Healthy Lifestyles - Craven Leisure Centre Services

Weight Management

A FREE service for up to 24 weeks which combines weekly weigh-ins, healthy eating topics and various exercise sessions to help you to lose weight and improve your lifestyle and health.

How much does it cost?

The programme is FREE service for up to 24 weeks to support adults to lose weight, move more and maintain long term weight loss. This service is fully funded by North Yorkshire County Council Public Health.

Who is the service for?

What does the programme consist of?

Group sessions are usually 45-75 minutes long and consist of a weekly weigh-in, healthy eating advice for weight loss and an exercise circuit session.

Some group sessions are healthy eating and weigh-in only (45mins). Where this is the case the sessions are shorter in length and to exercise, participants can access a range healthy lifestyles group classes at other times and venues free of charge for 12 weeks. You will also be issued with 1 FREE swim or Gym pass per week when you attend your weekly weigh-in session.

All Healthy Lifestyles participants can take advantage of the free activities offered whilst they are attending the weekly weigh-in and nutrition session.

What happens each week?

  • Private weigh-in

  • Physical Activity

  • Healthy eating educational group taks/activities.

Are you ready?

  1. Do you have any holidays planned?

  2. Can you commit to a 24 week service?

  3. Are you in the right frame of mind to lose weight now?

How do I access the service?

Your health professional can complete a referral form that they will forward on to us or you can complete the self-referral form below. We will then contact you to arrange an induction

Self-referral

We advise you to speak to your GP before starting any new exercise or nutrition programme, especially if you have medical conditions and or have been sedentary for a long period of time.

Register your interest in Healthy Lifestyles Online

Or see more about the programme here.

What happens next?

  • A member of the healthy lifestyles team will call you to talk through the service, your eligibility, and any previous attempts to lose weight, what your motivations are, and the session options available to you.

  • After the intial discussion you will be booked in for a health asessment with your weight management advisor.

  • Once completed you will start the 12 week FREE programme at the venue.

  • If you are successfull in achieving the agreed 5% weight loss, you will be entitled to a further 12 week maintenance programme.

Rewarding you for your hard work

If you decide to join the programme we want to support you every step of the way so we have put together the following incentives*:

A Further 12 Weeks of free access to the Healthy Lifestyles Programme of activities at Craven Leisure and satellite sites throughout Craven District.

When you achieve your 5% weight loss target by the end of the initial 12 weeks.

A Free Months Membership at Craven Leisure PLUS a Further Three Months at a Discounted Rate. We Will Also Treat You To a Meal In Revive Cafe

If you maintain your 5% weight loss target after 24 weeks (end of 12 week maintenance programme).

Car Parking

Healthy Lifestyles customers who are based at Craven Leisure on Monday , Wednesdays or Friday afternoons can apply for a FREE car park permit. Otherwise pay & display is in operation from 50p an hour.

Links to useful services

NHS Live Well

NHS healthy recipes

ONE YOU eating

ONE YOU move

Specialist staff skills and competencies

The programme is led by advanced instructors (REPS Level 3 or equivalent).

All of our advanced instructors are trained in the following areas:

  • Instructors - Personal Trainer (Level 3)
  • Nutrition & Weight Management
  • First Aid
  • Motivational interviewing
  • Alcohol intervention
  • Smoking cessation
  • Behaviour change

For further information please contact the team by telephone: 01756 792805 (option3) or email here: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Exercise Referral

Exercise referral programme for lifestyle change

The detrimental effects of an inactive lifestyle are increasingly apparent and it is widely recognised that inactivity can elevate the risk of developing a wide range of health problems, such as; type 2 diabetes, CHD (Coronary Heart Disease), hypertension, cancer, stroke, obesity, and osteoporosis (Department of Health, 2000).

Background

An exercise referral programme allows Health Care professionals to refer individuals with a variety of medical conditions and/ or a history of sedentary lifestyle, who would never normally consider participating in regular physical activity, to a short-term, supervised programme of physical activity. The aim of this short-term intervention is to promote long-term adherence, by encouraging lifestyle changes, through which more physical activity will be incorporated into their lives.

The scheme may be seen as an alternative or an option to the prescription of drugs for certain conditions, and may ultimately reduce patient visits to the doctor.

Exercise referral relies heavily on the professionals involved as a powerful motivator in encouraging an individual to take up the supervised exercise programme, and indeed, to continue with physical activity in the long-term.

For health professionals, the schemes offer a practical approach to promoting physical activity, with a view to preventing and managing a range of medical conditions.

Referral costs

Gym and / or swim

Individuals who have been referred by a health professional can either pay a one off fee of £51.00 to participate on the scheme or pay a pro-rata and only £17.00/month (via direct debit for 3 months). This covers a 12 week period, during which the patient has unlimited access to the gym and / or swimming and an exercise programme designed. There is no cost implication for the health professional. Classes and sauna/steam are not currently included in the scheme.

The following conditions are not suitable for a swim referral:

  • Spinal cord injury (depending on functional ability & assistance available)
  • Stroke (depending on functional ability)
  • Severe back pain - no breaststroke recommended.


Craven Leisure Centre accept referrals from medical health professionals who:

  • have knowledge of the patients medical history, current health status and medication
  • can make a clinical judgement as to the suitability of the scheme for the patient
  • can provide the necessary information about the patient (e.g. address, telephone number, date of birth, blood pressure, height, weight, resting heart rate).
  • Inform
  • based in Craven and have agreed to the Memorandum of understanding agreement.


