Victoria university students are cooking up some helpful tips to help equip people living with a disability and their support workers in Melbourne’s west.
The Cooking and Healthy Eating and Wellness (CHEW) program involves interactive workshops and cooking classes in demonstration kitchens at VU’s Werribee Campus, allowing students to gain real-life community health experience.
Program coordinator Monica Wellington said the workshops are aimed at helping address health quality in disadvantaged groups, showing participants how food can influence health, while simultaneously providing VU students with invaluable experience.
“From the students perspective it gives them a supported environment, so [it’s] a really nice way for them to practice what they’ve been learning about and put it into delivery,” she said.
“The type of the clients that we invite along don’t often have the opportunities to participate in this kind of health promotion program, it [fills gaps] and allows them to build food and nutrition literacy.
“The kitchen itself is a really busy place, it’s a lot of fun, we do make it a lot of fun as well.
All the content, the things that we’re learning, the activities, are dynamic, we want to make them as engaging as we can and that’s the best way for people to take onboard new information rather than a more traditional lecturing style of learning.”
