Healthy Lifestyles
Healthy lifestyles are continuing to grow as an area of interest, and in some cases concern, in New Zealand and around the world.
The Statistics
We know that people with serious mental illness smoke more than other groups, have higher rates of diabetes, are heavier, exercise less, take more medication and die younger. In fact a large number of people using Pathways services are smokers and the health impacts of that are significant. We know that approximately 4,500 New Zealanders die every year from tobacco – incredibly, that is more than from road crashes, suicide, skin cancers, drowning, homicide and AIDS combined.
What we’re doing
The statistics are alarming and for us to do nothing would be irresponsible. As a health focused organisation it’s important Pathways walks the talk by encouraging people to be healthier. To do that we’ve recognised Healthy Lifestyles as a key activity and have set aside specific funding.
First off, Pathways recognised being smoke-free was vital and the best opportunity for staff to share that positive message. So, as part of the Healthy Lifestyles project and as a result of changes to smoke-free legislation Pathways officially became smoke-free in 2005.
Pathways is also dedicated to promoting other opportunities to be healthy and provides a suite of healthy lifestyle initiatives, including getting dieticians in, joining the gym and heartbeat challenges. Staff are encouraged to lead by example by leading positive change and team events and by taking up regular exercise, healthy diets, work/life balance and regular medical checks.
