The Neighbourhood Health Improvement Project (NHIP) aims to develop an integrated and collaborative approach to addressing health improvement across the six Neighbourhood Renewal Areas (NRAs) within the North West, by developing a process to enable communities in each NRA to improve their health and well-being.  

These NRAs include Limavady, Outer North, Outer West, Strabane, Triax and Waterside.

The project is managed by a partnership drawn from the community/voluntary and statutory sectors with a shared commitment to working together to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities.

Here in Strabane, our NHIP Health Development Worker is engaged within the community, working with the other community organisations in partnership and delivering programmes for the Strabane residents to support the development and implementation of a local health plan which focuses on tackling the above three priority themes.

Within Strabane we have run programmes under the following headings:

• Women's Health
• Men's Health
• Teenage Outreach
• Weight Management
• Grown Your Own
• Winter Health
• Stay Young - Ladies Group

One of the successful programmes to come from NHIP is a ladies group called 'STAY YOUNG'.  This group is for ladies over the age of 50 whom would meet up socially on a week-to-week basis here in our community centre on Bridge Street.

This group was established based on the need of Strabane in relation to removing social isolation from the older people's lives.  This group has covered a wide range of activities, for example, First Aid training, Coffee Mornings, Book Paper Making, Day trips, Gentle Chair Exercises, Walking, Knitting, Crocheting hats and teddies for the local hospitals, Pamper sessions, Singing, Learning to play the African drums, and Engaging with the Pink Ladies.

We also have engagement events, campaigns, and collaboration working:

• Family Health Fun Days & Fundamentals of Sport
• 5KM Walk/Run/Job - on or around St Patrick's Day
• Mental Health Awareness
• Men's Health Week - in the month of June
• Bike Week - in the month of May