We love hearing stories from our Small Steps for Big Changes program participants, and we’re even more excited to share them with you! In this video, you’ll hear firsthand from participants who took small, achievable steps to improve their fitness, nutrition, and overall well-being. Their stories highlight the power of making sustainable lifestyle changes, guided by our expert team, to reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
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By 2018, Lois Hourston of Kelowna, B.C., had been living with good intentions for more than 10 years. Lois kept putting her health on the back burner, telling herself she’d get around to making positive changes soon. But her wake-up call came when her doctor told her she had surpassed the 200-pound mark and diagnosed her with prediabetes. Read from from Diabetes Canada here.
Thousands of Canadians with prediabetes are now be able to sign up at participating YMCAs for a diet and exercise counselling program proven to lower their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Small Steps for Big Changes, currently delivered at select YMCAs in BC, is expanding to more YMCAs across Canada and Australia. By the end of 2025, the program is expected to be available at more than 40 YMCA locations across eight provinces in Canada. In the same time frame, the program will grow globally beyond its current YMCA locations in Portugal to include four new locations in Queensland, Australia.
The Bimonthly School of Health and Exercise Sciences (HES) Newsletter honoured the scale-up of Small Steps for Big Changes as the result of a tried-and-tested partnership between YMCA Canada, Diabetes Canada and UBC researcher Dr. Mary Jung and her Diabetes Prevention Research Group. Read more here.
CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes congratulated our very own Dr. Mary Jung for the announcement of the national rollout of Small Steps for Big Changes, an evidence-based diabetes prevention program founded by Dr. Jung and the Diabetes Prevention Research Group at UBC’s Okanagan campus. Read the full newsletter here.
Small Steps Big Changes linked in here under the “News to Know” section of CIHR Access Newsletter. Read more here.
The Centre for Health Behaviour Change at UBC Okanagan is pleased to announce the 2024 Lifestyle Medicine Summer Institute, a two-day workshop for healthcare professionals in British Columbia co-hosted with the Southern Medical Program.
This approved CME credited learning program meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been certified by UBC CPD for up to 9 Mainpro+® credits. This year’s institute will be held on June 13 & 14, 2024 on campus at the University of British Columbia Okanagan at the Reichwald Health Sciences Centre.
Diet, physical activity and low-risk alcohol behaviours are cornerstones of good health. However, most Canadians struggle to achieve optimal dietary, physical activity and alcohol consumption patterns. This approved CME credited course is designed to teach healthcare providers and health behaviour-change interventionists how to confidently and successfully prescribe diet, physical activity and alcohol.
Drawing on cutting-edge science in lifestyle medicine and health behaviour change, our award-winning speakers will engage participants to speak confidently about sensitive health behaviour topics, and learn how to use behaviour change techniques to foster meaningful change with patients.
Workshop learning objectives:
Registration:
Registration will be live on January 30th 2024. Please visit the program’s website for more information. We hope to see you there!