Health Promotion in Benalla
Benalla Health is funded by the Victoria Department of Health to contribute to health promotion projects in our area.
Health promotion works on a population level to try enable people to increase the control over and improve their health. This can be through creating supportive environments, building healthy public policy, strengthening communities and developing personal skills.
Many people (both adults and children) do not eat enough fruit and vegetables or get enough physical activity, so we often have a focus on healthy eating and active living. We can also cover issues like smoking (including e-cigarettes and vaping), alcohol, mental health and family violence. Where possible, we aim to factor in the role of climate change on these areas and include initiatives that improves sustainability.
Benalla has its own Community Health-Integrated Health Promotion plan every year, with Goulburn Valley Public Health Unit providing support in Health Promotion.
Please click here to view some of our work from 2023-24.
For any enquiries, please contact our Health Promotion Team on (03) 5761 4500 option 3 or email healthpromotion@benallahealth.org.au
Benalla Grow Your Own
Benalla Health, St Vincent de Paul Society of Benalla and Beechworth Correctional Centre teamed up in 2016 to provide wicking garden beds for families experiencing food insecurity. The project aimed to reduce the reliance on emergency food relief, improve community connectivity and increase people’s confidence and skills to grow their own food at home. Benalla Men’s Shed later came on board making the wooden boxes, which were much sturdier than the original apple crates.
You can see here our 2019 video on the wicking gardens beds in the Central Hume.
The project was a joint winner of the 2017 VicHealth Awards in the “Improving Health Equity” Category.
As of 2022, we have developed smaller gardens beds with the help from the students at Benalla P-12 College - Hands on Learning Program. These smaller beds are more portable than the previous version, but still have the water saving benefit of being wicking beds. This second round of beds was made possible thanks to a grant from Central Hume Primary Care Partnership (now Goulburn Valley Public Health Unit) and has allowed for the production of 250 beds!
In 2024, the Benalla Health – Health Promotion team were the recipient of two grants to further expand this program.
Funding provided by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) has allowed for the purchase of worm farms and compost bins to be used at the hospital kitchen, Morrie Evans Aged Care Residence kitchen and Benalla P-12 College. Food and garden waste will be collected and processed by the worm farms and compost bins to produce compost, worm castings and worm tea. Students at Benalla P-12 College who are involved with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program will assist with the production of seedlings to be provided to the Benalla Grow Your Own participants, while castings and worm tea will be available to use as fertilisers for the wicking beds. This will allow the beds to remain productive year after year, with seedlings provided helping to reduce the cost of re-planting each year.
We also received funding from the FRV Winton Solar Farm Community Grants Program which will allow for purchase of fruit fly netting and frames which will be made available to all Grow Your Own participants to help manage Queensland Fruit Fly.
What Is a Wicking Garden?
A wicking bed is a water saving garden bed that includes a water reservoir in the bottom. Instead of watering the plants with a hose from the top, water is added to the reservoir and the plants pull up water from the bottom.
Am I eligible for one?
To be eligible you must:
- Live in Benalla Rural City Council area
- Have experienced food insecurity or financial hardship
- Be keen to give gardening a go!
Current Partners
Benalla P-12 College, Mitre 10, HP Excavations, St Vincent de Paul Society Benalla, Benalla Rural City Council, Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, FRV Winton Solar Farm & community volunteers.
Past Supporters
Benalla Men’s Shed, Benalla Timber Products, Sprayline, Sidney Myer Fund & Central Hume Primary Care Partnership.
RESPOND
Deakin University received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council to develop a shared community approach to healthy children. The focus area for this project was North East Victoria and was supported by the Victorian Department of Health. Benalla became involved in 2023, receiving training from Deakin to run Group Model Building workshops with the community. These workshops had key community members consider what influences our local children’s ability to eat well and be active.
From the first two workshops, key themes that were identified were: Community Connection & Support, Mental Health, Food, Cost of Living and, Environment and Infrastructure for Physical Activity.
