Westmeath Community Development

The HSE is running a Certificate in Health Promotion 2009-2010 starting this coming October and the following are details of the course if you are interested.  Application forms must be returned no later than Thursday 30^th April 2009 to address at the end of this page. 

What is the purpose and rationale for the Specialist Certificate in Health Promotion
 

Many of the settings identified are working with a wide range of groups in the community and are already promoting health informally; however, they are unaware of the clear links between the ‘health promoting’ work they do currently and the practice and principles of Health Promotion. Huge potential exists for these settings to become proactive health promoting settings and to have in place a comprehensive Health Promotion Strategy that will respond to and address their own health and the health of their target groups in a holistic way. 
 

As a result, the HSE DML will deliver a more generic, holistic, settings-based Specialist Certificate in Health Promotion that can appeal to a broad range of settings and enable these settings to create supportive environments for health. This new Specialist Certificate Training Programme can provide workers and volunteers from these settings with a sound rationale for promoting health in a more proactive way and can provide them with the knowledge, skills and expertise to develop health promotion programmes and policies in line with good practice and evidence-based health promotion. It can also facilitate a sustainable approach to the ongoing delivery of the Specialist Certificate programme in HSE DML Area.
 

Will I receive accreditation for participating in this training course
 

Yes. All those who successfully complete this training course and accompanying assignment work will receive a Specialist Certificate in Health Promotion from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). This recently adapted training course offers participants an opportunity to apply their learning at a very practical level within their own work settings.
 

The Specialist Certificate accreditation is linked to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) which means that the credits received for successfully completing the course can be transferred to other Universities or Institutes of Technology should participants wish to pursue further studies in the future.
 

What is the time commitment for this course?

Participants must engage in 85 contact training hours. This contact training time will be divided across a total of 14 training days over the duration of the training course.
 

How many participants can the course facilitate?

A minimum of 12 and a maximum of 20 participants are required for this course.
 

Where will the training take place?

The training will take place in the Athlone Education training centre with dates as outlined in the training schedule below.
 

Who can participate in this Specialist Certificate Course
 

This generic, holistic settings-based Specialist Certificate in Health Promotion would be useful in a wide range of settings enabling those settings to create supportive environments for health. Thus new course can provide workers from these settings with a sound rationale for promoting health in a more proactive way and can provide them with the knowledge, skills and expertise to develop health promotion programmes and policies in line with good practice and evidence-based health promotion. 
 

Participants should….

·   Demonstrate an interest in health and health promotion and an interest in gaining the knowledge and skills to promote health with their target groups in an effective way

·   Demonstrate an openness and interest in working within a holistic framework within their own organisations i.e. be committed to a ‘whole organisational’ approach in terms of promoting health within their organisation, taking into account the needs of target groups and fellow workers and the development of a ‘health promoting organisation’ as a whole

·   Be open and committed to a social model of health, recognising the social determinants of health in their work

·   Be committed to participate in the entire training programme. It should be noted that in order to qualify for the Specialist Certificate, participants must ensure 90% attendance for the course

·   Be willing to complete all the assignment work required for the Specialist Certificate in the designated timeframe outlined in the course handbook
 

Benefits of this course:

 Course Structure and Schedule: