intellectual, occupational, financial and environmental throughout the life course.
5. Emphasise physical wellbeing with focus on healthy choices for active lifestyles, healthier eating, healthy weight management, no smoking, reduced alcohol consumption, healthy sleep and the collective positive impact on overall wellbeing.
6. Support the co-development, testing, delivery and evaluation of a range of practice-based service offerings (co-actions) to promote wellbeing to enable environments for community building, individual behaviour changes and systems transformation.
7. Identify and work with community leaders and with providers to understand the local assets, needs and make recommendations in terms of developing opportunities to build healthy communities.
8. Lead engagements with communities, families and individuals to inform the offering of contextually appropriate Healthy Lifestyles Services across the life course.
9. Participate in the training and support of an expanding network of multi-disciplinary provider and volunteer Wellbeing Champions to assist with healthy lifestyles promotion across Somerset.
10. Promote and support MECC (Making Every Contact Count) for non-specialist professionals and direct people to the website for further self-directed support.
11. Increase population awareness and understanding about the impact of healthy lifestyles choices across the life course in preventing, reducing and managing chronic health conditions; in promoting healthy aging; in improving quality of life and in promoting individual and population wellbeing.
12. Using a blended train-the-trainer and person-centred approach, co-design, deliver and evaluate the impact of county-wide Healthy Lifestyles Services offerings, covering all eight dimensions of wellbeing to target groups, eg children and families, schools, people with disabilities, older people and those living in areas of deprivation, where unhealthy lifestyles are more prevalent.
13. Motivate and empower communities, families and individuals to make and maintain positive healthy lifestyles behaviour changes through realistic actions considering health, budget, time and/or environmental constraints.
14. Embed and communicate information about the inter-relationship between the eight dimensions of wellbeing in a way that motivates communities, families and individuals to change their lifestyle behaviours.
15. Participate in ongoing co-development, implementation, evaluation and review of practice-based healthy lifestyles resources and key messages (digital and print) used for communication, promotional events, community activations and media campaigns.
16. Promote mass media campaigns, localising and magnifying national campaigns.
17. Update and manage social media and website platforms that offer validated local information and signposting to online resources, approved apps, etc.
18. Participate in the co-development and undertaking of research, monitoring and evaluation activities to strengthen Healthy Lifestyles Services offerings.
19. Represent the Healthy Lifestyles Services at related meetings and workgroups.
20. Inspire a Public Health Culture of practice-based change, innovation, inclusiveness and partnerships to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities across Somerset.

Contacts & Relationships

• Develop and consolidate multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral partnerships with communities, community groups, voluntary groups, Primary and Secondary Care and with District, Town and Parish Councils to drive forward community participation in the co-development, implementation and evaluation of Healthy Lifestyles Services offerings across the life course.
• Work closely with communities to ensure Healthy Lifestyles Services offerings are equity, assets and needs-based and outcomes focused.
• Identify and expand a network of multi-disciplinary provider and volunteer Wellbeing Champions to enable the above objectives and create responsive, inclusive and deliverable Healthy Lifestyles Services that are sustainable and scalable.
• Children, families and adults wishing to improve lifestyle behaviours at a whole population level and targeted population groups, e.g, older people and those living with disabilities and/or in areas of deprivation.
• GP and Pharmacy staff, Health Visitors and School Nurses, and other transdisciplinary providers.
• Attend Primary Care Network meetings and establish links with a range of Social Prescribers, e.g Health Coaches, Health Connectors, Community Connectors and Village Agents.
• Liaise with expert local providers to strengthen service offerings, e.g SASP (Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership), Somerset Community Food, SPARK Somerset and Community Council for Somerset.
• Colleagues within Public Health to integrate and support the overall population-based wellbeing promotion message.
• Foster a growing network of multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral partners to co-create enabling environments for behaviour change and systems transformation as part of co-creating a Culture of Wellbeing across Somerset.

Resources

Laptop, webcam and phone.

Supporting volunteers.

Creative input to support the Healthy Lifestyles Services teams with ideas for resources and promotional items that can be procured from the allocated budget.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience and knowledge of healthy lifestyles promotion using both population-based and client-based approaches across the life course.
• Knowledge of the impact of healthy lifestyles choices particularly in terms of physical activity, healthy eating and weight management.
• Knowledge of the key dimensions of wellbeing and their inter-relationship; such as between physical wellbeing (e.g. physical activity and food choices) and emotional wellbeing (e.g. resilience and stress management).
• Experience and knowledge of improving health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities.
• Experience of developing health promotion resources (digital and/or print).
• Social media literacy and knowledge of social marketing techniques.
• Knowledge and experience of MS Office suite of programmes.
• Experience of writing and maintaining concise records.

Desirable

• Experience or knowledge of developing community initiatives to promote physical activity, healthier eating and weight management.
• Knowledge of health promotion methods, adult learning principles, and behaviour change techniques.
• Knowledge of community building and participatory approaches.
• Knowledge of basic human nutrition.
• Experience in facilitating group sessions with communities and/or multi-disciplinary providers (from diverse disciplines, backgrounds and settings).
• Experience in school-based health promotion.
• Experience or knowledge of monitoring and evaluation methods.
• Knowledge of current trends and underlying principles in the need to reduce physical inactivity and improve healthy eating.

Qualifications

Desirable

• BTEC, HND or Degree or equivalent professional qualification in a relevant field e.g. public health, health promotion, social care.
• Motivational interviewing/coaching.
• Adult Education/Train-the-Trainer.
• Participatory Approaches.
• Basic Human Nutrition.
• Social Media Communication.

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Enthusiastic and committed to improve community health and wellbeing, and to reduce health inequalities.
• Ability to communicate and promote the benefits and impacts of healthy lifestyles to a wide range of people.
• Confident and ability to facilitate group sessions.
• Ability to build and maintain good working relationships with groups and individuals across a range of backgrounds and in a range of settings.
• Excellent verbal communication skills and the ability to speak to people from a range of different backgrounds.
• Innovative, passionate and encouraging in promoting healthy lifestyles for wellbeing using both population-based and person-centred approaches.
• Empathetic, empowering and sensitive to the lived realities of others when promoting behavioural changes for improved health and wellbeing.
• Proactive with ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team, contributing to shared goals.
• Good organisational skills and ability to work to deadlines.
• Ability to adapt to new working practices in response to organisation change and shifts in evidence base.
• Professional telephone manner.
• Strong administration skills.
• Flexible attitude to working hours.
• Commitment to professional and organisational development.
• Willingness to work some evenings and weekends.
• Car driver or otherwise mobile with appropriate business insurance (generic to all posts requiring mobility).

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Somerset County Council

Address

County Hall

Taunton

Somerset

TA1 4DY

Employer's website

https://www.somerset.gov.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)