The third and final workshop looked to find what local ideas were out there to try and address some of these factors.
A summary report with the systems map and action ideas can be seen here.
As of December 2024, the following action ideas have been commenced and/or completed;
- Expansion of Tomorrow Today Come & Try Days to target those in high school,
- Support for the Waminda Neighbourhood House ‘Our Community – Eating Well, Living Well’ program,
- Trial of an after school kitchen garden program with Benalla Central Community Garden,
- Confident Body Confident Child parent workshops on the importance of positive body image while promoting eating well and being active
- Might Movers – non-sport based activity program
- Expansion of Community Garden to other sites in Benalla
If there are any action ideas you would like to assist with, please reach out to the Health Promotion team.
Antenatal and Early Pregnancy Classes
Benalla Health Heath Promotion, Midwifery, Dietetics, Physiotherapy and Benalla Rural City Council - Maternal Child Health have collaborated to provide education classes for people planning their pregnancy and those that are already pregnant to increase knowledge around what to expect throughout pregnancy and beyond, and important considerations during this time.
A brief survey completed at the end of the antenatal program indicates that participants have found the presentations interesting and informative. Most participants rated the program 7/10 or greater, particularly in aspects such as:
- confidence around labour and birthing
- their plan to breastfeed
- knowledge for nutrition in pregnancy and how to look after their body during pregnancy
- looking after their body post birth, and
- knowing how a physio can help during and after pregnancy
Some of the comments over the past 12 months have included: “Brilliant”, “liked how content was delivered” and “learnt what to expect for birth and beyond”.
For more information, see Antenatal & Childbirth & Early Pregnancy Classes in the Midwifery section of the website for further information.
Deakin INFANT Program
The INfant Feeding, Active play and NuTrition (INFANT) program is in Benalla to help families get their baby off to a great start with healthy food and being active. It was designed by Deakin University and involves interactive sessions with other parents.
Benalla was one of the early council areas to trial this program back in 2018 and was facilitated by Benalla Health at the time. INFANT has expanded to become a state-wide program and as of 2024 is run in Benalla by the Benalla Rural City Council - Maternal Child Health Nurses.
Free sessions are offered when your baby is around 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months old. Sessions compliment the information provided at Tomorrow Today PEEP Program, another great program available to young Benalla families.
You can check out Deakin’s Infant Website for more information.
If you are interested or know someone who is, please speak with the Maternal Child Health Nurses at Benalla Rural City Council by contacting 03 5761 4500.
Active Living in Benalla
Benalla Health completed a mapping project - Active Living Mapping Benalla 2019-2020.
The mapping project aimed to better understand opportunities for physical activity, community felt needs and areas for improvement to encourage increased physical activity.
The report identified 4 key recommendations:
1. Improvement to Walking and Bike paths
2. Free programs/groups/activities
3. Promotion of Physical Activity Initiatives and Opportunities
4. Policy Implementation
Benalla Health – Health Promotion team continue to work on and advocate for the above, with other initiates like the outcomes from RESPOND helping to meet these recommendations.
Park Run
Parkrun is a global initiative to offer free timed 5km runs/jog/walk events every Saturday morning, solely run by volunteers. Initially started in the UK, parkrun is now in over 20 countries including Australia. And now Benalla!
There had been community interest in setting up a parkun in Benalla for some years, however numerous hurdles made this difficult to pursue. In 2019, Benalla Health were able to consult and support interested community members that were keen to start parkrun in Benalla, and provided much needed start-up funding while also promoting its launch.
Benalla Botanical Gardens parkrun averages 35 participants each week, with the assistance of its wonderful volunteers. Check out their Facebook page to stay up to date and see what some of the amazing volunteers get up to Benalla Botanical Gardens parkrun | Facebook
If you’re interested in joining parkrun visit Benalla Botanical Gardens parkrun