Facilitation Skills for Promoting Health and Well Being (Formerly SPHE) at WIT
Supporting people to make healthier choices for themselves to live healthier, happier and fulfilling lives is the cornerstone for many workers in many sectors of society. It isn’t just ‘workers’ that play this role. The Institute of Public Health (2012) said “improving health is everyone's business”. There are many examples; the teacher facilitating Health and Well Being in the classroom, the youth worker talking about sexual health with a group of teenagers, the community worker engaging with a vulnerable group. There are other professions who require the skills to be able to listen and support others such as managers, guards, frontline service providers and health professionals. There are also the individuals; the mother or father doing their best to support their children in the changing world that we find ourselves in to the friend who is supporting another to seek support around bereavement.
For a person to be in a position to support another to make healthier choices they first need to discover how to do this for themselves. Programmes that encourage self-awareness and enhance active listening skills can be very supportive to each human being both in their personal and professional lives.
For over 25 years, SETU Waterford has been associated with the delivery, accreditation of Facilitation Skills for Promoting Health and Well Being (Formerly SPHE) and conducting research on the model of delivery. During this period of time the then Extramural Certificate in SPHE was upgraded to a Higher Diploma (HDip) and Masters in Arts (MA) and approved by HETAC for Level 8 and Level 9 qualifications respectively. It has also been integrated into undergraduate postgraduate programmes.
In 2015 a review of SPHE in SETU Waterford resulted in a move away from the term SPHE to ‘Facilitation Skills for Promoting Health and Well-Being’. ‘Health and Well Being’ is now widely used nationally and internationally as the overarching term for the promotion of health at an individual, community or population level and is meaningful across all sectors. SPHE delivered within schools also falls under the new Health and Well Being curriculum. Facilitation is a well-used and understood term across a variety of sectors, including business and is more representative of the work that students engage with in WIT.
Within the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Science, Facilitation Skills for Promoting Health and Well-Being is delivered across all years on two undergraduate programmes; the BA (Hons) in Health Promotion and the BA (Hons) in Exercise and Health Studies. At postgraduate level there is the MA in Advanced Facilitation Skills for Promoting Health and Well-Being (Level 9).
The MA in Advanced Facilitation Skills for Promoting Health and Well-Being (Level 9) is a 90 Credit Award. This programme is for those wish to finely tune their facilitation and personal skills through practical experience, group process and advanced personal development. For further information on the course and how to apply please click here.