‘Healthy Living for Everyday Life’: Project manual and online resource launched in Wexford

A milestone for the ‘Healthy Living for Everyday Life’ project has been marked by its launch as a manual and online resource.

Developed by the HSE’s Health Promotion and Improvement team and supported by community partners, including the Wexford Library Service (in conjunction with Adult Literacy for Life), Sports Active Wexford, the Irish Heart Foundation and Mental Health Ireland, ‘Healthy Living for Everyday Life’ were initially a series of talks delivered from September to December of last year in Co. Wexford as a health literacy pilot project.

Funded through the Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation Fund, the ‘Healthy Living for Everyday Life’ talks were designed to support people in taking charge of their health and wellbeing. The talks took place in Bunclody, Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross and Wexford Town libraries.

Now, following a launch which took place in the Wexford Primary Care Centre, a copy of the manual and all other materials and resources can be accessed at https://www.adultliteracyforlife.ie/projects/healthy-living-for-everyday-life/

A key feature of the ‘Healthy Living for Everyday Life’ project is that the facilitators that deliver it received training in adult literacy awareness and literacy-sensitive health promotion. This training strengthening the facilitator’s ability to develop and communicate information in a clear, inclusive and accessible way.

The ‘Healthy Living for Everyday Life’ project sets out to make health promotion information clearer, more accessible and easier for everyone to use. Among topics covered are tips for everyday exercise, alcohol awareness, how physical movement matters, tools to quit smoking and vaping, healthy eating, cancer risk reduction and mental health wellbeing.

Led by HSE Health Promotion and Improvement Officer Elaine Banville and supported by a steering group including Wexford Library, Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board (WWETB) and Adult Literacy for Life, Lisa says:

“The ‘Healthy Living for Everyday Life’ project is a great example of what can be achieved when organisations come together, share their expertise and support each other to make health information more accessible for everyone.”

“The new manual and online resources capture the learning from this project, offering other organisations and communities an opportunity to adapt the approach to their own settings. Because when health information is accessible, people are better supported to find, understand, and use it to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.”