Our Story

The Story of ABL and Where We're Heading

 

ABL was founded in 2009 by people who believed they could and should change the world!

As healthcare and education professionals, we had first-hand experience of public services that had failed people, people who needed them most and we believed that we could provide a different, more flexible approach. We wanted to combine our expertise and experiences of the social and economic problems that held people back and find a way to support and empower people to live healthier, better lives whatever their background.

We knew that if we put people at the heart of our services, stepped in their shoes and experienced life from their perspective then we could start to create a new approach to healthcare.

We started by taking our services out in to communities, by making them accessible and removing the traditional clinical surroundings and approach. We worked to make them engaging and responsive, constantly changing our approach and listening to the people and communities we were working with. We tried things, rejected them and tried again knowing that a truly responsive community healthcare system had to constantly question and adapt.

We came to understand that what worked best was a multi-disciplinary approach, that by creating a shared language with a range of professionals from varied backgrounds we could support the whole person within the context of their own lives and empower them to really make a difference within their community.

To this day we still feel this way and we are working not only to design and develop services that treat and support people who are experiencing health problems now, but are dreaming up and creating effective ways that we can educate and empower people to eliminate health issues in the future.

We still believe we can change the world.

Our Story

2009

Introducing ABL

ABL is proud to introduce itself as a pioneering provider of health and well-being services, using a community-centric delivery model.

2009

2010

Leading The Way

We become one of the first services to deliver a T3 weight management service in the community and away from any clinical setting.

2010

2012

Supporting More Communities

By 2012 we we’re running a number of services including Manchester and Stockport T3 weight management and Mens TDSU (Trim Down Shape Up) sessions in St Helens. 

2012

2014

Planning Ahead

As we continued to develop, we quickly realised that many we supported needed help in a number of areas. Therefore, we looked at how we could expand our services and invested in upskilling to offer holistic integrated health and wellbeing services. 

2014

2016

Award Winning Smoking Cessation Services

As part of our move towards integration, we expanded our offer to support those looking to quit smoking and/or other tobacco products. Our Wirral service would become the number one Stop Smoking service in the country. 

2016

2018

‘My Story’ & Our First Fully Integrated Service

Our Stockport service moves beyond T3 and expands to support T2, families and children, as well as those who want to quit smoking. 

With this service integration, we looked at our approach towards member assessments. The result being ‘My Story’ a unique approach allowing members to walk us through their journey so far and discuss their goals for the future. 

2018

2019

New Opportunities

In 2019 we began to support the health and wellbeing of prisoners across the North of England. 

At the same time we also began a new venture in Oldham, creating the Oldham Schools Brokerage Service. 

2019

2020

Ever Evolving

Key learnings from our first integrated well-being service enabled us to evolve our offer. Providing a more tailored service with seamless pathways whichever journey our members decided to take. 

In 2020 we began working across Nottinghamshire delivering a fully integrated well-being service. Swiftly followed by Oldham with our T3 service expanding with a similar integrated offer. 

2020

2022

Something Different

 

In 2022 we utilsed our expertise to deliver two new services. The NHS Low-Calorie Programme and Cancer Prehab Support. 

We also expanded our offer to the West Midlands offering smoking cessation support in Sandwell.

2022

2023

What To Expect

We’ve already had a great start to 2023 with two new services on the way. 

We will continue to develop our offers, providing the best possible support to all or our members and their communities, because Everyone Has The Right To Good Health.

2023