Small and medium businesses in Sefton can help contribute to the wellbeing of their staff with Active Workforce, a Sefton Council scheme for companies to improve the health and wellbeing of their employees.

The average employee spends approximately 60% of their waking day at work. As such, the government white paper “Choosing Health” identifies the workplace as an ideal setting for promoting healthy lifestyle choices.

With 70% of the population not active enough to benefit their health and nearly 40% of deaths from coronary heart disease attributed to inactivity, the Active Workforce programme enables employees to build exercise into their working lives by providing a wide variety of physical activity alternatives.

Anne-Marie Morrison from Sefton CVS said: “We have invested into Active Workforce for some years and now have 100% of the staff engaged in the programme, the events have improved our team morale, and we are all a lot fitter and healthier thanks to the workplace activities. We even managed to achieve the Wellbeing Workplace Charter with thanks to Active Workforce.”

For more details about Active Workforce: ring 0151 934 2079 or email Active.workforce@sefton.gov.uk.

Approximately 1 in 4 people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. In England, 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety and depression) in any given week.

The overall number of people with mental health problems has not changed significantly in recent years, but worries about things like money, jobs and benefits can make it harder for people to cope. In Sefton there many activities and services that happen in the community every week, that you might not even know about, which could improve your mental health and help make life a little easier.

So, from World Suicide Prevention Day (10th September) to World Mental Health Day (10th October) we are going to spread the word about local services and activities available to people in Sefton. Look out for the hashtag #SeftonInMind and join in by telling us about good local services and activities that have helped you.