What you missed at the 2015 CO-OPS National Workshop By CO-OPS Collaboration On 19 - 20 May 2015 more than a hundred health professionals gathered in Melbourne, as part of the CO-OPS National Workshop, to discuss the best approaches to tackle the obesity crisis. Attendees came from a range of settings including local government, NGOs, hospitals, community health and private practice. The evidence is clear: if we have any hope at preventing obesity at a community level we need to consider a whole-of-system’s approach that includes a variety of agents in different settings, using multiple strategies. Workshop participants were introduced to Group Model Building (GMB) as an example of how a complex system can be understood when broken down into its components. GMB provides a framework that helps identify the complex relationships that exist between the various elements in a system. Participants worked Rachel Sutherland from Hunter New England Health towards identifying the key leverage points that might District receiving the Excellence award from Dr Penny have the biggest impact on obesity. They went on to Love, Director of CO-OPS formulate a list of action ideas that would have the potential to reduce the alarming rates of overweight and obesity in their community. The event’s program included a number of featured presentations from practitioners and academics including Professor Marj Moodie talking about the cost of obesity and Professor Boyd Swinburn highlighting the take home messages from the recent Lancet Series on Obesity.
Winners of the 2015 National Obesity Prevention Community Awards announced The National Workshop was also an opportunity for CO-OPS to recognise some of Australia’s leading obesity prevention initiatives by awarding its annual Obesity Prevention Community Awards. The Awards showcase initiatives that demonstrate excellence and leadership in community-based approaches to the prevention of obesity. The 2015 awards categories included Excellence, Planning and Design, and Implementation and Evaluation. Congratulations to all winners. Excellence in Obesity Prevention • Winner: Good For Kids, Good for Life - Hunter New England Health District, NSW • Honourable mention: Active By Community Design (ABCD) - Wide Bay Medicare Local, Qld Planning and Design in Obesity Prevention • Winner: Healthy Eating Local Policies & Programs (HELPP) - Flinders University, SA • Honourable mention: Good Start - Queensland Health, Qld Implementation and Evaluation in Obesity Prevention • Winner: Active By Community Design (ABCD) - Wide Bay Medicare Local, Qld • Honourable mention: The Healthy Lifestyle Program for rural women (HeLP-Her Rural) - Monash University, Vic Continued on next page
12