The dictionary defines ‘health’ as being free from illness or injury. But surely, good health is more than that. In Utrecht region we believe that being healthy is about feeling good about yourself. About vitality and positivity. About feeling able to participate. About being seen.
Life tends to be busy, hectic even. Thanks to technology, we’re more connected than ever before, yet loneliness is on the rise. As we become older and live longer, we become more at risk of chronic illness. Yet many of today’s health issues are lifestyle related and preventable.
Healthy Urban Living
If we want to give everyone the same opportunity at living a healthy life, we need to make the transition from illness and caregiving to health and prevention. Because the healthier and more vital we feel, the better life becomes.
Of course, this requires talented professionals who know how to help us get there. ROC Midden Nederland is one of the educational facilities that provides students with the tools they need to feel good in their personal and professional lives and apply this broad view of health in their work.
Positive Health Methodology
Their teaching is underpinned by the six dimensions of positive health which are daily functioning, bodily functions, mental wellbeing, meaningfulness, quality of life, and participating in society. Vital Citizenship classes show students how to apply these values in their internships or future jobs, as well as in their own lives.
Teaching the professionals of tomorrow how they can support people in their desire to change within one or multiple dimensions helps stimulate activity, health and vitality. “ROC Midden Nederland has the ambition to become the leading regional training centre for Vitality, Positive Health, and a Healthy Lifestyle”, says Bas van den Brand, college director at ROC Midden Nederland.
“We’ve made great strides in this in recent years, by setting up various labs such as the Future Care Labs, the Campus Connect Center and the Vitality Lab. But we’ve also developed various educational programmes, have become a partner of the Institute for Positive Health and do all kinds of neighbourhood projects. We’re working together with other ROCs on an optional element Positive Health in practice, we do research, and have just completed an international programme too.”
Vitality Lab
The Vitality Lab, located in Galgenwaard stadium, was launched in October 2020 and has been a huge success already. Here, students and teachers, residents and businesses, are given an interactive and personal insight into the importance of positive health and vitality, and how they can take control of this in their lives through tests and stimulating games.
“It is our contribution to Utrecht. After all, Utrecht’s ambition is to enable ‘healthy and urban living for all’. As ROC Midden Nederland, with locations throughout the province of Utrecht, we feel connected to the neighbourhoods, the city, and the province. We also feel a responsibility to make this contribution. Not only by training our students in positive health, but also by making residents of Utrecht aware of how health contributes to quality of life”, Bas continues.
