Health Promotion
Our team works with a range of places and community groups to improve health and wellbeing.
What is Health Promotion?
Instead of treating an illness or disease, health promotion aims to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
Health promotion empowers individuals and communities to take control of their health. This is often achieved through education, advocacy, and the creation of supportive environments. It helps communities build knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their health.
In health promotion we know that many factors affect health and wellbeing including social, economic and the physical environment. We also understand that some individuals or communities can experience poorer health because of these factors. Health promotion aims to reduce these gaps to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to live a healthy life.
What we do
Access Health and Community, healthAbility and Link Health and Community work in partnership to deliver Community Health-Health Promotion (CHHP) across Boroondara, Manningham, Monash, Whitehorse and the Yarra Ranges.
We work together to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities by improving healthy eating, active living, gender equity and reducing harm from tobacco and e-cigarette use.
Access Health and Community were also part of developing the first ever Eastern Metropolitan Regional CHHP Strategy 2025-2029 in partnership with:
The CHHP Strategy brings together all the CHHP-funded agencies across the Eastern Metropolitan Region. This is a significant achievement that we are very proud to be part of.
Read more here:
Who do we work with?
We offer a range of free health and wellbeing support and programs to the settings where people live, learn, work, connect and play.
Early Childhood Services
- Achievement Program – a whole-of-service framework focused on six key health areas to support early childhood services to strengthen, recognise and celebrate their health and wellbeing initiatives.
- Cooks Network – brings together cooks, chefs and educators to share ideas, connect and strengthen healthy food practices in early childhood services.
- Free to Be Me – an online program that supports early childhood services and educators to provide environments that promote gender equality and prevents gender-based violence.
- Menu Planning Guidelines for long day care – assists long day care centres to plan and provide nutritious, balanced meals that meet the dietary needs of children aged 1-5 years.
- Smiles for Miles – an initiative of Oral Health Victoria which aims to improve the oral health of children and their families in high-risk areas across Victoria. Only offered to early childhood services in the Yarra Ranges.
Schools
- Achievement Program – a whole-of-school framework focused on five key health areas to support primary and secondary schools to strengthen, recognise and celebrate their health and wellbeing initiatives.
- Morning Move for Mind – a four-week facilitated program (30-minute active sessions) that teaches primary school students positive coping strategies.
- Spaces and Play Leader Project – a primary school student-led program that uses targeted lessons to build understanding of gender stereotypes and gender equality, and how these influence the spaces where children learn and play.
- Student Leadership Program – offers a series of interactive workshops delivered onsite to help secondary school students build leadership, advocacy and action-planning skills. Students assess their school’s food environment, identify areas for improvement and implement one achievable change aligned with Vic Kids Eat Well goals.
- Vic Kids Eat Well – a statewide initiative that aims to create inclusive, nourishing and sustainable food and drink environments where children play, learn and grow.
- Walk to School – a program that involves working closely with schools and council to create safe routes for students and their parents/carers to walk, ride, scoot or roll to and from school. This program is currently only available in the Yarra Ranges.
- Every Body in Every School – a toolkit that can be used by schools to help identify opportunities for improvement in promoting students’ wellbeing and health. The toolkit focuses on factors that can influence body image, physical activity, and healthy eating in the school environment.
Sporting clubs
- Inclusive Clubs – a program that supports sporting clubs to create cultures and environments that are inclusive and engage more female and diverse participation. The program involves sporting clubs completing a gender equity and inclusion assessment, completing 2 online webinars followed by 2 in-person workshops and developing and implementing an action plan.
- Sport for All – a self-directed audit tool and set of resources that help sporting clubs and recreation settings align with Fair Access Principles to increase participation, opportunities and access for all.
- Vic Kids Eat Well – a statewide initiative that aims to create inclusive, nourishing and sustainable food and drink environments where children play, learn and grow.
Recreation Centres
- Healthy Choices Guidelines – a statewide initiative that provides guidelines that help sport and recreation centres offer and promote nutritious foods and drinks.
- Sunday Sessions – a program that offers free exercise and wellbeing activities on Sunday mornings for the month of August at participating recreation centres.
- Vic Kids Eat Well – a statewide initiative that aims to create inclusive, nourishing and sustainable food and drink environments where children play, learn and grow.
Community
- Active Living Yarra Ranges – a network of stakeholders that create opportunities and access to participate in free or low-cost active recreation for people of all genders, ages and abilities in the Yarra Ranges. Includes initiatives such as Active April, Belgrave Play and Connect and She Moves.
- Step and Connect – an initiative in partnership with community houses that offers social walking groups aimed at increasing movement and social connection.
- Sunday Sessions – a program that offers free exercise and wellbeing activities on Sunday mornings for the month of August at participating neighbourhood houses.
Contact Us
If you would like to know more about our health promotion work, or are interested in volunteering with us, contact us by email: health.promotion@accesshc.org.au
