Done deal. BBM has signed a deal with Total Healthcare and Te Whatu Ora.
Done deal. BBM has signed a deal with Total Healthcare and Te Whatu Ora.
Opinion:
When I started out on my weight loss journey I did not really know anything about it. I just did what seemed the best option as I had no money, I walked and it worked.
Then I got opportunities to start boxing, and the training that went with that. My brain and my body started to remember what physical training was like from my league days. It worked.
As my body got better, so did my brain and emotional state. It worked.
Then others asked me to help with their own weight loss and fitness. We did it together, the same things I had been learning and relearning. It worked.
So BBM began. Fitness training, free of cost, free of judgements and free of excuses. We have involved many thousands in person and online and evolved.
A couple of years ago, as we realised that for many people obesity, depression and other conditions meant that even our group classes were not the answer for many people, we began a program that has had various names and evolved as we learned which program met the needs of these people. That became “From The Couch”.
Dave Letele before and after his weight loss journey. Photos / Supplied
We got clinical support, and research work from universities. It improved, but the essence was the same. It works.
The reason it works is that from purpose to outcomes, it is driven entirely by lived experience, every bit of it created by the participants within the BBM whanau/aiga.
We always thought this should be a national program to fight obesity and its dark shadows of diabetes and depression.
Recently with our clinical partners Total Healthcare we developed a business model that can do that and launched the joint venture between us to do that.
To deliver we will lever up what our BBM whānau do with our own specialist training and work with partners with the same goals wherever they are.
We will bring From The Couch wherever it is needed, based on the same practices and principles.
We will continue to need government funding as other healthcare services do - tough private money can also be part of it and I am extremely grateful for the financial guidance from former Te Whatu Ora Chair and businessman Rob Campbell. His counsel is much appreciated.
Dave Letele and Manu Vatuvei. Photo / Supplied
But our vision is no compromises, no excuses, no judgements.
It was fantastic to have Te Whatu Ora in our house for the launch of this nationwide initiative.
And with this robust corporate structure and demonstrated results, we expect other government agencies will also wish to do the right thing by their communities and work with us.
David Letele, also known as the Brown Buttabean, is a retired professional boxer and a well-known motivational speaker. He created his own fitness gym with no equipment, giving out free meals for the homeless and runs a foodbank for people in need and is a community advocate,
