Last updated:

26th January 2024

Meet Aga

Keeping residents active to help improve their health and wellbeing

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Aga Goslar - Health Prevention team. Text reads you're funding your community

 

I’m Aga Goslar and I am a Lifestyle and Wellbeing Instructor working for Wokingham Borough Council.

Physical activity is my passion, and I am delighted to help everyone on their own unique journey towards improved health and wellbeing.

My main role is to coordinate the Prevention Team and look after the Cardiac Rehab and Mindful Health and Wellbeing Scheme.

How I help residents

I am part of the Prevention Team who help and support those living in our borough to raise awareness of the huge positive effects that physical activity can have, helping people to manage many conditions and reduce the impact and severity of some symptoms.

The Prevention Team proudly provides tailored physical activity programmes and supports residents across the borough with health conditions including diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, multiple sclerosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and many others.

This unique programme includes cardiac rehabilitation, cancer rehabilitation, GP exercise referral, falls prevention, ESCAPE Pain, Mindful Health and Wellbeing sessions, dementia friendly sessions and physical rehabilitation sessions which assist people recovering from a stroke. 

Keeping active has huge potential health benefits, not only helping to prevent future medical problems but can also have significant impact on existing conditions. 

Supporting residents' recovery

At various locations around the borough, including our 3 long-term conditions gyms, the council offers a range of equipment to support residents with numerous conditions to carry out exercises to support their recovery and help manage their conditions. 

There are also a number of classes available including circuits training, aqua aerobic, boccia, dementia friendly tea dances, badminton, yoga and Pilates.

We also know how daunting being in a leisure centre may seem, so we will be here all the time to accompany and support you throughout.

We understand that being active is about finding what works for you. Our programmes may not be suitable for everyone but that shouldn’t stop anyone from asking our team for support if you need a helping hand.

Encouraging mental health and wellbeing

My job also involves me promoting and encouraging positive mental wellbeing through sport and exercise as part of our mental health and wellbeing sports programme. We understand that what’s good for your body is good for your mind and being active and having a healthy, balanced diet impact how we feel.

As a qualified coach, I help to run sessions in a relaxed environment and participants can choose to play either in a competitive environment, where they compete with players and teams at their own level, or they can relax and learn the sports at their own pace with coaches like me. 

There are a variety of sports activities players can join in with including badminton, as well other activities such as Pilates, circuits, stretch and relax, and health walks. Even small amounts of regular physical activity can improve your mental wellbeing especially if it’s doing something you enjoy. 

What we do to our bodies makes a big difference to how we feel. Physical activity releases feel good hormones called endorphins which help us to sleep and feel better. It also improves our physical fitness which tends to make us feel better in general. Small changes in our day-to-day can make all the difference.

For more information

To find out more about the council’s mental wellbeing sports programme you can visit the council website and search ‘mental health’.

Keeping active is just one thing we can do to look after our mental health and wellbeing every day, to find out more visit the NHS website.

For full details on the activities we offer for adults with health conditions, visit our health activities webpages.

Watch our video on long-term health support we provide to residents:

For more information about the various activities we run for adults with health conditions, visit our health activities webpages.

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