SLT Group has launched a free community app to bring together a wide range of health and wellbeing services while also creating a like-minded local, online community.

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown health and wellbeing into the spotlight. The lockdown changed our lives dramatically, with mental health becoming a key priority as we isolated to reduce the spread of infection. Recent studies have also highlighted the link between obesity and an increased risk from Covid-19.

SLT Group, a charitable non-profit distributing organisation delivering facilities and services to improve the health, wellbeing and lifestyle of communities across Waveney and Great Yarmouth, has developed a new app to make it easier for people to access the help and support they need.

SLT Group Community is a virtual online platform where users can interact with one another and find vital services, including adult weight management, smoking cessation, mental health and wellbeing, physical health and more.

It harnesses the power of SLT’s already successful #thecompleteyou app to bring users a new way of interacting, learning and improving health, wellbeing and education all in one place.

“Our free SLT Group Community portal makes it easy for people to access support, allowing anyone to begin to make positive changes in their lifestyle and behaviours,” said Matt Stebbings, senior physical activity and health manager at SLT Group.

“Through the portal, users can connect with like-minded people with similar barriers to physical activity and join specific support groups such as mental wellbeing, diabetes, cardiac health and pre and post-natal to name a few.

“The portal also allows users to connect with other networks run by trusted partners, such as OneLife Suffolk,” explained Matt. “All of the support groups have dedicated and qualified health professionals on hand to answer questions and users can share experiences with others - a problem shared is a problem halved. “

The portal can help users set achievable health and wellbeing goals and track progress using the dedicated tracker. Anything from weight, body fat percentage and heart rate to flexibility, strength, smoking, balance and nutrition can be tracked.

The challenges section offers community challenges such as “amount of steps” and “calories burnt” to increase motivation to be physically active, as well as the option to set your own challenges amongst groups, peers and the community.

“We will set monthly and bi-monthly challenges to give all users the chance to win rewards within our physical leisure sites,” said Matt. “This could be anything from a free healthy bite to eat, to free swims, even free memberships, helping you make that first positive step on your own health and wellbeing journey.”

The portal has a direct link to SLT’s parks and outdoors project, Love Exploring, which has enabled Lowestoft to become an interactive world full of augmented reality dinosaurs and fairies, making exercise fun and discreet for all ages and abilities.

Users can also sign up for free educational courses such as SLT’s Positive Change course, improving employment opportunities, family support and more, all of which can be signed up through the portal.

“The portal becomes a talking shop for our educational learners to flourish in a comfortable environment,” said Matt. “Alongside our free educational courses, users can also register their interest for our paid career enhancement course, such as the Level 2 Award in Fitness Instructing and also the Level 3 Award in Personal Training which will be coming very soon.

“We will be adding more courses in the future, so if you need further training within the health and wellbeing industry let us know and we can help you on your employment journey.”

If the free community portal is not enough, then users have the chance to upgrade to the PRO version, which includes all of the above as well as access to online workouts and nutritional support.

“The online workouts are designed for use at home, in your own time, and are for all ages and abilities, even little ones,” said Matt. “You can even take them into the leisure facility to complete. The videos guide you through, step by step and minute by minute, varying topics and physical activity goals.”

The complete nutritional support enables users to set realistic nutritional goals and track food intake based on a bespoke plan. Simply add food items to your daily intake, take into consideration your daily steps and exercise, and follow the plan set with your goals at its heart.

All this is for only £5 per month. Current members will get the PRO version added to their current #thecompleteyou user experience.

For more information visit www.sltrust.co.uk/SLTCOMM To download the SLT Group Community app and get started, visit the App Store or Google Play Store and search for #thecompleteyou and enter joining code ‘SLTCOMM’.