“Why weight to talk?” evaluation published for Cheshire and Merseyside

Following two years of delivery across Cheshire and Merseyside, Health Equalities Group has published the full impact evaluation of “Why weight to talk?“, highlighting its value as a scalable, cost-effective training programme supporting practitioners to have positive conversations with children and families about healthier weight.

Commissioned by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Children and Young People’s Transformation Programme (Beyond), this evidence-informed training programme equipped 616 practitioners across eight local authority areas to build trusted relationships and hold trauma‑informed, compassionate, and strength‑based conversations about healthier weight, while recognising when to pause, step back, and use discretion in the best interests of the child or family to avoid weight stigma.

The impact evaluation presents compelling evidence of changes in practice. Practitioners reported significant improvements in confidence (+1.00 for initiating conversations; +0.92 for making referrals), alongside stronger understanding of the systemic causes of obesity, trauma, and stigma. The programme contributed to a cultural shift away from blame-based narratives, supporting more respectful and relational service delivery.

Crucially, “Why weight to talk?” functioned as a system enabler, supporting strategic alignment, surfacing gaps in provision, and fostering cross-sector collaboration between local authorities, commissioned services and the VCFSE sector. The dual-format delivery model, combined with tailored local implementation, ensured both flexibility and relevance, with strong appetite for a train-the-trainer scale-up.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to colleagues at Beyond and to all participating local authorities. Your leadership and local insight were instrumental in embedding this programme at place.

If your area is seeking to build capacity in compassionate care, strengthen whole-system approaches to healthier weight, or address weight stigma and health inequalities, we would welcome a conversation. Please email michael.viggars@heg.org.uk for more information.