SANE Australia, Peer Health Coaching Program
Article by SANE Australia
The SANE Mind + Body project is very excited to share with you its new Peer Health Coaching Program, developed in response to the poor physical health and significantly reduced life expectancy of people living with a severe mental illness.
The Peer Health Coaching Program increases health literacy and improves participants’ skills and understanding around their physical health and wellbeing, through one-on-one or group sessions with a trained Peer Health Coach.
Based on the learnings and outcomes from a three-year pilot in partnership with Neami National and funded by the Australian Government, Department of Health, the Peer Health Coaching Program can now be adopted by other community mental health organisations. The program includes individual consultation to tailor the implementation process to your organisation’s needs. In addition, we provide Peer Health Coaching training for qualified Peer Support Workers who wish to specialise as a Peer Health Coach.
The Peer Health Coaches are not ‘health experts’, but bring their lived experience to model recovery and use coaching techniques to encourage change. As one Peer Health Coach stated ‘I support someone to articulate and action their physical health goals, encouraging motivation to overcome obstacles and link to social support outside and beyond our sessions.’
To learn more about the program, or to enquire about implementing Peer Health Coaching, contact SANE Australia’s Mind + Body Initiative.
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