Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS) is Scotland’s largest health charity working to help people with chest, heart, stroke and long covid conditions live life to the fullest. Their organisational 2023-28 strategy ‘No Life Half Lived’ embeds walking as one of the pinnacle services offered to aid recovery, rehabilitation and wellbeing.
CHSS has been a member of the Scottish Health Walk Network (SHWN) since 2019. Supported by our Walking for Health team, the SHWN brings together over 400 accredited organisations to share learning, insights and best practice. Over 870 regular Health Walks are delivered by SHWN member organisations, offering safe, welcoming and inclusive opportunities for people to walk and wheel in a way that is comfortable to them.
Successfully awarded funding through our dedicated Walking for Health Walk Fund since 2021, CHSS has embedded walking into every aspect of the organisation from offering Health Walks to local communities, to a culture of movement within their own workplace.
Jacqueline Kent, Walking for Health Coordinator at CHSS, coordinates a successful Health Walk programme which offers a range of opportunities for local communities to enjoy the preventative and remedial effects of walking and wheeling.
Partnership working is integral to the reach of CHSS’s success delivering a range of in-person and online activity sessions, public walks and group Health Walks. For example, Jacqueline has worked with University of Glasgow to offer walks as part of regional Open Doors Day; delivering a series of summer walks with Claypits Local Nature Reserve, LEAP Scotland’s Festival Fortnight and in support of World Heart Day in September.
Whilst based in Clydebank, Jacqueline’s role is far-reaching, with established partnerships such as with The ALLIANCE, and affiliated Peer Groups. This has afforded CHSS invaluable opportunities to network, learn and develop robust programmes throughout the country. Health Walks and community support is felt in communities including Glasgow, Erskine, Ayr, Edinburgh, Perth and Nairn.
The CHSS Walking for Health project offers a programme of regular Health Walks and 1-2-1 (or Buddy) Walks with a focus on prevention and to support people living with chest, heart, stroke and long covid conditions. Moving more in safe, welcoming and accessible ways through regular Health Walks offers people the opportunity to meet new people, make friends and reduce social isolation – a key component for happiness, overall wellbeing and recovery.
Health Walks, such as those delivered by CHSS are commonly low-level, short and free to attend. Led by trained volunteer Walk Leaders along a risk-assessed route, these regular walks offer participants a chance to meet new people, share lived experiences whilst boosting physical activity levels and confidence. Health Walks rely equally on volunteers to deliver them, with many people answering the volunteering call as participants themselves.
Brian Togher suffered a stroke in 2017. Since then, he has embarked on a personal journey of learning, development and healing as a volunteer with CHSS. He has attended dedicated Volunteer Walks delivered by CHSS, bringing volunteers from different roles together in a social setting for peer support. He said,
Volunteer Walks have been most beneficial to my own sense of being part of something that is bigger and better than myself, a sense of belonging, I think.
The one feature out of many aspects I have come across, is my own personal re-discovery of inner confidence and self-belief. It’s not something I lacked before my stroke, but I am slowly finding it once again with the assistance of CHSS.
Positive developments with CHSS’s walking programme continue, with attendance at our Health Walk Leader training. Jacqueline said,
The opportunity to attend the Health Walk Leader training delivered by Paths for All means we now have two colleagues fully trained to deliver Walk Leader training. We’ve already hosted three training sessions since with our final session of 2024 set for December.
Newly trained staff and volunteers are now equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to establish and run new Health Walks as part of our offering and offer more opportunities for people to walk more.
David, 54, a participant of the Drumchapel Walk supported by Chest Heart and Stoke Scotland, was referred to the Health Walk project by his GP when he was unable to work. He began to experience stress and anxiety while waiting for an essential hip replacement operation. David has now become a volunteer at CHSS’s allotment at the Growchapel project in Drumchapel.
David said:
I know how important the walk has become to me. Without it, I would probably still be sitting at home and not seeing a single soul from week to week. In fact, sometimes the only time I speak to anyone at all is when I’m on the walk or at Growchapel, so it’s vital to me now.
I used to work in security and walk miles every day. After I had a fall, I needed a hip replacement, but doctors thought I was too young. I basically didn’t leave the house for three years.
Now I have a reason to get out of the house, a chance to meet people and have a chat. I don’t know where I’d be without the Health Walk – I am very grateful to have it.”
Find out more about Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland here.
You can find out more about our training programme here.
Find out more about the Scottish Health Walk Network here or get in touch with the team to learn more about becoming a member by emailing SHWN@pathsforall.org.uk