Men's Health Champions Training

Men's Health Champions are an easy way to promote health within any group - make them part of your organisation's health strategy.

What is a Health Champion?

Health Champions are not health professionals but members of the public who care about public health and want to help improve it.

Almost anyone can train to be a Health Champion. Champions are often members of a group, club, workplace, company or other organisation who watch out for their colleagues. It can be very fulfilling to see people turn their health round. 

Health Champions can be particularly important for overcoming potential isolation around working from home and/or being unable to attend our usual social and leisure events.

What is it?

  • A fun, informative, participative and interactive training course of 2 two-hour sessions online delivered by experienced Men's Health Forum associate trainers using Zoom. For group bookings, we can also provide the training via Microsoft Teams.

What does it offer?

  • Health Champions are a tried and tested way to improve health in a community and can break down the barriers that often exist in health care provision. The training was developed as part of the Interreg 2 Seas Step By Step project in Hampshire by Peter Baker and Jim Pollard.

Who is the course for?

  • Men (and women) who want to support other men to engage with their health
  • Local areas, workplaces, commissioners and providers and anyone who wants to empower men to engage with their health (or learn more about the course).

What are the outcomes?

You’ll learn:

  • the basics of men’s health;
  • the role of a Health Champion;
  • how to work with men to change health behaviours;
  • the impact on men's health of Covid-19 and other crises;
  • how to signpost them for more information.

You’ll also have a lot of fun and get a copy of our Health Champions manual full of further information. 

Can anyone be a Health Champion? 

Pretty much. Health Champions are empathetic, good listeners, willing to talk about health and other difficult issues and to be supportive without being directive. You don't need to be a health expert.

Do Health Champions make a difference for men?

The research suggests they can make a real difference. For men, they can be particularly useful: their more informal, man-to-man approach can provide an invaluable stepping stone between the men in their community and traditional, more formal health services. 

An academic paper on our Men's Health Champions training highlighting the benefits has appeared in the journal Trends in Urology and Men's Health: Championing men's health: a peer-to-peer approach.

What is Zoom?

It is a pretty straightforward technology for joining meetings online. If you haven't used it before, there's more information here including simple instructions and a video. You'll need a computer, tablet or smartphone to download the Zoom app onto. Your device will need to have a large enough screen to allow you to read slides so laptop or decent-sized tablet recommended. We can probably help you set it up if necessary if you let us know.

Some businesses do not allow access to Zoom. Many trainees therefore use their own devices rather than the company's. For group bookings, we can also provide the training via Microsoft Teams.

More information

If you want any more information, contact us. We can discuss running a course to suit your specific needs.

Men's Health Champion Manual

You'll get a copy of this manual as part of your training. 

The Men’s Health Forum need your support

It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking.

In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to.

It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for.

We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing.

Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.

Registered with the Fundraising Regulator