McMinnville Rec Center has partnered with Vanderbilt University Medical Center to launch a new “Coach” Program.
Wellness and Aquatics Coordinator Katie Smartt said the program focuses on providing knowledge to help people achieve healthier lifestyles. She said the program is unique as it addresses a specific need within the community: brining families together, encouraging them to work as a team.
“It takes an entire family to make those changes,” Smartt said. “It takes the parents healthier foods, the snacks, the fruits, the vegetables. It takes the kids buying into that and wanting to make those changes as well. So it’s not just one person, the idea is the whole family makes these changes together.”
McMinnville Parks and Recreation Director Justin Scott said eight families are participating in the six-week program. Scott said all staff members have gone through the Coach training to better understand. He also said the Rec Center hopes to collaborate with pediatrician offices, creating referral opportunities to help even more kids in the community in the future.
“I’ve got a lot of people that work around me that do phenomenal things,” Scott said. “and so im happy to help provide assistance and resources for them but there the ones that are doing the work so very proud of them and proud we got a lot going on here.”
Recreation Program Coordinator Rene Alvarez said one of the programs he teaches is called Go, Slow, and Woah. Alvarez said each lesson is catered to a different type of framework per family. He said the lesson specifically focuses on nutrition.
“Food you would consider go, meaning you can have any time,” Alvarez said. “Foods that you would consider in the slow category, which is like have everyone in a while, maybe not so often, and then woah is like maybe once or twice a week.”
Smartt said each week will have a different learning outcome. Smartt said each lesson has thirty minutes of instruction followed by techniques to use at home to become and stay healthy. Smartt said goal setting is crucial and to measure progress uses an acronym called “S-M-A-R-T” goals.
“Smart means your specific, M is measurable, A is attainable, R is realistic, and T is timely,” Smartt said. “So we will help them set a goal. So you take something like lets say I wanna eat healthier, I want my family to eat healthier so we break it down into small manageable steps.”
The post McMinnville Coach Program Focused On Family appeared first on News Talk 94.1/AM 1600.