Vision
To involve older adults in the promotion of physical activity to their peers
To involve older adults in the promotion of physical activity to their peers
Training to assist in the development of local programmes
This course has been designed for local programme coordinators to meet local needs and is designed for health and other professionals who work to promote physical activity with older people (e.g. Health improvement managers in PCTs, development officers in local authority leisure and social services, non- governmental organisations, the residential and care sector, housing wardens and exercise and health co-ordinators).
Further information on the course, duration of the course and resources can be found further down this page.
– Course Information
For those who wish to take this work forward and develop a local programme within a local partnership but require a collective understanding and direction to their work. This course provides bespoke training for groups of local professionals and partnerships who feel that they need additional support in planning and implementing a Senior Peer Activity Motivator programme.
Courses will be designed to meet local needs and priorities but a possible outline might include:
– Half day meeting between local partners and trainers to disseminate and plan local training programme (minimum of four weeks in advance of training event) and agree:-
– One full day training with group (experience suggests maximum of 20 participants).
Training could be delivered by external trainer together with local trainer.
Individual queries and discussions about tailoring a programme to meet your needs contact Bob Laventure via the LLT office.
Experience suggests that this training is best delivered over two separate half days, but the material can be delivered in one day. This would involve a 9.30 start and a 4.00 finish.
Follow up meetings (half day) can be provided and undertaken by local coordinator and local partner agencies as first step to developing support mechanisms for mentors and look at the progress of the programme.
All participants will be provided with training resources for their own use with Senior Peer Activity Motivators. They will also receive the following resources for their own use.
The following resources will also be available to view at the course.
“Someone Like Me!” is a national programme of training for health and other professionals who wish to deliver their own local training for senior Peer Mentors. The Someone Like Me programme was developed as a partnership between Later Life Training (LLT), the BHF National Centre for Physical Activity and Health (BHF NC) at Loughborough University and Age Concern, Ageing Well (now AgeUK).
There is substantial evidence relating to the benefits of physical activity for the older person as a means of improving physical and psycho-social health, promoting independent living and well being. However, for many older people, physical activity is not an integral part of their lives. The aim of the Someone Like Me programme is to therefore increase opportunities for older people to become motivated towards and participate in health enhancing physical activity. Volunteer peer mentoring is a well established mechanism for engaging older people in health promotion programmes.
The Someone Like Me Programme can be used by a range of agencies as a means of initiating physical activity among older adults and provide a “strategic fit” to local health and activity promotion programmes which target older adults. We have compiled a list of frequently asked questions about the programme, Click here to download.
The Someone Like Me programme was part of the original Department of Health development work for the Later Life Training continuum and was led by:
*Our thanks also go to: The organisers and participants of the Senior Peer Activity Motivator pilot courses held in Dudley, Eastbourne, Kirklees, Liverpool, Sutton, Wigan and Woking and the participants in the pilot regional training event in Preston.
*Additional more recent contributions have also been made by:
*Additional development funding was also provided by the Department for Education and Skills (Adult and Lifelong Learning Section)
Someone who will help their peer group overcome some of the barriers to physical activity that older people face and move into or step up their campaign for healthy living and successful and active ageing.
What do they do?
Senior Peer Activity Motivators can be used in a number of situations to engage, motivate, buddy and support people into physical activity programmes and have been used in falls prevention, mental health, befriending and active living programmes. However, they are not trained to, nor are they expected to give medical advice or lead/teach exercise and physical activity programmes.
Principles that underpin the Someone Like Me programme
The following guiding principles represent the values, beliefs and philosophical underpinning of older people’s beliefs about an active way of life that underpin the Someone Like Me programme.
The role of Senior Peer Activity Motivators
Senior Peer Activity Motivators are not expected to give medical advice. Training for Senior Peer Activity Motivators does not entail the leading of exercise classes or groups, although in many cases that is what Senior Peer Activity Motivators may go on to do following further training. A job description for a volunteer Senior Peer Activity Motivator can be downloaded from here and a further document on their role, downloaded from here.
There are two seminal papers, one on volunteering and health and one on the role of mentors in falls prevention that you can download direct. An abstract on the LLT Peer Mentor Programme can be downloaded by clicking here.
LLT have worked with a number of local partnerships to develop bespoke training events including:
More information to follow.
Someone Like Me – Is it effective, does it work ?
There is growing evidence that such programmes can be very effective in helping older people to make decisions about their own health and become more physically active. There is also evidence of the benefits to those involved in volunteering and mentoring.There are two seminal papers, one on volunteering and health and one on the role of mentors in falls prevention that you can download direct. An abstract on the LLT Peer Mentor Programme can be downloaded by clicking here.Local programmes will identify their own criteria for success and there is detailed advice on evaluating local programmes included in our resources and training activities. The examples included below indicate both the nature of evidence that can be collected about successful programmes as well as the way in which programmes can be used to target different groups of older people.
Over the past 15 years we have had feedback from those we have trained and held stakeholder consultations and have produced further information on Key Lessons learned – how to make a real success of your mentoring scheme.
The BHF National Centre for Physical Activity and Health at Loughborough University and the ActiveAge Unit, Age Concern England undertook an assessment of the impact of the Someone Like Me programme. They identified top 10 key areas of learning from programmes currently involved in the “Someone Like Me” Programme. They are seen as essential to the successful planning of any local programme.
To download and view the details of the 10 key points to ensure a successful programme, Click Here
For full course eligibility please see the Someone Like Me Eligibility page
There is no formal assessment of these courses other than in-course review and evaluation of the extent to which courses have achieved their stated learning objectives. Certificates of Attendance, detailing content hours, course content and date for evidence of CPD and training are provided by LLT.
LLT will provide Bespoke Someone Like Me Training for a host organisation for £1,200 (+ VAT) per day. There is a maximum of 20 participants on a single day and some course resources must be printed by the host organisation. All resources will be provided on a CD ROM. Additional half-day pre and post course support: £600 (+ VAT) per half day.
If you are interested in hosting a Someone Like Me course in your local area, please contact Bob Laventure through the LLT Office.
We encourage everyone to be responsible for their own learning. In light of this, we ask that you please inform us, at point of application, about any learning support requirements and/or medical conditions support that will help your course candidates to access our course content and learn effectively. All information will be treated confidentially and we will make reasonable adjustments to meet their needs.
More information to follow.