Community Engagement Workers

Tracey McCue

My name is Tracey McCue, I was born and bred in Bolton. Married for 28 years, I have a son aged 27 and a daughter aged 23 both of whom have the travelling bug. I worked as a Health Trainer helping to ensure local people in the over 40’s age range received their Big Bolton Health Check. I attained a foundation degree in ‘Health and Social Care’ at the University of Bolton as part of this role.

In my spare time I enjoy being with my family and friends, reading, shopping (in charity shops mostly – I’m a bit of an addict), walking, eating out, going to the cinema and theatre and visiting new and exciting places.

I work as a Community Engagement Worker for Bolton CVS, I love being part of a creative team. The health priority I lead on is cancer awareness, which includes the ‘Hands On’ and ‘Communicating Risk’ workshops. Over the past few months we have also been busy working on the Cancer Chancer campaign which has been promoted nationally. The cancer projects all aim to raise people’s awareness on various forms of cancer, to minimise their risk through lifestyle change, screening programmes or from self checking and self awareness. We always try to do this in ways which are both visual and interactive, our gel filled ‘boobs’ and ‘testicles’ which help demonstrate to women and men how to self check make people more aware of what they are looking for. We are available to work in any group setting and can adapt our workshops to suit different needs.                                                                                                                                                                                  

Chris Oliver

Doodle on your Noodle with me Community Engagement Worker Chris Oliver! I enjoy, spending time with my family, rainy days and washing up. My work and life experiences have developed me into the community minded person I am today. Working as part of a diverse and inclusive team provides the perfect setting to empower local community with knowledge that could improve their wellbeing.

Have you heard about Noodle Doodle and or Upsy Downsy? We hope that by taking part in Noodle Doodle, participants will be inspired to be more creative, which can lead to improved mental health and wellbeing. The plaster of Paris heads begin life as a blank canvas for participants to transform using the arts and crafts materials provided.

Community groups can also get involved in ‘Upsy Downsy’, a board game where participants set their own goals and discuss practical ways of improving positive mental health and well being. The game has been responsible for inspiring people to: give up smoking, lose weight, take on new hobbies, become more active and much more.

We are currently designing a new version of the game that is designed for use by children in Key stage 2 (age 10) which will be a large interactive and exciting floor based version ready early 2012.

By delivering Noodle Doodle and Upsy Downsy we aim to boost the wellbeing of individuals and communities as well as producing a striking piece of community art to be showcased across the borough later this year.

Jolene Dodd

I’m Jolene, I have worked for Bolton CVS for nearly 2 years as a Community Engagement Worker, I have a 2 year old son who is great fun and I live in Johnson Fold Bolton. I enjoy swimming, travelling to new places and D.I.Y however I’m not a lover of gardening!

The main purpose of my role is to deliver health messages out in the community around Bolton.

I lead on a new project called ’Sobering Thoughts’ which raises awareness on the effects of alcohol and helps people to learn about drinking at a low risk level. During the workshop (which takes about an hour), we play a DVD of people living and working in Bolton who share their views and stories about alcohol and the impact it has on their lives. Participants will also be able to take part in a game which helps them to understand units of alcohol. The workshop generates a great deal of discussion which is a great way to get people to share ideas and thoughts on this subject.

The aim of the workshop is to help people understand alcohol, its effect on local people and if they drink, how to enjoy alcohol safely.

Yasmin Rahbar

Hi my name is Yasmin Rahbar, I am a Community Engagement Worker celebrating my second year of working for Bolton CVS. Previously I had volunteered for Bolton Community College which led me to enrol on the Community Learning Ambassadors course. This training helped me to develop a passion for working in the community which I enjoy and find very rewarding.

My role involves delivering interactive health workshops to community and voluntary groups across Bolton. I lead on the alternative tobacco products awareness workshop which highlights the dangers of using shisha, chewing tobacco or products containing tobacco and identifying the signs and symptoms of mouth cancer.

There are lots of misconceptions around these products especially in some communities were usage is more prevalent with growing concerns about the amount of under 18’s involved in smoking shisha. As part of the workshop we play the ‘healthy mouth game’ were we encourage groups to compete against each other in identifying what makes  a healthy mouth and what makes our mouths unhealthy. We use a model of an unhealthy mouth to demonstrate the damage that can be done by using tobacco based products; this helps to reinforce key health messages and generates discussion within groups.

The aim of the workshop is to raise awareness of the health risks involved in using shisha and chewing tobacco as well as making people aware of the signs and symptoms of mouth cancer.