NB. Any health professional who refers a patient to the scheme must inform the patients GP via an individually agreed protocol.

Referral allowance

One twelve week referral per annum with reduced costs per person.

Re-referrals not allowed in a 12 month period.

Aims of our exercise referral scheme - 'Fit 4 Life'

  • To allow individuals who have a range of low to moderate physical or mental health problems to participate in a structured physical activity programme in a safe, supervised environment.
  • To offer a programme of physical activity, which looks at the individual needs of the referred patient rather than a general approach to certain target groups.
  • To raise awareness of the physical, psychological and social benefits of physical activity with individuals who are not normally physically active.
  • To promote long-term participation in regular physical activity by developing the individuals confidence in being active.
  • To improve participants health, well being and quality of life.

Specialist staff skills and competencies

The schemes are facilitated by advanced instructors (Level 3) who hold the Wright Foundation Exercise Referral Qualification which has been recognised by REPS as a quality training provider.

The service professionals will be enrolled on the Register of Exercise Professional (REPS) and appropriately trained as below:

  • Instructors- Advanced Instructor / Personal Trainer (Level 3)
  • including Nutrition & weight management
  • Exercise referral (Wright foundation)
  • First Aid at Work.

Referral criteria

Exercise referral schemes aim to improve the physical and mental health of participants.

Though they are aimed at people with a range of existing, low to moderate risk medical conditions, they should also be viewed as a way of preventing such conditions.

The scheme is only available to patients who meet the following essential criteria:

  • Sedentary or physically inactive (less than 30 minutes activity per week)
  • Low to moderate risk
  • Aged 16 years or above
  • Would benefit from being more physically active
  • Keen to do facility based exercise.


The following low to moderate health problems are recommended reasons for referral onto the scheme:

  • Overweight/ Obesity
  • Hypertension (controlled) and current BP below 100mg systolic and 100mg diastolic
  • Mild to moderate mental health problems (e.g. depression, anxiety or stress)
  • Diabetes I and II (controlled)
  • Arthritis / Osteoporosis
  • Osteoporosis
  • Asthma / Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD)
  • Post physiotherapy musculoskeletal conditions e.g. knee, hip, shoulder etc
  • Family history of heart disease
  • Physical Disabilities.

This scheme is not appropriate for high risk individuals. Clinical judgement will be important but usually individuals with the following will not be suitable for referral:

  • Unstable Angina
  • Unstable hypertension
  • Unstable diabetes
  • Severe coronary heart disease or early post myocardial infarction/coronary artery bypass graft/angioplasty
  • Unstable and or severe mental health problem
  • Late stages of pregnancy


The Instructor will contact the referring health professional if we require further advice or clarification on any medical condition or medication. Exercise instructors reserve the right to refuse to support any patient whom they feel unqualified or unconfident to deal with.

Neurological Injury recovery

Neurological Injury, Stroke recovery and rehab sessions using ARNI

A neurological Injury and stroke rehabilitation scheme has started at Craven Leisure. Neurological injury and stroke survivors can be referred to the programme through the normal Exercise GP Referral scheme. ARNI stands for Action for Rehabilitation from Neurological Injury. More information is available here: www.arni.uk.com

The class is led by an ARNI trained instructor and takes place every Friday at 1.15pm (60mins)

The programme started here at Craven on January 22, 2016.

The ARNI Approach to stroke recovery encompasses:

  • Task-related functional movement training
  • Physical coping strategies
  • Stroke-specific resistance training
  • The design of self-recovery programmes with the aim of self-reliance.


ARNI training aims to come in after the stroke survivor has been discharged by the hospital and physiotherapist and now have the rest of their lives to live.

The ARNI approach was developed by Tom Balchin who suffered a stroke while in university.

It is based on functional, practical physical training, so people can improve their ability to perform everyday tasks. For example:

  • Sitting/standing.
  • Getting up off the floor.
  • Walking on varied surfaces and in crowds.
  • Interacting with household objects.

Using the principle of neuroplasticity, it aims to improve stroke survivors' abilities through practice and repetition of traditional and innovative exercise training.

It aims to challenge the idea that recovery from stroke is not possible after a few months.

We are now starting Stroke Survivors Group Training Sessions at Craven Fitness Centre. This will initially be 1 hour, group sessions to get people together and moving. This will be a simple, functional training circuit, aiming to challenge their stamina, balance, coordination, hand dexterity and strength.

If there is a demand, the aim is to also provide 1 to 1 rehab sessions for people, consisting of:

  • Physical and emotional assessments
  • Working out their goals
  • Developing a training plan for them to follow towards these goals
  • Support, motivation and encouragement during training for these goals.

Stroke survivors can be referred to Craven Fitness Centre through the normal GP Referral scheme. At the time of writing, the GP referral scheme consists of:

  • 12 week referral for full use of the gym and pool.
  • One off fee of £51 covering the full 12 weeks (£17/month).
  • Stroke survivors will also get the group session with the aim for 1 to 1 sessions in the future.

For questions on the administration of the referral scheme, please contact Head of Fitness Neil Harrison on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For questions about the actual stroke rehab training and to complete the initial form, please contact the rehab instructor, Cerin Rees on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.