The Council’s Wellbeing Service is celebrating 10 years since launching in October 2015. The free service has helped thousands of residents to lead healthier lives, including stopping smoking, losing weight and drinking less alcohol.

On Friday 17 October, the Wellbeing Service team celebrated by popping up across the city for the day to promote the service, starting in Guildhall Square and Commercial Road, heading to Fratton Way, including the Pompey Centre, and ending the day in Cosham and Paulsgrove.

The Wellbeing Service offer telephone or face-to-face support from a range of community venues across Portsmouth. This includes healthy weight group programmes and stop smoking drop-in sessions.

Claire, from Southsea, attended stop smoking drop-ins at John Jenkins Stadium: “I wanted to stop smoking because smoking was ruling my life. I wanted to be healthier and to stop that annoying smokers cough. I really like the drop-in nature and it’s nice to know I’ve got someone rooting for me. As a result of quitting, I’ve now started a no-smoking savers pot to put towards my holidays.”

Phil attended the ‘Healthier Me’ healthy weight group at Buckland Community Centre: “The most useful advice and learnings I took away was learning portion sizes, meal planning, and the switch off method where you stand back and think if you are even actually hungry. I’d recommend this programme to anyone who wants to lose weight.”

The Wellbeing Service kicked off its anniversary this month by lighting the Spinnaker Tower on 1 October in vibrant blue and yellow. This also marked the start of ‘Stoptober’, a busy month for the service, which has supported over 10,000 smoking quit attempts over the last decade.

Find out more about the Wellbeing Service by visiting wellbeingportsmouth.co.uk or call 023 9229 4001.