‘You’re not on your own’: Penny Harvey on building confidence, community and lasting change across Oldham

How I got here

If you’d told me back in 2012 – when ABL was a tiny team in a Bolton office and I was one of a handful of lifestyle coaches – that one day I’d help lead a 40-strong integrated lifestyle service in Oldham, I don’t think I’d have believed you. Yet here I am, 14 years later, still driven by the same thing that first brought me here: helping people to live healthier, happier lives in a way that makes sense for them.

I’d studied exercise, physical activity and health at Salford University because I wanted to do something that brought together everything I loved: movement, nutrition, behaviour change and psychology. While a lot of my classmates were on the path to becoming personal trainers, I knew I wanted to work with the general public – people who didn’t always find health easy, whose circumstances shaped their habits, whose confidence could be rebuilt with the right support. I was lucky to grow up with access to activities like ballet, gymnastics, rugby, football – even as many of the women in my family felt stuck in a cycle of constant dieting. I didn’t want weight management to feel like that for anyone. I wanted it to feel hopeful and empowering.

When I joined ABL, I began as a lifestyle coach, delivering nutrition and physical activity groups, running assessments and supporting clients face to face. It felt very different then. We were a small, close-knit team where everyone knew everyone. Fourteen years later, ABL has grown into a national organisation with more than 450 employees delivering services across the country. But one thing hasn’t changed: we care deeply about our clients and each other.

Over the years, I stepped into leadership gradually. From developing our 18-month curriculum and organising session plans, I became Assistant Project Lead, then Tier 3 Project Lead in Stockport, then stepped into Oldham as Obesity and Families Lead, before becoming Deputy Head of Service. Every step came from the same instinct: to support staff so they could support others. My colleagues often joke that I’ve become a ‘manager-making machine’ because many of the people I’ve supervised are now project leads themselves. That’s one of my proudest achievements.

Penny Harvey said,

“Confidence grows when people are given time, trust and space to learn. My role has always been about creating those conditions – for staff, for clients and for anyone finding their way back to healthier habits.”

What I do – and why it matters

At Your Health Oldham, we have around 40 brilliant staff delivering adult weight management (Tier 2 and Tier 3), smoking cessation, family programmes, physical activity initiatives and alcohol reduction.

For our weight loss clients, we triage every person based on their needs – not their BMI – looking at their health conditions, medications, age, personal preferences and what support makes the most sense at that moment. We also recognise that people aren’t static because life isn’t static. So, if someone needs therapy midway through, or needs to switch from group to one-to-one support, we change and adapt.

My role now is operational, but I stay closely connected through staff observations, supervision and ongoing development work. I support our project leads, assistant leads, lifestyle advisors, therapists, engagement colleagues and admin teams. What matters most to me is that people don’t feel alone in their roles. Health work can feel fast-paced and emotionally heavy, so my job is to create a culture where people feel supported, confident and able to grow.

We also innovate constantly. We’ve launched Bengali-speaking family groups, expanded our Urdu-speaking women’s groups, strengthened our partnerships with community leaders, and worked closely with interpreters who are now embedded into our programmes – including one incredible woman who has supported five or six full cycles of our closed groups over the past three to four years. Her presence has transformed the experience for Urdu-, Punjabi- and Bengali-speaking women who might otherwise have felt isolated.

Staff specialisms also help us offer more rounded support. Our healthy lifestyle advisors come from nutrition, exercise and behaviour-change backgrounds, and many studied at Salford University – the same course I studied. Alongside them, we have colleagues with expertise in mental health, men’s health, children and families, smoking cessation, community engagement and culturally tailored delivery.

Moments that stay with me

After so many years, there are countless stories that stay with me. One I always remember is a woman in her late sixties. She came into our Tier 3 service saying she couldn’t get on the floor to play with her grandchildren. She felt older than her age because her mobility and confidence had been so worn down. By the end of the programme, she was doing kettlebells in the gym. “I can have a life with my grandchildren,” I remember her telling me. “I’m now looking forward to ageing well rather than feeling down and depressed about myself.” She said her entire mindset had shifted from ‘I can’t’ to ‘I can’.

Another story comes from Mahdlo Youth Zone, where one of our family advisors supported a young person who initially wouldn’t speak or leave his mum’s side. Week by week, he began joining in. He improved his physical activity and nutrition, started to enjoy trying new things and slowly began chatting to other people. And then came the moment he walked into the centre on his own. Eventually, he was named a ‘Mahdlo Star’ – recognition of just how far he’d come. Stories like this capture what our work is really about. People might come to us expecting to simply change their eating or lose weight, but the impact goes far deeper. It’s about changing lives – especially for children and families, where building confidence and healthy habits can shape the next generation.

Community partnerships have shaped many of the most powerful changes. The Women’s Chai Project – with its mix of languages, cultures and shared experience – has become a space where women build friendships, confidence and healthier habits together. We signpost them into wider community support, and years later we still see them striving, supporting one another and continuing the changes they began with us.

Penny Harvey added,

“Oldham’s strength lies in its diversity. When support is shaped with – not just for – local communities, people step forward with confidence, ownership and pride. Culture becomes a bridge, not a barrier.”

What Give to Gain means to me

For me, Give to Gain is about time, trust and generosity. In our team, giving isn’t a grand gesture. It’s the everyday decision to listen, to share ideas, to challenge gently, to make space for someone to grow or to admit when they’re struggling. Every time I give a staff member the support or breathing room they need, we all gain – because they then bring that confidence into their work with clients.

We’ve built a culture where no idea is dismissed. If someone has an interest – whether it’s men’s health, family nutrition, learning disabilities or community engagement – we explore how to develop it. Be that through internal shadowing, external training, new pilots, or co-delivery with community partners. Staff shape the service as much as the leadership does, and that’s exactly how it should be.

The theme also resonates with me as a woman in leadership. ABL has always had strong, compassionate female leaders who show every day that it is possible to lead with empathy, flexibility and integrity. I intend to carry that forward – for my team, and for the community we exist to serve.

To learn more about how Your Health Oldham supports healthier lives across the borough – from family support, smoking cessation and weight management – visit https://yourhealtholdham.co.uk or get in touch with our team on 0161 960 0255.